Trigger click in Typescript - Property 'click' does not exist on type 'Element'

Question

I would like to trigger a click event on a HTML element in Typescript/Reactjs.

let element: Element = document.getElementsByClassName('btn')[0]; element.click(); 

The code above does work. But I'm getting a Typescript error:

ERROR in [at-loader] ./src/App.tsx:124:17 TS2339: Property 'click' does not exist on type 'Element'. 

So what would be the correct way to do this?

Answer 1

Use the type HTMLElement instead of Element. HTMLElement inherits from Element. And in the documentation you can find that click function is defined in the HTMLElement.

Cast your element into the HTMLElement via

let element: HTMLElement = document.getElementsByClassName('btn')[0] as HTMLElement; element.click(); 

Answer 2

Correct (type safe) way is:

if (element instanceof HTMLElement) {   element.click(); } 

You shouldn't use forced casts (as suggested by other answers) unless you really need them.