How can I implement prepend and append with regular JavaScript?

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How can I implement prepend and append with regular JavaScript without using jQuery?

12 Answers

In order to simplify your life you can extend the HTMLElement object. It might not work for older browsers, but definitely makes your life easier:

HTMLElement = typeof(HTMLElement) != 'undefined' ? HTMLElement : Element;

HTMLElement.prototype.prepend = function(element) {
    if (this.firstChild) {
        return this.insertBefore(element, this.firstChild);
    } else {
        return this.appendChild(element);
    }
};

So next time you can do this:

document.getElementById('container').prepend(document.getElementById('block'));
// or
var element = document.getElementById('anotherElement');
document.body.prepend(div);

In 2017 I know for Edge 15 and IE 12, the prepend method isn't included as a property for Div elements, but if anyone needs a quick reference to polyfill a function I made this:

 HTMLDivElement.prototype.prepend = (node, ele)=>{ 
               try { node.insertBefore(ele ,node.children[0]);} 
                     catch (e){ throw new Error(e.toString()) } }

Simple arrow function that's compatible with most modern browsers.

You can also use unshift() to prepend to a list

document.write() is not a good practice, some browsers like Chrome give you a warning if you use it, and it may be a bad solution if you are providing it to a customer, they don't want to use your code and see warnings in the debug console!

Also jQuery may also be a bad thing if you are giving your code to a customer who already uses jQuery for other functionality on their site, there will be a conflict if there is already a different version of jQuery running.

If you want to insert content into an iframe, and do that with pure JS, and with no JQuery, and without document.write(), I have a solution.

You can use the following steps

1.Select your iframe:

var iframe = document.getElementById("adblock_iframe");

2.Create an element that you want to insert into the frame, let's say an image:

var img = document.createElement('img');
img.src = "https://server-name.com/upload/adblock" + id + ".jpg";
img.style.paddingLeft = "450px";
//scale down the image is we have a high resolution screen on the client side
if (retina_test_media == true && high_res_test == true) {
    img.style.width = "200px";
    img.style.height = "50px";
} else {
    img.style.width = "400px";
    img.style.height = "100px";
}
img.id = "image";

3.Insert the image element into the iframe:

iframe.contentWindow.document.body.appendChild(img);
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