How to access an element in the DOM ?

[jeffman]

According to Wikipedia, it was built-in before Version 3. Time sure flies . . .

[brucemand]

No. The DOM Inspector is powerful add-on for FireFox that allows you to look at the DOM constructed by the browser.

View Source shows exactly what your server sent to the browser. As a debugging tool, it's useful because it shows you what your PHP actually generated.

ok, thanks - sounds like a worthwhile add-on. View Source for PHP-debugging, and DOM Inspector for what the HTML is actually doing.

[jeffman]

Careful. View Source is one small piece of PHP debugging.

[thescientist]

ok, thanks - sounds like a worthwhile add-on. View Source for PHP-debugging, and DOM Inspector for what the HTML is actually doing.

edit: usually it's a confirmation of the generated output for markup sake. for straight up debugging, you can echo meaningful statements to track your code's progress through a script. I believe part of the swarm in ShadowMage's sig includes a FF add-on that allows you log PHP to the console, however. I've found myself using Chrome developer tools these days, however.

[brucemand]

Careful. View Source is one small piece of PHP debugging.

i understand, but at my level of "expertise" (rather, lack thereof) - it's still the biggest piece to help me chew !i haven't even begun SQL and am now just using PHP to create the HTML DOMs.

edit: usually it's a confirmation of the generated output for markup sake. for straight up debugging, you can echo meaningful statements to track your code's progress through a script. I believe part of the swarm in ShadowMage's sig includes a FF add-on that allows you log PHP to the console, however. I've found myself using Chrome developer tools these days, however.

i have to admit, Chrome has some pretty nifty tools built-in; the "Inspect Element" seems more than enough for my requirements of a "DOM Inspector" at the moment.i'd still rather trust Firefox whenever possible.