Question

Possible Duplicates:
Is there an “exists” function for jQuery
jQuery determining if element exists on page

if(tr) is returning true when tr is not an element, how do I check whether it’s an element that exists?

var tr = $('#parts-table .no-data').parent();
$('.delete', row).bind('click', function (e) {
  that.delete(e.currentTarget);
});
console.log(tr);
if (tr) //returns true when it shouldn't

Answer 1

Check its length property:

if(tr.length) {
    // exists
}

if(tr) always evaluates to true because a jQuery object, or any JavaScript Object for that matter, is always truthy.