Get the value of an <h2> tag with JavaScript

JamEngulfer picture JamEngulfer · Jul 3, 2012 · Viewed 29.1k times · Source

I am trying to generate an MD5 check-sum of every element on a page that has the <h2> tag, then display the values as a popup.

The code I have already should get each <h2> element, I just need to get the actual value of each one.

var ghead = document.getElementsByTagName('h2');

for (i=0; i<ghead.length; i++) {
    var gh = ghead[i];
    var ts = gh.toString();
    var ms = b64_md5(ts);
    alert(ts);
    alert(ms);
}

The usage of b64_md5(ts) basically is what converts the ts variable into the MD5 value. However, the ts variable is the ID or name of the Type of Element, not the Element's value itself.

Also, if I wanted to make a cookie that has two values stored in it, a name and a checksum, could I use gh.innerText; to set the unique name, as I have had issues with using this method so far.

Answer

James Allardice picture James Allardice · Jul 3, 2012

You can use the innerHTML property to get the HTML contents of an element:

var ts = gh.innerHTML;

Note that h2 elements (and most other elements) don't have a "value". Only elements that behave as form controls have a value property (e.g. the input element).