:empty selector for targeting an empty tbody element

Here is the table provided for reference:

<table id="incidents">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th></th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    </tbody>
</table>

When using jQuery, this evaluation results in false:

$("#incidents tbody").is(":empty")

I am interested in using CSS to display a message instead of empty content:

#incidents tbody:empty {
    content: "<tr>message foo</tr>";
}

Is it possible to apply the :empty selector to the tbody element?

Answer №1

Regrettably, the indentation and line breaks within the tbody element make it impossible for it to be considered empty using the :empty selector in both CSS and jQuery. The behavior of :empty is consistent across both languages, as well as jQuery's :parent, which essentially means :not(:empty) (although with a rather misleading name).

In addition, it is not possible to use CSS content to insert elements into the DOM. If you need to add a row to an empty tbody, you will have to do so either with jQuery or on the server side by checking if there are any existing rows.

If you opt for jQuery, you can utilize the following code:

var tbody = $("#incidents tbody");

if (tbody.children().length == 0) {
    tbody.html("<tr>message foo</tr>");
}

Answer №2

When the tbody element contains only white space as content, the :empty selector won't work.

Learn more about :empty

The :empty pseudo-class applies to elements that have no children at all. It considers only element nodes and text (including whitespace), excluding comments or processing instructions.

Additionally, the :content property can only be used with the :before or :after pseudo-elements.

The content CSS property works with ::before and ::after pseudo-elements to generate content within an element. Objects inserted using the content property are anonymous replaced elements.

Answer №3

If you are looking to utilize the :empty selector, remember to properly format the tbody element like this:

<tbody></tbody>

It's important to note that if there is a newline within the tbody element, the :empty selector may not function as expected.

Make sure to define the tbody element correctly according to the instructions provided. You can also use the .html() method to check for conditions like so:

if(!$("#incidents tbody").html()) {}

For further information, please visit: How do I check if an HTML element is empty using jQuery?

Answer №4

The content within the <tbody> element is not considered empty due to the presence of whitespace. To work around this, you can utilize a filtering function:

$("#incidents tbody").filter(function() {
    return !$.trim($(this).text());
}).append('<tr>message foo</tr>');

Another approach is to check the number of children within the element:

$("#incidents tbody").filter(function() {
    return !$(this).children().length;
}).append('<tr>message foo</tr>');

Answer №5

Just a heads up: You have the option to utilize this jQuery selector to pick out a table that has an empty tbody without relying on the id of the table element:

$("table:not(:has(>tbody>tr))")

Answer №6

In the year 2023, CSS will be the main focus:

    tbody:not(:has(>tr)) {
      position: relative;
      height: 10em;
    }

    tbody:not(:has(>tr)):before {
      display: block;
      position: absolute;
      content: 'Custom message here';
      color: #aaa;
      top: calc(50% - 0.5em);
      left: 50%;
      transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
    }

Answer №7

Employ the following code:

$("#incidents tbody").html()

After running this, analyze the output.

Answer №8

Ensure that the following table structure is in place:

<table id="incidents">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th></th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody></tbody>
</table>

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