Can I insert elements to the beginning of an element using .appendChild()?

Question

If the user selects an option in a dropdown box, there must be added a label and a textbox. Using appendChild, these elements get added to the end of the container.

var newFreeformLabel = document.createElement('label');
newFreeformLabel.innerHTML = 'Omschrijving:';

var newFreeformField = document.createElement('input');
newFreeformField.className = 'textfield';
newFreeformField.name = 'factuur_orderregel[]';

var newFreeformSpacer = document.createElement('div');
newFreeformSpacer.className = 'spacer';

container.appendChild(newFreeformLabel);
container.appendChild(newFreeformField);
container.appendChild(newFreeformSpacer);

The issue is that these elements should be inserted at the beginning of container, not at the end.

Is there a solution to this in PrototypeJS?

Megavolt

Answer 1

As well as appendChild, DOM nodes have an insertBefore method

container.insertBefore(newFreeformLabel, container.firstChild);

Blastomere

Note that this also works if the container doesn't have any elements inside it to begin with. – Whidah

Answer 2

Modern Solution

To add a child to the beginning of a parent, use prepend

parent.prepend(newChild)

To add at the end of a parent, use append

parent.append(newChild)

In addition, if you want to add relative to another child, use one of these:

child1.after(newChild)  // [child1, newChild, child2]

child1.before(newChild) // [newChild, child1, child2]

Advanced usage

1. You can pass multiple values (or use spread operator ...).
2. Any string value will be added as a text element.

Examples:

parent.prepend(newChild, "foo")  // [newChild, "foo", child1, child2]

const list = ["bar", newChild]
parent.append(...list, "fizz")  // [child1, child2, "bar", newChild, "fizz"]

Related DOM method - child.replaceWith

Documentation

Can I Use

Boiney

this answer is working, the first answer not worked for me – Weathered

Answer 3

Use Element.insert(element, content).

Looming

the question is tagged prototypejs, so this really should be the correct answer. – Laniferous

Answer 4

container.
    insert({
        // key is position
        // 'before', 'after', 'top' and 'bottom' are allowed
        top: new Element('label').
            update('Omschrijving:')
    }).
    insert({
        top: new Element('input').
            addClassName('textfield').
            writeAttribute('name', 'factuur_orderregel[]')
    }).
    insert({
        top: new Element('div').
            addClassName('spacer')
    });

I think Prototype's Element.insert is somewhat awkward for before/after, however. For instance, if you wanted to place the .spacer before the .textfield, sometime later in your code, you would need to do something like:

container.
    down('.textfield').
    insert({
        before: new Element('div').
            addClassName('spacer')
    });

This is, especially if you're familiar with the DOM API's Element.insertBefore, somewhat unintuitive, as you are not inserting the .spacer into the .textfield, but instead into the container, before the .textfield.

Canvass

Answer 5

If I had seen Gareth's solution on time, I might go with that, as it was I used:

$('toggle_product').innerHTML = insertContent + $('toggle_product').innerHTML;

as Prototypes' insert() function was returning error in IE8..

Arron

with that solution you loose all events – Northward

Answer 6

You can add .k-multiselect .k-chip {order: 2} style. Example - https://dojo.telerik.com/uSOnIroB/4

Dialogue

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