Insert an hidden character in text string using JavaScript

Question

How to use an hidden character in text string using JavaScript.There is one text string which i read and writes back with the hidden character in it (so rewritten text looks same as the original text though it comtains the hidden character), so that next time i read the text i can come to know that this text is aleady read as it contains the hidden character

Eg)

< html>
< body>
< div>
This is a simple text
< /div>
< /body>
< /html>

I am trying to parse the div and extract the contents of the div, and insert an hidden character to the text and rewrite the text to the div again using JavaScript.

I just want to know which hidden character should i use to insert into the text ? How to write the hidden character into the text ?

Answer 1

To answer the question, keep an array of the divs that have been traversed:

var divsChecked = [];
//code that looks at the div
divsChecked.push(div.getAttribute('id'));

However I think that the method that you are using to traverse the items may not be correct with libraries like jQuery you could loop over each div in turn thereby you shouldn't ever see the same div twice unless you run the loop twice.

Answer 2

Since you are using javascript why don't you just add a property to the div:-

var divs = document.getElementByTagName("div");
for (var i = 0, length = divs.length; i < length; i++)
{
    if (!divs[i].hasBeenRead)
    {       
         fnReadDiv(divs[i]);
         divs[i].hasBeenRead = true;
    }
}