The HTML DOM Document Object
The Document Object
When an HTML document is loaded into a web browser, it becomes a document object.
The document object is the root node of the HTML document.
Document Object Properties and Methods
The following properties and methods can be used on HTML documents:
Property / Method | Description |
---|---|
activeElement | Returns the currently focused element in the document |
addEventListener() | Attaches an event handler to the document |
adoptNode() | Adopts a node from another document |
anchors | Returns a collection of all <a> elements in the document that have a name attribute |
applets | Returns a collection of all <applet> elements in the document |
baseURI | Returns the absolute base URI of a document |
body | Sets or returns the document's body (the <body> element) |
close() | Closes the output stream previously opened with document.open() |
cookie | Returns all name/value pairs of cookies in the document |
charset | Deprecated. Use characterSet instead. Returns the character encoding for the document |
characterSet | Returns the character encoding for the document |
createAttribute() | Creates an attribute node |
createComment() | Creates a Comment node with the specified text |
createDocumentFragment() | Creates an empty DocumentFragment node |
createElement() | Creates an Element node |
createEvent() | Creates a new event |
createTextNode() | Creates a Text node |
defaultView | Returns the window object associated with a document, or null if none is available. |
designMode | Controls whether the entire document should be editable or not. |
doctype | Returns the Document Type Declaration associated with the document |
documentElement | Returns the Document Element of the document (the <html> element) |
documentMode | Returns the mode used by the browser to render the document |
documentURI | Sets or returns the location of the document |
domain | Returns the domain name of the server that loaded the document |
domConfig | Obsolete. Returns the DOM configuration of the document |
embeds | Returns a collection of all <embed> elements the document |
execCommand() | Invokes the specified clipboard operation on the element currently having focus. |
forms | Returns a collection of all <form> elements in the document |
fullscreenElement | Returns the current element that is displayed in fullscreen mode |
fullscreenEnabled() | Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the document can be viewed in fullscreen mode |
getElementById() | Returns the element that has the ID attribute with the specified value |
getElementsByClassName() | Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with the specified class name |
getElementsByName() | Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with a specified name |
getElementsByTagName() | Returns a HTMLCollection containing all elements with the specified tag name |
hasFocus() | Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the document has focus |
head | Returns the <head> element of the document |
images | Returns a collection of all <img> elements in the document |
implementation | Returns the DOMImplementation object that handles this document |
importNode() | Imports a node from another document |
inputEncoding | Returns the encoding, character set, used for the document |
lastModified | Returns the date and time the document was last modified |
links | Returns a collection of all <a> and <area> elements in the document that have a href attribute |
normalize() | Removes empty Text nodes, and joins adjacent nodes |
normalizeDocument() | Removes empty Text nodes, and joins adjacent nodes |
open() | Opens an HTML output stream to collect output from document.write() |
querySelector() | Returns the first element that matches a specified CSS selector(s) in the document |
querySelectorAll() | Returns a static NodeList containing all elements that matches a specified CSS selector(s) in the document |
readyState | Returns the (loading) status of the document |
referrer | Returns the URL of the document that loaded the current document |
removeEventListener() | Removes an event handler from the document (that has been attached with the addEventListener() method) |
renameNode() | Renames the specified node |
scripts | Returns a collection of <script> elements in the document |
strictErrorChecking | Sets or returns whether error-checking is enforced or not |
title | Sets or returns the title of the document |
URL | Returns the full URL of the HTML document |
write() | Writes HTML expressions or JavaScript code to a document |
writeln() | Same as write(), but adds a newline character after each statement |