Question

I’m using this code:

/**
 * Get Text Nodes from an Element
 * Returns and object unless number is passed in
 * Numbers is 0 based
 */
(function( $ ) {
$.fn.textNodes = function(number) {
    var nodes = jQuery(this).contents().filter(function(){
        return this.nodeType == 3;
    });
    if(jQuery.isNumber(number)){
        return nodes[number];
    }
    return nodes;
};
})( jQuery );

It’s used to grab the text nodes out of html

For example:

<div>
    <span>Testing</span>
    What is this?
</div>

I’m looking for What is this?

This works, as I can do a console.log and see the result in the console.

But when I try and use the result in an input field it give me: [object Text]

How can I use the result as a string value?

I’ve tried toString() but that gives the same result, unless I missed something.

Answer 1

Your code works, but it doesn’t employ the beauty of jQuery. How about:

(function($) {
    $.expr[':'].textnode = function(element) {
        return element.nodeType == 3;
    }

    $.valHooks["#text"] = { get: function(elem) {
        return $.trim(elem.nodeValue);
    }}

})(jQuery)

use it this way:

lastText = $("div").contents(":textnode:last").val()

http://jsfiddle.net/YXjEB/