javascript - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'toLowerCase' of undefined

Question

I'm getting this error and it is originating from jquery framework. When i try to load a select list on document ready i get this error. I can't seem to find why i'm getting this error.

It works for the change event, but i'm getting the error when trying to execute the function manually.

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'toLowerCase' of undefined -> jquery-2.1.1.js:7300

Here is the code

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#CourseSelect").change(loadTeachers);
    loadTeachers();
});

function loadTeachers() {
    $.ajax({ 
        type: 'GET', 
        url: '/Manage/getTeachers/' + $(this).val(), 
        dataType: 'json', 
        cache: false,
        success:function(data) { 
            $('#TeacherSelect').get(0).options.length = 0;    
            $.each(data, function(i, teacher) {
                var option = $('<option />');
                option.val(teacher.employeeId);
                option.text(teacher.name);
                $('#TeacherSelect').append(option);
            });
        },         
        error: function() { 
            alert("Error while getting results"); 
        }
    });
}

Answer 1

When you call loadTeachers() on DOMReady the context of this will not be the #CourseSelect element.

You can fix this by triggering a change() event on the #CourseSelect element on load of the DOM:

$("#CourseSelect").change(loadTeachers).change(); // or .trigger('change');

Alternatively can use $.proxy to change the context the function runs under:

$("#CourseSelect").change(loadTeachers);
$.proxy(loadTeachers, $('#CourseSelect'))();

Or the vanilla JS equivalent of the above, bind():

$("#CourseSelect").change(loadTeachers);
loadTeachers.bind($('#CourseSelect'));