Why am I getting Null when I want to get a String from an HTML with JavaScript

Question

I'm trying to build a memento mori kind of clock, and I want to make it so people can insert a certain date in there.

But when I get the element by ID in JS I get null.

Tried to get make it a string and test it with alerts, but I got no results. It was still null.

I mean, the alert box is empty, so I assume it is null.

Some of my assumptions are:

There's a problem with the id or with the document.getElementById("targetDate").innerHTM part
- I tried to get it as a string and then convert it to date as I did initially using this: new Date("Jan 5, 2090 15:37:25").getTime()
I don't use the date functions the right way
Maybe the approach should be changed to getting the day, month, year & hours separately

Here's the code:

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" dir="ltr">
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <title>💀 Days Until Death</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
    </head>

    <body>
        <div class="main-div">
            <h2>💀 Days Until Death</h2>
            <hr>
            <h1><p id="demo"></p></h1>
            <hr>
            <input id="targetDate" type="input" name="date" value="Jan 1, 2090 15:37:25">
            <input onclick="ChangeDate()" type="submit" name="" value="Change Date">
        </div>

    </body>

    <script type="text/javascript" src="script.js"></script>
</html>

JavaScript:

// Set the date we're counting down to
var countDownDate = new Date("Jan 5, 2090 15:37:25").getTime();

function ChangeDate() {

    var targetDate = String(document.getElementById("targetDate").innerHTML);

    alert(targetDate);

    countDownDate = new Date(targetDate).getTime();
}

// Update the count down every 1 second
var x = setInterval(function() {

  // Get today's date and time
  var now = new Date().getTime();

  // Find the distance between now and the count down date
  var distance = countDownDate - now;

  // Time calculations for days, hours, minutes and seconds
  var days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
  var hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
  var minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
  var seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);

  // Display the result in the element with id="demo"
  document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = days + "d " + hours + "h "
  + minutes + "m " + seconds + "s ";

  // If the count down is finished, write some text
  if (distance < 0) {
    clearInterval(x);
    document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
  }
}, 1000);

dippas · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-26 15:34:32Z

You need to change innerHTML for value

Also don't need to convert it to String, and avoid using html inline event listeners

// Set the date we're counting down to
let countDownDate = new Date("Jan 5, 2090 15:37:25").getTime();
const demo = document.getElementById('demo');
const changeDateInput = document.getElementById('changeDateInput');


function ChangeDate() {
  const targetDate = document.getElementById('targetDate').value;
  console.log(targetDate);
  countDownDate = new Date(targetDate).getTime();
}

changeDateInput.addEventListener('click', ChangeDate)

// Update the count down every 1 second
const x = setInterval(() => {

  // Get today's date and time
  const now = new Date().getTime();

  // Find the distance between now and the count down date
  const distance = countDownDate - now;

  // Time calculations for days, hours, minutes and seconds
  const days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
  const hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
  const minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
  const seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);

  // Display the result in the element with id="demo"
  demo.innerHTML = `${days}d ${hours}h ${minutes}m ${seconds}s `;

  // If the count down is finished, write some text
  if (distance < 0) {
    clearInterval(x);
    demo.innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
  }
}, 1000);

<div class="main-div">
  <h2>💀 Days Until Death</h2>
  <hr>
  <h1>
    <p id="demo"></p>
  </h1>
  <hr>
  <input id="targetDate" type="input" name="date" value="Jan 1, 2090 15:37:25">
  <input id="changeDateInput" type="submit" name="" value="Change Date">
</div>

I did! What do you think about Dr. Angela Yu's Course on Web Development?

Enes · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-26 15:15:56Z

2

I just replaced innerHTML to value

var targetDate = String(document.getElementById("targetDate").value);

And now I can get the date from the alert that you coded. Here's a screenshot:

answered Jun 26, 2022 at 15:15

Enes

234 bronze badges

1 Comment

Bruno Melo Over a year ago

It does not need call String() to convert the value. The value prop already is a String...

Daniel Boll · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-26 15:19:07Z

Try using document.querySelector instead, or you can also just get the method value instead of the innerHTML.

Also take a look on good practices with javascript by not using var for let and const.

https://hackernoon.com/why-you-shouldnt-use-var-anymore-f109a58b9b70 https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-the-disadvantage-of-using-innerhtml-in-javascript/

let countDownDate = new Date("Jan 5, 2090 15:37:25").getTime();

function ChangeDate() {
  const newTargetData = document.querySelector("#targetDate").value;

  alert(newTargetData);

  countDownDate = new Date(newTargetData).getTime();
}

// Update the count down every 1 second
const x = setInterval(function() {
  // Find the distance between now and the count down date
  const distance = countDownDate - Date.now();

  // Time calculations for days, hours, minutes and seconds
  const days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
  const hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
  const minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
  const seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);

  // Display the result in the element with id="demo"
  document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = days + "d " + hours + "h "
  + minutes + "m " + seconds + "s ";

  // If the count down is finished, write some text
  if (distance < 0) {
    clearInterval(x);
    document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
  }
}, 1000);

Good hacking for you buddy!

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