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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Making Changes to the DOM Getting and Setting Text with textContent and innerHTML

Ned Redmond
Ned Redmond
5,615 Points

Code not working as typed in video!

As far as I can tell, everything in my HTML and JS files are identical to the video. However, when I copied the addEventListener function, it would not work with the final semicolon as written in the video:

p.textContent = input.value + ':';

Am I missing something? Chrome's developer tools told me that the ';' was an unexpected token, so I simply removed it to make the code work. Why does it work for the teacher and not for me? Thanks.

My code, which works:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>JavaScript and the DOM</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1 id="myHeading">JavaScript and the DOM</h1>
    <p>Making a web page interactive</p>    
    <p class="description">Things that are purple:</p>
    <input class="description" type="text" />
    <button class="description">Change list description.</button>
    <ul>
      <li>grapes</li>
      <li>amethyst</li>
      <li>lavender</li>
      <li>plums</li>
    </ul>
    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>
const input = document.querySelector('input');
const pDesc = document.querySelector('p.description');
const button = document.querySelector('button');

button.addEventListener('click', () => (
  pDesc.textContent = input.value + ':'
                       ));

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points

The system discovered the issue when it got to the semicolon, but that's not actually the cause.

The real issue is that the statement is enclosed in parentheses () instead of braces {}.

Ned Redmond
Ned Redmond
5,615 Points

Thank you! Ugh, I keep doing this! I need to drill this bad habit out!