Why does the `Polymer()` function need the element name as its first parameter?

Question

New elements in Polymer are defined through:

<polymer-element name="el-name">
    <template></template>
    <script>
        Polymer("el-name", { });
    </script>
</polymer-element>

What problems are stopping Polymer from getting the element name through document.querySelector("polymer-element").name ?

Answer 1

If you're element definition is in an HTML Import, you don't need to include the name. This isn't documented yet, but you can find more info here: https://github.com/Polymer/docs/issues/351

One reason for passing it as the first arg is because folks wanted to separate out their JS from the element definition into a new file (eg use <script src=""> ). The name to the constructor points Polymer to the correct definition to register.

http://www.polymer-project.org/docs/polymer/polymer.html#altregistration