Are add() and appendChild() the same for select DOM objects?

Question

Hello!

I'm working on a small web application that changes the contents of a select drop-down.

I was wondering if appendChild() and add() both accomplish the same task on a select DOM object in JavaScript?

var someSelect = document.getElementById('select-list');
var newOption = document.createElement('option');
someSelect.appendChild(newOption);
// The above is the same as the following?
someSelect.add(newOption);

Answer 1

In this case, I believe they would accomplish the same task.

add( ) is provided specially via the HTMLSelectElement interface specifically to add options to a select element and has a few extra options (such as an optional index at which to add the new option, etc.).

appendChild( ) will give you a straight append of the child node.

Watch out for different implementations of both methods cross-browser: I think that would be your biggest pain point. IIRC, the IEs would cause problems when appending children to selects, so you might want to add if that method exists and fall back on appendChild.

Answer 2

If you want to be sure of cross-browser compatibility when manipulating options within a <select>, the surest way is to use its options property and populate it with Option objects. The following time-honoured method works in all scriptable browsers since the late 1990s:

var options = select.options;
options[options.length] = new Option("Option text", "option_value");