Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Matt McDonald <matt@fortybelow.ca>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.javascript
Subject: Re: FAQ Topic - How do I modify the content of the current page? (2012-05-23)
Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 18:07:24 -0600
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 29
Message-ID: <jph9nt$8vb$1@dont-email.me>
References: <4fbc1a7a$0$294$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>
Reply-To: matt@fortybelow.ca
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 00:07:25 +0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="o3RIB98y67SlfDKoxPQiYw"; logging-data="9195"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/aBT8/1zZCCGMkY8Gbde4JwOYCdpIYRfg="
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:12.0) Gecko/20120430 Thunderbird/12.0.1
In-Reply-To: <4fbc1a7a$0$294$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>
Cancel-Lock: sha1:kqSHceMzDLbMn0UO7c7/yHf4zig=
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.javascript:14105

On 12-05-22 05:00 PM, FAQ server wrote:

> If the new content is only text and does not need to replace existing HTML,
> it is more efficient to modify the `data` property of a text node.

A more general approach is simply to use the `nodeValue`
property, though both are acceptable.

> Compatibility Note: Implementations have been known to split long text
> content among several adjacent text nodes, so replacing the data of the
> first text node may not replace all the element's text. The `normalize`
> method, where supported, will combine adjacent text nodes.

The DOM 4 specification states[0] that textual content replacement
(`Node::textContent`, setting) is to be done by clearing
the `childNodes` of a node and appending a text node containing
the new text for Element and DocumentFragment nodes, while simply
replacing the `data` (and by proxy the `nodeValue`) for Text,
ProcessingInstruction and Comment nodes. I've written a fork
of `textContent` (to be released soon) that does precisely this.
Since Element nodes are the most desired context, the former
behavior is advised.

[0]: http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/domcore/raw-file/tip
/Overview.html#dom-node-textcontent


-- 
Matt McDonald: Web/Flash Developer; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada