How can I check if an element exists in the visible DOM?

681

How do you test an element for existence without the use of the getElementById method?

I have set up a live demo for reference. I will also print the code on here as well:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <script>
    var getRandomID = function (size) {
            var str = "",
                i = 0,
                chars = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqurstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQURSTUVWXYZ";
            while (i < size) {
                str += chars.substr(Math.floor(Math.random() * 62), 1);
                i++;
            }
            return str;
        },
        isNull = function (element) {
            var randomID = getRandomID(12),
                savedID = (element.id)? element.id : null;
            element.id = randomID;
            var foundElm = document.getElementById(randomID);
            element.removeAttribute('id');
            if (savedID !== null) {
                element.id = savedID;
            }
            return (foundElm) ? false : true;
        };
    window.onload = function () {
        var image = document.getElementById("demo");
        console.log('undefined', (typeof image === 'undefined') ? true : false); // false
        console.log('null', (image === null) ? true : false); // false
        console.log('find-by-id', isNull(image)); // false
        image.parentNode.removeChild(image);
        console.log('undefined', (typeof image === 'undefined') ? true : false); // false ~ should be true?
        console.log('null', (image === null) ? true : false); // false ~ should be true?
        console.log('find-by-id', isNull(image)); // true ~ correct but there must be a better way than this?
    };
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="demo"></div>
</body>
</html>

Basically the above code demonstrates an element being stored into a variable and th

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How can I check if an element exists in the visible DOM?

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