The application of document.body.style.backgroundColor is not compatible with an external CSS style sheet

Why does 

document.body.style.backgroundColor
not work with an external CSS style sheet? I have the following CSS:

body
{
    background-color: red;   
}

In my css style sheet, when I use JavaScript alert 

alert(document.body.style.backgroundColor);
, it shows an empty string. You can see a working example here.

However, when I use this HTML:

<body style="background-color: red;"></body>

It correctly shows "red". Example available here.

I am seeking a clear explanation and a solution for fixing the issue in the first example.

javascripthtmlcss

Answer №1

.style property on a DOM element gives you a CSSStyleDeclaration specifically for that element. It basically represents the styles applied directly to the element itself. The style= attribute has the same purpose, allowing you to see the end result of the styling.

On the other hand, CSS rules applied using selectors are not tied exclusively to one element. For example, if you have a CSS rule like p { color: red }, it affects all <p> elements and cannot be overridden individually at the element level.

If you want to access the computed styles of an element, use window.getComputedStyle method. For instance, calling 

window.getComputedStyle(document.body).backgroundColor
will give you the correct background color value, as demonstrated in the updated Fiddle.

Answer №2

Looks like you're utilizing jQuery!

Give this a shot to retrieve the RGB value:

alert($('body').css('background-color'));

Check it out on JSFiddle.

If you need the hex value instead, try this link:

Hex Color Js Fiddle

Answer №3

Give this a shot

let target = document.querySelectorAll('body')[0];                     
let style = window.getComputedStyle(target);
let backgroundColor = style.getPropertyValue('background-color');

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