Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Making Changes to the DOM Modifying Elements

Jabor Al thani
Jabor Al thani
2,926 Points
Posted by Jabor Al thani
Jabor Al thani
2,926 Points

Storing the textContent of the <a> tag in a value in a variable

Ive used the getElementById to target the id of 'link' in the <a> followed by a .textContent to retrieve its text . But that didnt workout , what am I doing wrong ?

THanks

index.html 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>DOM Manipulation</title>
    </head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
    <body>
        <div id="content">
            <label>Link Name:</label>
            <input type="text" id="linkName">
            <a id="link" href="https://teamtreehouse.com"></a>
        </div>
        <script src="app.js"></script>
    </body>
</html>
app.js 
let linkName = document.getElementById('linkName').value;
linkName = document.getElementById('link').textContent;

4 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points

:point_right: A variable can only hold one value at a time.

If you re-use the same variable for task 2, your work will no longer appear to have accomplished task 1.

Also, your original code had not completed the part of task 2 that changes the content of the element.

Philip Gales
Philip Gales
15,193 Points
Philip Gales
Philip Gales
15,193 Points 
let linkName = document.getElementById('linkName').value;
let aTag = document.getElementById('link');
aTag.textContent = linkName;
Jabor Al thani
Jabor Al thani
2,926 Points
Jabor Al thani
Jabor Al thani
2,926 Points

Thanks Philip that worked .

But why couldn't it work by just declaring the same variable of linkName ?

Philip Gales
Philip Gales
15,193 Points

By doing 'linkName = ...' you are changing the value of the variable linkName. Inverse your answer and your code would work.

let linkName = document.getElementById('linkName').value;
document.getElementById('link').textContent = linkName;

Notice we are now assigning the link the value of linkName, and not the other way around.