getting undefined error in javascript

Question

I am trying to list all categories in my XML file and link them with a javascript function which opens an xsl file.

I'keep getting this error: Novel is Undefined. where Novel is a category from the XML

Here is my code.

var root=myxmldoc.getElementsByTagName("CATEGORY");
        for (i=0;i<root.length;++i) {
            var catName=(root[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
            txt='<a href="#" onClick="javascript:Navigate('+catName+')">'+catName+'</a>';
            document.getElementById("left-sidebar").innerHTML+=txt; 

        }

In the code above, Navigate(var) is a function that loads various .XSL files for each category.

Please can anyone help me understand why the error keeps coming up?

Thanks

Does the error happen when the code above is executed, or when the link is clicked? — David Grayson
– David Grayson, Commented May 9, 2011 at 16:00
off topic, but you'd get better performance if you built txt as a string and did the innerHTML update just once, outside the loop. — Spudley
– Spudley, Commented May 9, 2011 at 16:00
@David Grayson - the error happened when the link is clicked @Spudley - i will try that, thank you for the tip :) @pixelbobby - I've been helped with the problem. But if you still want to see it, i will be glad to post it. Thank you — Govnah
– Govnah, Commented May 9, 2011 at 16:47
@Spudley, i can't seem to do what you suggested. could you help me out please? — Govnah
– Govnah, Commented May 9, 2011 at 18:57

Marc B · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-09 16:02:16Z

2

When you generate the link, it'll come up as:

 <a href="#" onClick="javascript:Navigate(Novel)">Novel</a>

Note the lack of quotes around Novel, meaning Javascript will see that as a variable, which happens to not be defined.

You neeed to embed quotes in your string generation like this:

 txt='<a href="#" onClick="javascript:Navigate(\''+catName+'\')">'+catName+'</a>';
                                               ^^ here      ^^ and here

so that the HTML will look like:

 <a href="#" onClick="javascript:Navigate('Novel')">Novel</a>

answered May 9, 2011 at 16:02

Marc B

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2 Comments

Govnah Over a year ago

Oh okay i get it, thank you very much and it works. is there a reason why its written like [\''+catName+'\'] and not like ['\'+catName+'\']?

Marc B Over a year ago

Because you need the escaped quote WITHIN your string. If it's outside, then it's just some random used-to-be-a-quote-but-isn't-anymore dangling around and breaking the syntax.

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