Why is document.getElementById('tableId').innerHTML not working in IE8?

Question

I modify document.getElementById('').innerHTML with Java Script in a page. It's working fine in Firefox, but not IE8. Please see below for more details:

HTML Code:

<table>
  <tr id="abc">
     <td id="ccc" style="color:red;">ccc</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Java Script code:

  document.getElementById('abc').innerHTML = '<td id="bbc" style="color:yellow;">abc</td>'

When I run the JS code in Firefox, it will change the display word from 'ccc' to 'abc', but it's just not working in IE8, does anyone know why? Is there any way I can make this work in IE8 as well?

Answer 1

use document.getElementById('abc').innerText = 'ccc'; instead

Answer 2

I believe IE behaves strangely when you play with the innerHTML of tr elements. I would select the row with getElementById, and then select the td and alter that one's innerHTML:

document.getElementById('abc').firstChild.innerHTML = 'abc';

(Though you have to be careful with this: often the whitespace between the tr and the td will be considered a valid node)

There's a whole heap of special functions for working with tables in the DOM

var tblBody = document.getElementById(tblId).tBodies[0];
var newRow = tblBody.insertRow(-1);
var newCell0 = newRow.insertCell(0);

See all the functions here: http://www.mredkj.com/tutorials/tablebasics1.html

Answer 3

Since the problem is in IE8, see MSDN:

The property is read/write for all objects except the following, for which it is read-only: COL, COLGROUP, FRAMESET, HEAD, HTML, STYLE, TABLE, TBODY, TFOOT, THEAD, TITLE, TR.

(emphasis mine)

Colin's work-around (setting innerText on the td instead of innerHTML on the tr) is a good one in your case. If your needs become more complex, you'll have to resort to The Table Object Model.

Answer 4

innerHTML is readonly for as pointed out here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms533897%28VS.85%29.aspx

The property is read/write for all objects except the following, for which it is read-only: COL, COLGROUP, FRAMESET, HEAD, HTML, STYLE, TABLE, TBODY, TFOOT, THEAD, TITLE, TR.

Why are you not just putting an idea around the and changing that particular value?

Answer 5

Not every object will support innerText and innerHTML. If you want to change the HTML of some specific part, put it inside a <div></div> block. I beleave its the most professional way to declare those dynamic areas.

Answer 6

Since TR's innerHTML is read-only as a few people have said, you are better off changing your markup to target the TD:

<table><tr><td id="changeme"> ... </td></tr></table>

Then you can set the content of the TD as you wish via innerHTML, and change other properties by setting them on the DOM node:

var td = document.getElementById("changeme");
td.innerHTML = "New Content";
td.cssText = "color: red";
td.className = "highlighted";

You get the idea...

This saves you the overhead of destroying and creating an extra DOM element (the TD)

Answer 7

Instead of a <div></div>, you can also use <span></span>