Click an 'a' element using javascript

Question

I have gone through Simulate a click on 'a' element using javascript/jquery but it didn't help.

The code I am running against is

<a target="gsft_main" id="9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011" data-cancelable="true" class="menu" href="discovery_status_list.do?sysparm_userpref_module=9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011">Status</a>

I have executed below code

document.getElementById('9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011').click()

but it doesn't work. I also tried

$('#9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011').trigger('click')

with no success. If I run

document.getElementById('9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011')

it returns null.

if you're getting null, then the element doesn't exist when you're executing that code. Please check that at first. — Samuli Hakoniemi
– Samuli Hakoniemi, Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 11:42
Chances are you are running the code before the element in your page without using onload. Please verify — Spokey
– Spokey, Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 11:44

Willem · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-01 14:33:21Z

0

To trigger an 'a' element directly doesn't work in this case. If you wrap your text in a span and trigger a click event on the span it should work.

<a id="test" href="http://stackoverflow.com"><span>Status</span></a>

and with jquery:

$('#test span').trigger('click');

if you get a null on document.getElementById('9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011') you probably made a typo...

answered Oct 1, 2014 at 14:33

Willem

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4 Comments

user2683109 Over a year ago

Can't span it as I have not created this website. I am trying to automate click on that link after every, say 5 seconds or so. I am trying this from console provided by chrome. I also tried 'document.getElementById('9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011').href' but this too returns null. But it works well when I click on that link manually. Since I have less XP in scripting, I am unsure of many things. But since I know coding, I am able to get my head around a few :)

Willem Over a year ago

Try: $('#9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011')[0].click(); That should also work.

user2683109 Over a year ago

I get 'TypeError: Cannot read property '0' of null' If I run the command normally, it is returning 'null' all the time. I think may be this is the problem. When I simply execute '$('#9ddfe6c10a0a0b7e0062ccf1e8afc011')', it gives 'null'

Willem Over a year ago

What happens when you try $('.menu'); ?

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