Set focus to field in dynamically loaded DIV

Question

What is the proper method to set the focus to a specific field within a dynamically loaded DIV?

$(\"#display\").load(\"?control=msgs\"); // loads the HTML in         


        

Answer 1

Yes, this happens when manipulating an element which doesn't exist yet (a few contributors here also made a good point with the unique ID). I ran into a similar issue. I also need to pass an argument to the function manipulating the element soon to be rendered.

The solution checked off here didn't help me. Finally I found one that worked right out of the box. And it's very pretty, too - closures.

Instead of:

$( '#header' ).focus();
or the tempting:
setTimeout( $( '#header' ).focus(), 500 );

Try this:

setTimeout( function() { $( '#header' ).focus() }, 500 );

In my code, testing passing the argument, this didn't work, the timeout was ignored:

setTimeout( alert( 'Hello, '+name ), 1000 );

This works, the timeout ticks:

setTimeout( function() { alert( 'Hello, '+name ) }, 1000 );

It sucks that w3schools doesn't mention it.

Credits go to: makemineatriple.com.

Hopefully, this helps somebody who comes here.

Martas