getElementById vs. using the id name

Question

I have found that I don't need use document.getElementById to get the an element, I can use like this:

<div id="observer1"></div>

Then i can access like a variable:

console.log(observer1);

Why should I use the document.getElementById if I can access directly? I had never heard that this was possible, is there any side-effect, is this supported in all browsers?

Thank you.

Are you asking this `$("#observer1")` vs `document.getElementById('observer1')` — Vishwas Nahar, Apr 15 '17 at 04:29
Possible duplicate of [Do DOM tree elements with ids become global variables?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/3434278/218196) — Felix Kling, Apr 15 '17 at 04:34
It's simply not possible to declare a html element with a certain id value, and log it in javascript by using its Id name. You use `document.getElementById` to get the DOM element, which has certain properties depending on the html tag. — Mμ., Apr 15 '17 at 04:36
@Momenator: Are you saying this doesn't log the element for you? https://jsfiddle.net/kf9jua5c/ — Felix Kling, Apr 15 '17 at 04:38
@FelixKling wow i didnt know you could even do that. Turns out you can actually do that. — Mμ., Apr 15 '17 at 04:42

score -3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 15 '17 at 04:31

-3

Using console.log(observer1) just outputs the whole element. You have no control over it. You can't adjust properties, attributes or assign values. There is almost no practical use for doing it that way.

answered Apr 15 '17 at 04:31

Difster

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Can you give an example? observer1 and document.getElementById("observer1"); looks like the same object for me – Apr 15 '17 at 04:32
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What exactly should that jsfiddle prove? – Felix Kling Apr 15 '17 at 04:39
How to manipulate an element. All you can do with your example is simply log the entire thing to the console. – Difster Apr 15 '17 at 04:41
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...so https://jsfiddle.net/u7d733s0/1/ doesn't work in your browser? – JJJ Apr 15 '17 at 04:42
This answer seems to miss the point of the question. – RobG Apr 15 '17 at 05:43

getElementById vs. using the id name

1 Answers1