Object doesn't support property or method 'remove'

Question

I know there is some issue with get document.getElementById and IE, but not sure why IE is having a problem with .remove and all other browsers are not. Any help here would be appreciated. I am getting the error

SCRIPT438: Object doesn't support property or method 'remove'

from the error console. The Javascript works in all other browsers.
Here is the code:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
function removeModule() {

    <?php $tab = 1; ?>
    var module_row = <?php echo $module_row; ?>;

    if(!confirm('Are you sure?'))
    {
        return false;
    }

        var x = 1;
        while (x < module_row)
        {
            if (document.getElementById('tab-' + x).checked)
            {           
                document.getElementById('tab-' + x).remove();
                document.getElementById('module-' + x).remove();
                document.getElementById('tab-module-' + x).remove();
            }
            x++;
            <?php $tab++; ?>
        }
        $('#form').submit();

}
//--></script>

This is from an opencart module, it is the tpl file. I've included part of the file here as well so hopefully someone can spot whatever the error is.

<?php echo $header; ?>
<div id="content">
    <div class="breadcrumb">
        <?php foreach ($breadcrumbs as $breadcrumb) { ?>
            <?php echo $breadcrumb['separator']; ?><a href="<?php echo $breadcrumb['href']; ?>"><?php echo $breadcrumb['text']; ?></a>
        <?php } ?>
    </div>
    <?php if ($error_warning) { ?>
        <div class="warning"><?php echo $error_warning; ?></div>
    <?php } ?>
    <div class="box">
    <div class="heading">
        <h1><img src="view/image/module.png" alt="" /> <?php echo $heading_title; ?></h1>
        <div class="buttons">
            <a onclick="$('#form').submit();" class="button"><?php echo $button_save; ?></a>

            <a onclick="removeModule();" class="button"><?php echo $button_delete ?></a>            

            <a onclick="location = '<?php echo $cancel; ?>';" class="button"><?php echo $button_cancel; ?></a></div>
        </div>

        <div class="content">
            <form action="<?php echo $action; ?>" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" id="form">
            <div class="vtabsQS">
                <?php $module_row = 1; ?>               
                <?php foreach ($modules as $module) 
                {  ?>
                <div style="margin-left: -7px; float:left;">
                    <input type="checkbox" style="float: left; margin-top: 8px;" id="tab-<?php echo $module_row; ?>" onClick="" value="#tab-<?php echo $module_row; ?>"  />                 
                    <a href="#tab-module-<?php echo $module_row; ?>" id="module-<?php echo $module_row; ?>">
                        <?php foreach ($languages as $language) 
                        { ?> 
                            <label class="inputLrgTab"><?php if (!empty($module['language_id'][$language['language_id']])) { echo $module['language_id'][$language['language_id']];} ?></label> 
                        <?php } ?>                                      
                    </a><br />          
                </div>              
                <?php $module_row++; ?>
                <?php } ?>
                <span id="module-add" style="clear: both; margin-left: -7px;"><?php echo $button_add_module; ?>&nbsp;<img src="view/image/add.png" alt="" onclick="addModule();" /></span>
            </div>          


        <?php $module_row = 1; ?>
        <?php foreach ($modules as $module) { ?>
        <div id="tab-module-<?php echo $module_row; ?>" class="vtabs-content" style="margin-left:230px;">
          <table class="form">
            <tr>
              <td><?php echo $entry_title; ?></td>
              <td class="left">
                <?php foreach ($languages as $language) { ?>
                <img src="view/image/flags/<?php echo $language['image']; ?>" alt="<?php echo $language['name']; ?>" />
                <input class="inputLrg" type="text" name="<?php echo $classname; ?>_module[<?php echo $module_row; ?>][language_id][<?php echo $language['language_id']; ?>]" value="<?php if (!empty($module['language_id'][$language['language_id']])) { echo $module['language_id'][$language['language_id']];} ?>">
                <br />
                <?php } ?>
                <span class="error"><?php echo $error_title; ?></span>
              </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td><?php echo $entry_limit; ?></td>

Answer 1

You should get the parent of the element you are trying to remove and use the remove child method to find and remove the element

element.parentNode.removeChild(element);

this works in all browsers including IE.

Answer 2

remove() as a method on HTMLElements unfortunately is not supported by Internet Explorer.

You could use the workaround in this SO answer for a vanilla javascript solution.

However as you already seem to use jQuery, instead replace

document.getElementById('tab-' + x).remove();

with

$('#tab-' + x).remove();

Answer 3

You should use this

element.parentElement.removeChild(element);

Supported by all browser and also have some benefits over just a hack to remove child element.

Here is another workaround for keep using .remove() function

Element.prototype.remove = function() {
    this.parentElement.removeChild(this);
}
NodeList.prototype.remove = HTMLCollection.prototype.remove = function() {
    for(var i = this.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
        if(this[i] && this[i].parentElement) {
            this[i].parentElement.removeChild(this[i]);
        }
    }
}

And then you can remove elements like this

document.getElementById("my-element").remove();

or

document.getElementsByClassName("my-elements").remove();

Here is Stack Overflow link for further info also source of this answer.