Question

I have A html element and would like to read data attribute in OnClick event

<a id="downloadFile" class="btn btn-success" href="javascript:;" data="MyData">Download file</a>

If I use code below this refer to href atribute and not to A element. How to refer to A element and read data value?

 $('#downloadFile').click(function() {            
  alert(this.attr('data')); //I get error that 'href' do not has 'data' attribute, this code refers to href attribute and not to A element
});

Answer 1

In the context of an event handler, this refers to the DOM element, not the jQuery object. Use $(this) to get a jQuery object so that you can use the attr function:

$('#downloadFile').click(function() {            
  alert($(this).attr('data'));
});

Another option is to use this.getAttribute("data").

DEMO.