How to find with javascript if element exists in DOM or it's virtual (has been just created by createElement)

Question

I\'m looking for a way to find if element referenced in javascript has been inserted in the document.

Lets illustrate a case with following code:

v         


        

Answer 1

The safest way is to test directly whether the element is contained in the document:

function isInDocument(el) {
    var html = document.body.parentNode;
    while (el) {
        if (el === html) {
            return true;
        }
        el = el.parentNode;
    }
    return false;
}

var elem = document.createElement('div');
alert(isInDocument(elem));
document.body.appendChild(elem);
alert(isInDocument(elem));