How can I determine the element type of a matched element in jQuery?

Question

I'm matching ASP.Net generated elements by ID name, but I have some elements which may render as text boxes or labels depending on the page context. I need to figure out whether the match is to a textbox or label in order to know whether to get the contents by val() or by html().

$("[id$=" + endOfIdToMatch + "]").each(function () {
    //determine whether $(this) is a textbox or label
    //do stuff
});

I found a solution that doesn't work, it just returns "undefined":

$("[id$=" + endOfIdToMatch + "]").each(function () {
    alert($(this).tagName);
});

What am I missing?

Answer 1

First time I've answered my own question. After a little more experimentation:

$("[id$=" + endOfIdToMatch + "]").each(function () {
   alert($(this).attr(tagName));
});

works!

Answer 2

Just one jQuery too much:

$("[id$=" + endOfIdToMatch + "]").each(function () {
    alert(this.tagName);
});

Answer 3

tagName what a nice tip. I would like to suggest also to use tagName.toLowerCase() so values in the actual XHTML or HTML standard are returned

Answer 4

I think you should do it like this:

$("...").is("input")

(Or whichever element you're looking for.) Then you don't need each.

Have a look at the documentation for is.

Answer 5

you could also use something like this:

if ($(this).is('input:checkbox'))

replace "this" with whatever instance you need and 'checkbox' with whatever input type you need.