Getting an element by its CSS class name starting with a dot

Question

I had to rename a CSS class that used to start with a # sign to a dot so it could be handled by the ExtJS framework properly.

That jQuery script used to work fine until I made that change, now it whines it cannot find the element.

I'm not very used to jQuery, my question is is this supposed to work?

$('.x-panel-body-cssmenu li.has-sub>a').on('click', function(){

    //some code that errors out because .x-panel-body-cssmenu can't be found apparently...

});

This is the HTML in question:

<div class="x-panel x-border-item x-box-item x-panel-cssmenu" style="height: 441px; right: auto; left: 0px; top: 100px; margin: 0px; width: 200px;" id="navigationmenu-1011">
    <div id="navigationmenu-1011-body" class="x-panel-body x-panel-body-cssmenu x-layout-fit x-panel-body-cssmenu" style="height: 441px; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 200px;">            
        <ul>
            <li class="active"><a href="#"><span>Home</span></a></li>
            <li class="has-sub"><a href="#"><span>Eligibility list</span></a>
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#"><span>View/manage list</span></a></li>
                    <li><a href="#"><span>Add employee</span></a></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            <li><a href="#"><span>Cases</span></a></li>
            <li class="last"><a href="#"><span>Documents</span></a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>

And the CSS (.x-panel-body-cssmenu used to be called #cssmenu:

.x-panel-body-cssmenu,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul li,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul li a {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  border: 0;
  list-style: none;
  line-height: 1;
  display: block;
  position: relative;
  -webkit-box-sizing: border-box;
  -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu {
  width: 200px;
  font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  color: #ffffff;
  float: left;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul {
  display: none;
}
.align-right {
  float: right;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > a {
  padding: 15px 20px;
  border-left: 1px solid #1682ba;
  border-right: 1px solid #1682ba;
  border-top: 1px solid #1682ba;
  cursor: pointer;
  z-index: 2;
  font-size: 14px;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: #ffffff;
  text-shadow: 0 1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
  background: #36aae7;
  background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#36aae7, #1fa0e4);
  background: -moz-linear-gradient(#36aae7, #1fa0e4);
  background: -o-linear-gradient(#36aae7, #1fa0e4);
  background: -ms-linear-gradient(#36aae7, #1fa0e4);
  background: linear-gradient(#36aae7, #1fa0e4);
  box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.15);
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > a:hover,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.active > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.open > a {
  color: #eeeeee;
  background: #1fa0e4;
  background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#1fa0e4, #1992d1);
  background: -moz-linear-gradient(#1fa0e4, #1992d1);
  background: -o-linear-gradient(#1fa0e4, #1992d1);
  background: -ms-linear-gradient(#1fa0e4, #1992d1);
  background: linear-gradient(#1fa0e4, #1992d1);
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.open > a {
  box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.15), 0 1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  border-bottom: 1px solid #1682ba;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li:last-child > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.last > a {
  border-bottom: 1px solid #1682ba;
}
.holder {
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
}
.holder::after,
.holder::before {
  display: block;
  position: absolute;
  content: '';
  width: 6px;
  height: 6px;
  right: 20px;
  z-index: 10;
  -webkit-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -moz-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -ms-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -o-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  transform: rotate(-135deg);
}
.holder::after {
  top: 17px;
  border-top: 2px solid #ffffff;
  border-left: 2px solid #ffffff;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > a:hover > span::after,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.active > a > span::after,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li.open > a > span::after {
  border-color: #eeeeee;
}
.holder::before {
  top: 18px;
  border-top: 2px solid;
  border-left: 2px solid;
  border-top-color: inherit;
  border-left-color: inherit;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li a {
  cursor: pointer;
  border-bottom: 1px solid #32373e;
  border-left: 1px solid #32373e;
  border-right: 1px solid #32373e;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  z-index: 1;
  text-decoration: none;
  font-size: 13px;
  color: #eeeeee;
  background: #49505a;
  box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li:hover > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li.open > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li.active > a {
  background: #424852;
  color: #ffffff;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li:first-child > a {
  box-shadow: none;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul ul li:first-child > a {
  box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul ul li a {
  padding-left: 30px;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > ul > li:last-child > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > ul > li.last > a {
  border-bottom: 0;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > ul > li.open:last-child > a,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > ul > li.last.open > a {
  border-bottom: 1px solid #32373e;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu > ul > li > ul > li.open:last-child > ul > li:last-child > a {
  border-bottom: 0;
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li.has-sub > a::after {
  display: block;
  position: absolute;
  content: '';
  width: 5px;
  height: 5px;
  right: 20px;
  z-index: 10;
  top: 11.5px;
  border-top: 2px solid #eeeeee;
  border-left: 2px solid #eeeeee;
  -webkit-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -moz-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -ms-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  -o-transform: rotate(-135deg);
  transform: rotate(-135deg);
}
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li.active > a::after,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li.open > a::after,
.x-panel-body-cssmenu ul ul li > a:hover::after {
  border-color: #ffffff;
}

I tried escaping the dot, no dot, using a pound sign anyways, no go.

Any ideas ?

Answer 1

NB: This answers the original question. The question has been since edited to show code with which there doesn't appear to be any problem at all.

---

In general, you should avoid using special characters in class names at all. They are more trouble then they are worth.

However, if you are stuck with a class name containing a special character, you can escape it.

You also have an additional problem is that you need to prefix the class name with a . in a selector to indicate that you are using a class selector:

In your selector:

.\.x-panel-body-cssmenu

Note that since you are putting your selector in a JavaScript string literal, and \ is a special character there, you need to escape the \

".\\.x-panel-body-cssmenu"

NB: There is no such thing as a CSS class. HTML has classes, CSS has class selectors.