Add .css() to prepended div

Question

This prepend function adds a div with the "colorBox" class, but I'm having trouble setting the css for the newly created div. I don't know if my syntax is quite right, but I'm trying to use the data-background value in the parent (li) tag.

I'm using this to add color boxes to multiselect options, and the plugin that I'm using converts each option into a <li> that is structured like the HTML I've included below.

JS

$(function(){
    $("li span").prepend('<div class="colorBox"></div>').css('background-color', $(this).parent().attr("data-background"));   
});

HTML

<ul>
    <li data-background="#C11B17">
        <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="Brick_Red">
        <span>Brick Red</span>
    </li>
</ul>

Answer 1

Try splitting your code up a bit. It's failing because .css() is actually being called on the parent and this is referring to window in your context.

jsFiddle

$(function(){
    // Get all elements matching selector 'li span'
    var spans = $("li span");
    // Loop for each element in spans
    spans.each(function () {
        // Create the new element as a jQuery object
        var elem = $('<div class="colorBox">test</div>');
        // Set the new element's background-color to the attribute on the parent
        // of the span
        elem.css('background-color', $(this).parent().attr("data-background"));
        // Prepend the new element to the span (insert it as the first child)
        $(this).prepend(elem);
    });
});

If you mean to wrap "Brick Red" in the div then you will need to use .wrap() or .wrapInner().

jsFiddle

$(this).wrap(elem);

---

Update

If you're after custom checkboxes, I suggest a more css-driven approach which takes advantage of the <label> tag.

jsFiddle

HTML

<ul>
    <li data-background="#C11B17">
        <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="Brick_Red" id="checkbox1" />
        <label for="checkbox1">
            <span>Brick Red</span>
        </label>
    </li>
</ul>

CSS

input[type=checkbox] {
    display:none;
}

input[type=checkbox] + label:before {
    display:inline-block;
    content:"";
    width:1em;
    height:1em;
    background-color:#CCC;
}

input[type=checkbox]:checked + label:before {
    background-color:#C11B17;
}

Note that this method will work in IE8+ without any polyfills.