before()

Insert content before each element in the set of HTML elements that match the selector of the script or of another query in the template (see query()). See also: after().

before(content)

Before(content) inserts content before each element in the set of elements that match the script's selector. Before() creates a new result set.

content

String, HTML string or result set to insert after the elements. In case a plain text string is provided, it is automatically wrapped in a <span> element to avoid orphan text nodes to appear in the <body> element.

Examples

This script looks for an element with the ID salesrepand inserts a paragraph before that element.

results.before("<p>Lorem Ipsum</p>");

Selector	Matched element	Matched element after script execution
#salesrep	<p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>	<p>Lorem ipsum</p> <p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>

This script does the same, but it uses the query() function to look up the element.

query("#salesrep").before("<p>Lorem ipsum</p>");

Matched element	Matched element after script execution
<p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>	<p>Lorem ipsum</p> <p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>

The following script looks for an element with the ID salesrep, inserts a paragraph before that element and colors that element red.

query("#salesrep").before("<p>Lorem ipsum</p>").css("color","red");

Matched element	Matched element after script execution
<p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>	<p >Lorem ipsum</p> <p id="salesrep" style="color: red;">Peter Parker</p>

Note: the way the functions before() and css() are used in this script is called 'chaining'. Chaining is optional; the same could be achieved by storing the result of the query in a variable:

var salesrep = query("#salesrep"); 
salesrep.before("<p>Lorem ipsum</p>"); 
salesrep.css("color","red");

The following script searches the results for the string "ipsum" and puts "Lorem " before it. "Lorem " is automatically wrapped in a Span element.

results.find("ipsum").before("Lorem ");

Matched element	Matched element after script execution
<p>ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>	<p><span>Lorem </span>ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>

The following script looks for an element with the ID salesrep and inserts the text "Lorem Ipsum" before that element. "Lorem Ipsum" is automatically wrapped in a Span element.

query("#salesrep").before("Lorem Ipsum");

Matched element	Matched element after script execution
<p>ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>	<span>Lorem Ipsum</span> <p id="salesrep">Peter Parker</p>