JavaScript reset populated field in PHP/AJAX

Question

I have some jQuery that uses AJAX and JSON to populate a UL tag with data.

This is the jQuery code:

 $('#pSearch').on('click', function()
 {
   var partnername = $('#pNameSearch').val();
   if($.trim(partnername) != '')
   {
     $.post('api/pNameSearch.php', {partnername: partnername}, function(data)
     {
       var obj = JSON.parse(data);
       $('#pName').empty();
       var htmlToInsert = obj.map(function (item)
       {
         return '<li>' + item.datestamp + ' - ' + item.comment + ' - ' + item.username + '</li>';
       }).join('');
       $('#pNames').html(htmlToInsert);
     });
   };
 });

The code above populates a UL field called pNames. It fills LI tags with parsed JSON data retrieved from a PHP script.

What I need to do now is clear the pNames field.

In the search window that prints the data, I have an HTML RESET button.

 <input type="reset" class="btn btn-sm btn-default" id="pReset" name="pReset" value="reset" />

Please note the TYPE in the input field, which I have set to 'reset', will clear out the FORM field, but it will not clear out the UL field that populated the data.

Here is the JavaScript I attempted to use to clear out the field:

 $('#pReset').on('click', function () 
 {
   document.getElementById('#pName').val("");
 });

What can I try next?

Answer 1

Update

Since you didn't post your code, let's go with this simplified example:

HTML:

<h3><code>pNames</code></h3>
<ul id="pNames">
</ul>
<div>
    <button id="get-pnames">Get pNames</button>
    <input type="reset" id="pReset" value="Reset pNames" />
    <input type="reset" id="pClear" value="Clear pNames" />
</div>

JS

var yourOriginalAjaxCallbackLogic = function (obj) {
    var htmlToInsert = obj.map(function (item) {
        //console.log(
         return '<li>' + item.datestamp + ' - ' + item.comment + ' - ' + item.username + '</li>';
       }).join('');
       $('#pNames').html(htmlToInsert);
};

$('#get-pnames').on('click', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    // your additional logic for grabbing 
    // the pName and what not would go here

    // note the last argument to $.post - this allows us to let jQuery
    // take care of converting the json response
    $.post('api/pNameSearch.php', {partnername: partnername}, function (data) {
        yourOriginalAjaxCallbackLogic(data);
    }, 'json');
});

// This version just removes the content of the LI items.
$('#pReset').on('click', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    $('#pNames li').html('');
});

// This version removes all the LI items
$('#pClear').on('click', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    $('#pNames').empty();
});

You can see a working fiddle here: http://jsfiddle.net/qhrmh3o1/1/

---

.val is only for form inputs. These are li elements so you would use $('li').html('');

$('#pReset').on('click', function () {
   $('#pName li').html('');
});

You may need to modify that selector because I'm not 100% positive what the selector should be for the li items you want to clear (or if you really want to remove them or their ul from the DOM).