sorry for asking that stupid:D However what did i do wrong here?

html:

<div onclick="prompt()" value="test">test</div>

javascript:

function prompt() {

    var error = this.value;
    alert("sdsd");

}

Thanks!

sorry for asking that stupid:D However what did i do wrong here?

html:

<div onclick="prompt()" value="test">test</div>

javascript:

function prompt() {

    var error = this.value;
    alert("sdsd");

}

Thanks!

• javascript

• 5 divs don't have values, they have textContents. Also, this is not jQuery – Sterling Archer Commented Dec 29, 2015 at 20:57
• 1 Remember that "prompt" is a function that exists already in javascript. – Korvin Szanto Commented Dec 29, 2015 at 21:00

3 Answers 3

First off, <div>s don't have a value attribute, so .value won't work. Second, you should not use inline JavaScript.

What you should do is:

<div id="test" value="test">test</div>

Then:

$(function(){
    $('#test').click(function(){
        // You need to get the attribute from the element
        var error = $(this).attr('value');
    });
});

If you must use inline events, then you need to pass the element to the prompt() function. The problem is that it doesn't know what this is. This is why you should bind the event as shown above. Anyway, you can also do:

<div onclick="prompt(this)" value="test">test</div>

Then:

function prompt(ele){
    // You can't use `.value` because `<div>`s
    // don't have a value property
    var error = ele.getAttribute('value');
}

P.S. May I also suggest using data-* attributes for this instead of invalid attributes?

<div id="test" data-value="test">test</div>

Then:

$(function(){
    $('#test').click(function(){
        var error = $(this).data('value');
    });
});

The value of this depends on how the function that it appears in was called.

When the browser calls the onclick function from the event trigger, this is the input.

When you call prompt(), because you provided no context and you are no in strict mode, this is the window.

You need to explicitly pass the value.

onclick="prompt.call(this)"

Better yet, don't use intrinsic event attributes in the first place. They mix your HTML and logic and have a whole collection of gotchas to go with them.

Then you have a second problem.

Div elements don't have values. Only inputs and other form controls do. You would need to use .getAttribute("value") instead of .value … but that still leaves your HTML invalid (as well as inappropriate - div elements aren't designed to be interacted with, they give no visual indication that they should be clicked on, and they won't receive the focus should the user not be using a mouse or other pointing device anyway).

You should use a control designed to be interacted with.

Finally, prompt is a built in function, so you should avoid overwriting it and pick a different name instead.

function show_value(event) {
    var value = this.value;
    document.body.appendChild(document.createTextNode(value));
}

document.querySelector("button").addEventListener("click", show_value);

<button type="button" value="test">test</div>

Div does not have value attribute.

If you need to get the value inside div element you can do it by innerHTML property.

function prompt() {

    var error = this.innerHTML; // OR this.getAttribute("value");

}