DataTransfer.getData()

The DataTransfer.getData() method retrieves drag data (as a DOMString) for the specified type. If the drag operation does not include data, this method returns an empty string.

Example data types are text/plain and text/uri-list.

Syntax

dataTransfer.getData(format);

Arguments

format: A DOMString representing the type of data to retrieve.

Return value

DOMString: A DOMString representing the drag data for the specified format. If the drag operation has no data or the operation has no data for the specified format, this method returns an empty string.

The HTML5 Drag and Drop Specification dictates a drag data store mode. This may result in unexpected behavior, being DataTransfer.getData() not returning an expected value, because not all browsers enforce this restriction.

During the dragstart and drop events, it is safe to access the data. For all other events, the data should be considered unavailable. Despite this, the items and their formats can still be enumerated.

Example

This example shows the use of the DataTransfer object's getData() and setData() methods.

HTML Content

<div id="div1" ondrop="drop(event)" ondragover="allowDrop(event)">
    <span id="drag" draggable="true" ondragstart="drag(event)">drag me to the other box</span>
</div>
<div id="div2" ondrop="drop(event)" ondragover="allowDrop(event)"></div>

CSS Content

#div1, #div2 {
    width:100px;
    height:50px;
    padding:10px;
    border:1px solid #aaaaaa;
}

JavaScript Content

function allowDrop(allowdropevent) {
    allowdropevent.target.style.color = 'blue';
    allowdropevent.preventDefault();
}

function drag(dragevent) {
    dragevent.dataTransfer.setData("text", dragevent.target.id);
    dragevent.target.style.color = 'green';
}

function drop(dropevent) {
    dropevent.preventDefault();
    var data = dropevent.dataTransfer.getData("text");
    dropevent.target.appendChild(document.getElementById(data));
    document.getElementById("drag").style.color = 'black';
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard # dom-datatransfer-getdata-dev

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser