Hiding a Hidden Element with HTML/JavaScript/CSS

Question

I need to hide a hidden element completely. If you have used Firefox Web Developer add-on you have seen with a click that you can see all the hidden elements and their value

So I tried to apply

visibility: none;
display: none;

It did not worked as expected. So I thought about creating a layer with exact same size of the hidden element, giving it z-index:999 and making their position same, so even if the Web Developer add-on tries to show them they will just see the div.

What are you trying to achieve anyway? You can't stop people from looking at your HTML code, so what's the real problem here? I'm guessing that most people don't use a plugin to show hidden elements on websites. — slhck
– slhck, Commented Apr 16, 2011 at 12:20
Uhm why do you want to do it? Sounds like you just want to remove the element entirely. — halfdan
– halfdan, Commented Apr 16, 2011 at 12:20
Are you sure that visibility: none and display: none are actually being applied, and not overridden? — NT3RP
– NT3RP, Commented Apr 16, 2011 at 12:21

Kon · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:30:17Z

3

If you want to completely remove HTML content inside a given container, you can do this with jQuery:

$('#contentContainer').html('');

For even faster way to do the same, use empty():

$('#contentContainer').empty();

Or to remove the container itself and all its content, use remove():

$('#contentContainer').remove();

edited Apr 16, 2011 at 12:30

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:21

Kon

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3 Comments

pawlik Over a year ago

$('#contentContainer').empty() would do the job better

Pointy Over a year ago

But if some sneaky person intent on stealing @Sourav's precious hidden values disables JavaScript, then the code won't run and the hidden elements will still be there in the DOM. Also, of course, if the elements are removed, then they also won't be sent back to the server upon form submission. In that light, one might wonder why the hidden elements were put into the page in the first place.

Kon Over a year ago

Well, in that case, do everything server-side. For example, in ASP.NET, leverage ViewState. Of course if the sneaky person is smart enough, that won't prevent them from stealing info anyway. But that's for a whole different discussion.

Andrew Cooper · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:27:37Z

2

Plugins like WebDeveloper and FireBug allow developers to browse to DOM of a web-page. There is no way to have an element in the DOM and not visible in one of these tools.

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:27

Andrew Cooper

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Comments

msmafra · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:46:35Z

1

You could try to generate the hidden element through jQuery. Like insert a hidden paragraph inside body:

$('<p>test</p>').css({'display':'block'}).appendTo('body');  $('button.test').live('click',function(){
            $('<p>some hidden field</p>').css({'display':'block'}).appendTo('body');
        });

edited Apr 16, 2011 at 12:46

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:35

msmafra

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1 Comment

msmafra Over a year ago

Or you could do it using PHP and jQuery (AJAX).

xkeshav · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:20:45Z

0

WebDeveloper plug in is used for this purpose..this is helpful for developer

there is nothing to worry about that..

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:20

xkeshav

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Comments

ninjagecko · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:22:38Z

0

It should be sufficient to use the display:none property; perhaps this is a bug/feature with the WebDeveloper plugin. Thus, there may perhaps be a hidden preference option, such as "[X] Show invisible elements".

Or you could forcefully remove the object from the DOM like another answer suggested seconds ago.

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:22

ninjagecko

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Comments

Umair Jabbar · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:30:01Z

0

save the inner HTML of the element in a JS variable and set the html to none

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:30

Umair Jabbar

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Comments

Henry · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 12:35:20Z

0

If your using jquery :

$('#DivName').hide()

or to empty the div:

$('#DivName').html('');

To remove it:

$('#DivName').remove()

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 12:35

Henry

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