What is difference between window.document.getElementById and document.getElementById

[klmuralimohan]

Hi, What is main difference between window.document.getElementById and document.getElementById? Could you please anyone reply it?

[JamesB]

none, it is the same function.document is a global variable, and all global variables can be accessed through the window object.

[MrFish]

none, it is the same function.document is a global variable, and all global variables can be accessed through the window object.

In other words. document is a variable in window. It can be access like any other object variable

MyObject.myVariable.doSomething()

All of windows variables are also treated like global variables. So you are always in the scope of window.

MyObject = { ... };// In the global/window scope// These are both validwindow.MyObject;MyObject;

Using window before any variable is redundant but it would be courteous to other developers as they could see instantly where the variable you're using is coming from instead going back through your script to find the origin. But for variables like document (where most people remember) it doesn't really matter.

[thescientist]

technically, since everything is javascript is an object, I believe it would be more precise to say document is a property of window. and window is the implied scope (global) in Javascript which is why it is the same thing to say window.document.getElementById vs document.getElementById

Edited September 14, 2012 by thescientist

[justsomeguy]

To add my input, window is the top-level scope. If you're down inside several function calls (several scopes), and you reference a variable, it looks in the local scope first and then goes up until it get to the topmost scope, which is the window object. If your call stack contains 6 scopes and it finds a variable with that name in the third scope up then it will use that one, it uses whatever existing variable it finds on the way up through the stack. If it gets to window and doesn't find the variable then it issues the undefined variable error.

technically, since everything is javascript is an object, I believe it would be more precise to say document is a property of window.

It's also true to say that there aren't really any standalone variables in Javascript, only properties of objects. Every global variable you make is actually a property of the window object, every variable you make in another scope is a property of the scope that you're in. So every variable is actually a property on some scope object, and every function is a method.