Reliable way to get the "ancestor" of an object with a specific classname, using jQuery

Question

I've got a javascript function that gets called on change event of a select form element. So, the "this" variable in js refers to the select element.

This select element is in a td tag, in a tr tag. The tr tag has a classname of "FilterDetailsRow".

Now, I've tested, and if I use this syntax:

var filterRow = $(this).parent().parent();

it gets me what I want. However, is there a better way to tell jQuery, "starting with "this" can you please go up my tree of parents until you find one with a classname of "FilterDetailsRow"?

Here's what I came up with, but I want to make sure I"m not reinventing the wheel.

function GetFilterDetailsRowOfObject(o) {
    if (o) {
        if (o.parent()[0].className.indexOf("FilterDetailsRow") != -1)
            return o;
        else
            return GetFilterDetailsRowOfObject(o.parent());
    } else {
        return null;
    }
}

Thanks for any advice.

Answer 1

You can use closest to find the first matching ancestor:

var filterRow = $(this).closest('.FilterDetailsRow');

Answer 2

In jQuery 1.4 you can use parentsUntil. For you it would be something like

$(this).parentsUntil('.FilterDetailsRow');