var objects = document.getElementsByTagName('object');
for (var i=0, n=objects.length;i<n;i++) {
    objects[i].style.display='none';
    var swfurl;
    var j=0;
    while (objects[i].childNodes[j]) {
    if (objects[i].childNodes[j].getAttribute('name') == 'movie') {
            /* DO SOMETHING */ 
    }
    j++;
}
    var newelem = document.createElement('div');
    newelem.id = '678297901246983476'+i;
    objects[i].parentNode.insertBefore(newelem, objects[i]);
    new Gordon.Movie(swfurl, {id: '678297901246983476'+i, width: 500, height: 400});
}

It says that getAttribute is not a function of childNodes[j]. What's wrong? I don't see the point.

var objects = document.getElementsByTagName('object');
for (var i=0, n=objects.length;i<n;i++) {
    objects[i].style.display='none';
    var swfurl;
    var j=0;
    while (objects[i].childNodes[j]) {
    if (objects[i].childNodes[j].getAttribute('name') == 'movie') {
            /* DO SOMETHING */ 
    }
    j++;
}
    var newelem = document.createElement('div');
    newelem.id = '678297901246983476'+i;
    objects[i].parentNode.insertBefore(newelem, objects[i]);
    new Gordon.Movie(swfurl, {id: '678297901246983476'+i, width: 500, height: 400});
}

It says that getAttribute is not a function of childNodes[j]. What's wrong? I don't see the point.

• javascript

3 Answers 3

Remember that childNodes includes text nodes (and ment nodes, if any, and processing instructions if any, etc.). Be sure to check the nodeType before trying to use methods that only Elements have.

Update: Here in 2018, you could use children instead, which only includes Element children. It's supported by all modern browsers, and by IE8-IE11. (There are some quirks in older IE, see the link for a polyfill to smooth them over.)

Check the nodeType property is 1 (meaning the node is an element) before calling element-specific methods such as getAttribute(). Also, forget getAttribute() and setAttribute(): you almost never need them, they're broken in IE and they don't do what you might think. Use equivalent DOM properties instead. In this case:

var child = objects[i].childNodes[j];
if (child.nodeType == 1 && child.name == 'movie') {
    /* DO SOMETHING */ 
}

What browser are you using ? If it's IE then you need to use readAttribute instead.