Get element from within an iFrame

Question

How do you get a <div> from within an <iframe>?

Answer 1

var iframe = document.getElementById('iframeId');
var innerDoc = (iframe.contentDocument) ? iframe.contentDocument : iframe.contentWindow.document;

You could more simply write:

var iframe = document.getElementById('iframeId');
var innerDoc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document;

and the first valid inner doc will be returned.

Once you get the inner doc, you can just access its internals the same way as you would access any element on your current page. (innerDoc.getElementById...etc.)

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the iframe is on the same domain, otherwise you can't get access to its internals. That would be cross-site scripting. Reference:

• MDN: <iframe> Scripting
• MDN: Same-Origin Policy: Cross-Origin Script API Access

• David Snabel-Caunt: Great answer. Did you know that you can do: var innerDoc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; //more readable and means the same
• geowa4: I've seen people confused by that more than ternary operators. They seem to not know that the first valid one is returned.
• geowa4: in fact, as i edited the answer to include it, the guy over my shoulder asked me what that did...
• David Snabel-Caunt: Probably better to educate than use more complex code for simplicity :)
• Fabian Amran: Is there a way to get access to the iframe internals if the iframe originates from a different URL. You mentioned that it is cross-site scripting, but I am wondering if there is a way.

Answer 2

Do not forget to access iframe after it is loaded. Old but reliable way without jQuery:

<iframe src="samedomain.com/page.htm" id="iframe" onload="access()"></iframe>
<script>
function access() {
 var iframe = document.getElementById("iframe");
 var innerDoc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document;
 console.log(innerDoc.body);
}
</script>

Answer 3

Above answers gave good solutions using Javscript. Here is a simple jQuery solution:

$('#iframeId').contents().find('div')

The trick here is jQuery's .contents() method, unlike .children() which can only get HTML elements, .contents() can get both text nodes and HTML elements. That's why one can get document contents of an iframe by using it.

Further reading about jQuery .contents(): .contents()

Note that the iframe and page have to be on the same domain.

Answer 4

window.parent.document.getElementById("framekit").contentWindow.CallYourFunction('pass your value')

CallYourFunction() is function inside page and that function action on it

• Nick Mitchell: That's calling a function from an iFrame, not getting a reference to the element.

Answer 5

None of the other answers were working for me. I ended up creating a function within my iframe that returns the object I was looking for:

function getElementWithinIframe() {
 return document.getElementById('copy-sheet-form');
}

Then you call that function like so to retrieve the element:

var el = document.getElementById("iframeId").contentWindow.functionNameToCall();

Answer 6

If iframe is not in the same domain such that you cannot get access to its internals from the parent but you can modify the source code of the iframe then you can modify the page displayed by the iframe to send messages to the parent window, which allows you to share information between the pages. Some sources:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/postMessage
• Html5 - Cross Browser Iframe postmessage - child to parent?
• cross site iframe postMessage from child to parent

Answer 7

You can use this function to query for any element on the page, regardless of if it is nested inside of an iframe (or many iframes):

function querySelectorAllInIframes(selector) {
 let elements = [];
 const recurse = (contentWindow = window) => {
 const iframes = contentWindow.document.body.querySelectorAll('iframe');
 iframes.forEach(iframe => recurse(iframe.contentWindow));
 
 elements = elements.concat(contentWindow.document.body.querySelectorAll(selector));
 }
 recurse();
 return elements;
};
querySelectorAllInIframes('#elementToBeFound');

Note: Keep in mind that each of the iframes on the page will need to be of the same-origin, or this function will throw an error.