Adding a script reference into a page using jQuery

Question

I need to dynamically add a script reference, so I do this:

jQuery('html head').append("<script src='somesource.com/somejs.js'><\/script>")

and it does't work - I don't get any errors but I can't execute any of the methods defined inside that script.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

FinnNk · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-01 21:54:41Z

5

jQuery has a getScript method:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $.getScript('somesource.com/somejs.js');
});

answered Nov 1, 2009 at 21:54

FinnNk

3,2261 gold badge26 silver badges25 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

$.getScript does pretty much what I was doing in my question, but in a shorter statement, hence you get a point :)

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-01 21:54:04Z

1

Without seeing the script in context, it is hard to say, but possibilities include:

You have the URL wrong (you have what appears to be a domain name, but no protocol in the URI)
You are trying to use the functions without allowing time for the browser to download and run the script (so they aren't defined at the time you call them)

answered Nov 1, 2009 at 21:54

Quentin

948k136 gold badges1.3k silver badges1.4k bronze badges

You have nailed one of the problems - browser doesn't have enough time to download script before I call a method from that script.

mahemoff · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-01 21:51:04Z

-2

You need a type='text/javascript':

jQuery('html head').append("<script type='text/javascript' src='somesource.com/somejs.js'><\/script>")

answered Nov 1, 2009 at 21:51

mahemoff

46.9k39 gold badges174 silver badges233 bronze badges

While this is technically true (in HTML 4.x and XHTML 1.x), browsers error recover, so this isn't the cause of the fault.

None of modern browsers I tested cares about specifying script type.