insertBefore Method | Internet Development Index |
Inserts an element into the document hierarchy as a child node of a parent object.
This method now applies to the
Syntax
oElement = object.insertBefore(oNewNode [, oChildNode])
Parameters
oNewNode Required. Object that specifies the new element to be inserted into the document hierarchy. Elements can be created with the createElement method. oChildNode Optional. Object that specifies the placement of the new element. If this parameter is specified, the new element will be inserted immediately before this existing child element.
Return Value
Returns a reference to the element that is inserted into the document.
Remarks
Do not specify the oChildNode parameter when inserting the first child node. If children already exist and you do not specify the oChildNode parameter, the oNewNode becomes the last child of the parent object.
This method is accessible at run time. If elements are removed at run time, before the closing tag has been parsed, areas of the document might not render.
Example
The following example shows how to use the insertBefore method to insert a new item into an existing list.
<SCRIPT> function insertElement() { var nod=document.createElement("LI"); oUL1.insertBefore(nod, oLIYellow); nod.innerText="Orange"; } </SCRIPT> </HEAD> <BODY> <SPAN onclick=insertElement()>Click <B>HERE</B> to add an item to the following list.</SPAN> <UL id="oUL1"> <LI id="oLIRed">Red</LI> <LI id="oLIYellow">Yellow</LI> <LI id="oLIBlue">Blue</LI> </UL> </BODY>
Standards Information
This method is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .
Applies To
A, ACRONYM, ADDRESS, attribute, B, BDO, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, COMMENT, DD, DEL, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, FIELDSET, FONT, FORM, FRAMESET, HEAD, hn, HTML, I, IFRAME, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, INS, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LISTING, MAP, MARQUEE, MENU, nextID, OBJECT, OL, OPTION, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, Q, S, SAMP, SELECT, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP
See Also
About the W3C Document Object Model