I want my textArea to resize when the page is fully loaded. I found that

$(document).ready(function() {
  // Handler for .ready() called.
});

can help me, so I try to test it and put next code into that function:

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element.value);
});

But when the page is loading, alert shows undefined value of textArea, however there is text inside it. How can I fetch those value inside ready function?

I want my textArea to resize when the page is fully loaded. I found that

$(document).ready(function() {
  // Handler for .ready() called.
});

can help me, so I try to test it and put next code into that function:

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element.value);
});

But when the page is loading, alert shows undefined value of textArea, however there is text inside it. How can I fetch those value inside ready function?

• javascript
• jquery

• 1 $() returns a jQuery object so you need to execute jQuery methods on it to get to the value, ie: element.val() or get the underlying reference to the DOM element and use element[0].value. – Nope Commented Mar 15, 2013 at 17:04

3 Answers 3

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element.val());
});

element isn't a DOM element but a jQuery wrapped object, it doesn't have any value property.

Use

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element.val());
});

or

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = document.getElementById('elementId');
      alert(element.value);
});

or

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element.get(0).value);
});

You need to use DOM object to use value property and you have jQuery object you need to use val() on it.

$(document).ready(function() {
      var element = $('#elementId');
      alert(element[0].value);
      //or  
      alert(element.val());           
});