Question

Onclick on image I need to change the background of li using jquery

LI is not immediate parent so I am not able to use parent() function in jquery

<li class="ui-widget-content ui-corner-tr ui-draggable">  
    <fb:profile-pic height="32" width="32" linked="false" uid="557103888" style="width: 32px; height: 32px;" class=" fb_profile_pic_rendered">  
        <img class="" style="width: 32px; height: 32px;" title="some name" alt="some name" src="files/t557103228_5135.jpg">  
    </fb:profile-pic> 
</li>

Answer 1

Use .closest('li').

This will give you the first ancestor of the <img> that is an <li> element.

You could also use .parents('li:first'). It uses the :first selector to ensure you only get the first result.