Accessing page elements

[chessbot]

Does anyone know which of the following is preferable for accessing an element, [tt]anElem[/tt], inside a form, [tt]aForm[/tt]?
Options (there may be more):

document.aForm.anElem;
document.forms['aForm'].elements['anElem'];
document.getElementById('anElem');

I believe that the last two are more cross-browser compatible than the first one, but I am not sure. I would lean toward the second one for form elements and the third one for anything else (but I'm not sure why). Does anyone know anything more about this?

--Chessbot

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." -- Asimov, Foundation

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

The last two are both compatible and correct. I woud never choose the first.

Choosing between the second two is personal preference - it depends if you're using NAMEs or IDs for your form elements, which in turn depends on whether or not you need the NAMEs submitted server-side or not.

Personally, I will always use this:

document.forms['aForm'].elements['anElem']

Hope this helps,
Dan