how to add html using jquery

Question

i have some simple jquery code which im using to create this page dynamically instead of manually. here is my code

loop

for ( var i = 0; i < links.length; i++ ) {
    $("#programs").append(
        $("li")
        .html("div")
        .html("a", {
            href: links[i] + ".exe"
        })
        .html("img", {
            src: icons[i]
        })
        .html("p")
        .html(captions[i])
    );
}

declarations of arrays

var links = ["pictureVeiwer","maze","firefoxPrank"];

var icons = ["firefox-icon.gif","maze.jpg","imageVeiwer.jpg"];

var captions = ["Cute Firfox prank","Cool maze","Program to veiw pictures... kinda useless in 2013"];

I assume my syntax is a bit off, I have used similar code before but not in a loop. What am I doing wrong and how should I do this?

fiddle .

Answer 1

$("li") selects all the li elements on the page, actually you don't create new elements, it should be:

$("<li/>");

or:

$("<li></li>");

Also you are chaining .html() methods which overwrites previous contents, I would suggest creating elements separately, something like this:

for (var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
    var $li = $("<li/>"),
        $a = $("<a/>", { href: links[i] + ".exe", text: 'whatever' }),
        $img = $('<img/>', { src: icons[i] });
        $div = $('<div/>').append($a).append($img);

    $li.append($div).appendTo('#programs');  
      // |          |
      // |          ---- append the `li` element to #programs            
      // |           
      // ---- append to the `li` element
}

If you are generating many elements dynamically you can consider using a templating library like Handlebars , EJS or Mustache .

Answer 2

I think I got it working here. A little verbose, but also clearer:

for ( var i = 0; i < links.length; i++ ) {
    // Each list item will contain a div
    var $li = $("<li/>")

    // Each div will have a link, and that link will have an image and a caption
    var $div = $("<div/>");

    // Give the link its image
    var $a = $("<a/>", {
        href: links[i] + ".exe"
    });
    var $img = $("<img/>", {
        src: icons[i]
    });
    $a.append($img);

    // Give the link its caption
    $p = $("<p/>");
    $p.html(captions[i]);
    $a.append($p);

    // Give the div its link
    $div.append($a);

    // Give the list item its div
    $li.append($div);

    // Add the list item to the list
    $("#programs").append($li);
}

Fiddle (You will need to try it on your own site, where your images can be referenced.)

Answer 3

You could also use templating, like Underscore provides:

HTML:

<script type="text/template" id="list-template">
    <li>
        <div>
            <a href="<%= href %>"><img src="<%= src %>"></a>
            <p><%= caption %></p>
        </div>
    </li>
</script>

<ul id="programs"></ul>

<script src="http://underscorejs.org/underscore-min.js"></script>

JS:

var $programsList = $('#programs');
var listTemplateHtml = $('#list-template').html();
for ( var i = 0; i < 3; i += 1 ) {
    var li = _.template(listTemplateHtml, {
        href: links[i] + ".exe",
        src: icons[i],
        captions: captions[i]
    });
    $programsList.append(li);
}

This would be much easier and more maintainable, and probably yield better performance, too.