I'm currently working on a project that pulls data from the REST countries API and displays it on a website. Since I'm more comfortable with backend work, I've been focused on building my API. However, I've ended up with a huge list of variables for each DOM element that I need to manipulate, like country names, capitals, and various attributes. Here's what I've gathered:
```javascript
const countrySelect = document.getElementById('country-select');
const getAll = document.getElementById('get-all');
const countryName = document.getElementById('country-name');
// ... and many more.
```
I realize that this method is pretty unwieldy and repetitive, especially since I plan to add more information later. Is there a better way to manage these elements? I'm not a frontend expert, so any practical suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
5 Answers
Why not just access the elements directly when you need them? Instead of storing all those references in constants, you could just grab what you need on the fly. It'll clean up your code a lot!
A cool trick is to add `data-` attributes to your HTML elements that correspond with the JSON keys. For instance, use `
...
`. You can then easily populate these elements by selecting them with a query selector. It keeps everything in sync and reduces redundancy!
If you're open to new tools, consider using a frontend framework like React. It can help you manage the DOM more efficiently and scale your project with less hassle.
You could keep your API response as JSON and access its properties directly. For example, instead of creating all those variables, you could just extract the needed information using something like `country.name.common`. It makes your code cleaner and more manageable!
You don’t have to stick rigidly to JSON APIs either. Sometimes sending down templated HTML can be simpler, or using a library to streamline the process. Frameworks like jQuery or tools like HTMX might just help you write less code and have more control.
That makes sense! I assigned them to constants for convenience since I plan to reference them a lot, but maybe it's overkill in this case. Thanks for the tip!