How to Fix the JavaScript display Issue Affecting Only the First 3 Elements

Learn how to effectively use JavaScript to manipulate multiple elements with the same class and fix common display issues in your HTML projects.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/65544092/ asked by the user 'Amar' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/12169121/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/65544198/ provided by the user 'Daniel Sava' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/5922140/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Tackling the JavaScript Display Issue that Affects Only the First 3 Elements

When working on a web project, it's not uncommon to encounter unexpected behavior with JavaScript. A widespread issue occurs when JavaScript fails to apply styles to multiple elements sharing the same class name. This guide will guide you through resolving this problem, particularly in the context of a Vanilla JS filter project, where only the first three elements are affected by display property changes.

Understanding the Problem

In this scenario, you are trying to filter elements based on their categories (like cakes, cupcakes, and sweets) by changing their display property. However, if your JavaScript code is only changing the display for the first three elements and not impacting the rest, there's likely an issue with how you're selecting these elements.

Example Scenario

Let's consider a simple HTML structure where you have multiple images categorized as cakes, cupcakes, and sweets. Here’s an excerpt from the HTML code:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In your JavaScript code, you might find something like this for selecting the elements:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

The issue here is that document.querySelector only returns the first element that matches the given class name, which is why your code only affects the first instance of each.

Solution: Selecting Multiple Elements

To resolve this issue, you can use the document.getElementsByClassName() method. Instead of selecting a single element, this allows you to gather all elements that share the same class name. Here’s how you can implement this change:

1. Selecting All Elements

First, update your JavaScript code to select all elements by class name like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

2. Looping Through Elements

Next, loop through the selected elements to apply the desired display style. Here’s a sample loop for setting the display for all cakes:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

3. Updating Event Listeners

You can keep your button event listeners the same, just ensure each button calls a function that loops through the relevant class elements and updates their styles accordingly:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Repeat similar operations in pressCakes, pressCupCakes, and pressSweets functions.

Conclusion

By ensuring you're selecting all matching elements with document.getElementsByClassName() and looping through them to apply styles, you can effectively manage the display of all related elements in your project. This solution will help you avoid the common pitfall of JavaScript only impacting the first few elements. Now, go ahead and apply these techniques in your Vanilla JS project to enhance its functionality and user experience!