getComputedStyle failed to execute

Question

I have this simple bit of code:

var recipes = document.getElementsByClassName("recipes");
var recipesStyle = window.getComputedStyle(recipes, null);

It returns this error message:

Uncaught TypeError: Failed to execute 'getComputedStyle' on 'Window': parameter 1 is not of type 'Element'.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Can anyone help?

Use `var recipesStyle = window.getComputedStyle(recipes[0], null);` — Dmitri Pavlutin, Feb 14 '16 at 15:53
document.getElementById('yourElementId') worked for me instead of using document.getElementsByClassName — mggSoft, Aug 26 '19 at 12:19

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 14 '16 at 15:54

The error message is telling you exactly what's wrong: recipes isn't an element (it's a collection of elements).

If you want the styles associated with the first recipe element, either add [0]:

var recipes = document.getElementsByClassName("recipes");
var recipesStyle = window.getComputedStyle(recipes[0], null);
// Here ------------------------------------------^

...use querySelector, which will just return the first element matching a given CSS selector:

var recipe = document.querySelector(".recipes");
var recipesStyle = window.getComputedStyle(recipe, null);

Or if you wanted to deal with the styles of each recipe element, you might use a loop:

var recipes = document.getElementsByClassName("recipes");
for (var n = 0; n < recipies.length; ++n) {
    var thisRecipesStyle = window.getComputedStyle(recipes[n], null);
    // ...
}

getComputedStyle failed to execute

1 Answers1