Get first and second td element in row

Question

I have an ajax call attached to the click event of a pic inside a table row. Once the pic is clicked and the click event initiated, I need to grab the first and second td elements from that row. I'm new to jQuery so what I have below is my latest attempt (not working..). The variables firstName and lastName both wind up being undefined after those lines are executed

        $('.checkErrors').click(function () {
            var firstName = $(this).parent('tr td:first-child').val();
            var lastName = $(this).parent('tr td:nth-child(2)').val();
            $.ajax({
                type: 'GET',
                url: '@Url.Action("GetErrors","AgentTransmission")',
                data: { term: $(this).attr('id') },
                .
                .
            });
          });

Here is a sample table row. The image in the last td element contains the .click event. I would like to grab the first two that contain the text "phinneas" and "ferbseven".

<tr>
    <td>
        phinneas
    </td>
    <td>
        ferbseven
    </td>
    <td nowrap>
        7735        
    </td>
    <td>
        Agent
    </td>
    <td>
        SAF
        &nbsp;&nbsp
        07070900  
    </td>
    <td>
        6/5/2013 10:35:38 AM
    </td>
    <td>
        DANTAK
    </td>
    <td class="errorPlus">
        Error
    </td>            
    <td>

        <a href="/AgentTransmission/Details/2358">Details</a>           
            <span> | </span>
        <a href="/AgentTransmission/Edit/2358">Edit</a>        
    </td>
    <td align=center id=2358>
            <img src="/Content/images/magnify.gif" class="checkErrors" id=2358 alt="Program Details" />
    </td>
</tr>

Answer 1

use closest

var $tr = $(this).closest(´tr´);
var firstName = $tr.find('td:first-child').text();
var lastName = $tr.find('td:nth-child(2)').text();

Also, you need to use text instead of val for td elements since it make sense only on input controls.

Answer 2

First only form elements have .val property so .

You are supposed to use .text since it is a td

Try using :eq psuedo selector

var $tr;
$tr.find('td:eq(0)').text();

$tr.find('td:eq(1)').text();