trying to extract a string from a js this keyword

Question

I'm trying to execute javascript after a link is clicked before loading the link, using this code:

$('body').on("click", 'a', function (evt) {
            evt.preventDefault();
            console.log(this);
            $('.content').addClass('hide');
            if (this.search("AV") > 0) {
                $('#AVheader').addClass('fullwidth');
            }
            setTimeout(function () {
                window.open(this, "_self");
            }, 500);
        });

My errors are:

this.search Isn't a function and

window.open(this, "_self"); doesn't work

Wanted to put the question out there since I couldn't find a simple explanation and I'd probably spend half a day trying to figure it out..

Answer 1

When you are in the event handler this points to the clicked link. There is no search method for an element. Probably you are trying to search for a string somewhere in the link, maybe the content.

    $('body').on("click", 'a', function (evt) {
        evt.preventDefault();
        console.log(this);
        $('.content').addClass('hide');
        if (this.innerHTML.search("AV") > 0) {
            $('#AVheader').addClass('fullwidth');
        }
        setTimeout(function () {
            window.open(this.href, "_self");
        }.bind(this), 500);
    });

Answer 2

this inside the timeout function will not reference your anchor element, it will instead reference the global window object. You will need to save a reference to the element and then use that reference inside the timeout callback

$('body').on("click", 'a', function (evt) {
  evt.preventDefault();
  //save the "this" reference
  var that = this;
  $('.content').addClass('hide');
  if (this.search.search("AV") > 0) {
    $('#AVheader').addClass('fullwidth');
  }
  setTimeout(function () {
    window.open(that.search, "_self");
  }, 500);
});

Also .search property on the anchor element is not a function it is a string, you would have to do this.search.search("AV") or this.href.search("AV") depending on what you are actually trying to search on