How to Create a Script Element in JavaScript?

Quick tip of the day, in this post we will see how to add a script to the page head dynamically.

For example, at danyal.dk I am not using moment.js library, and in order to present hot to add a js library dynamically to the HTML.

Consider the following HTML markup: index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Coding Beauty Tutorial</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="box"></div>

    <script src="app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

Here’s how we can use JavaScript to create a script element in the HTML:

  • Use the document.createElement() method to create the script element.
  • Set the src attribute on the element object to a script file.
  • By setting the async property to true, the browser won’t have to load and evaluate the script before continuing to parse the HTML. Instead, the script file will be loaded in parallel to reduce delays and speed up the processing of the page.
  • Our page listens for the onload event in order to perform an action when the script file has been loaded successfully.
  • Our page also listens for the onerror event so that we can perform a different action in case there was an error with loading the script.
  • Include the script element in the HTML using the appendChild() method.

app.js

const script = document.createElement('script');

script.src =
  'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.29.4/moment.min.js';

script.async = true;


script.onload = () => {
  console.log('moment.js script is loaded successfuly');
  console.log(moment().format('MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm:ss a'))
};

script.onerror = () => {
  console.log('Error occurred while loading script');
};

document.body.appendChild(script);

Script execution in browser console & outcome

That’s how you can add a javascript remote or local script to the HTML DOM.
Cheers, see you in the next post!

Author: Danyal
I'm skilled programmer with expertise in Vue.js/Nux.js for front-end development and PHP Laravel for back-end development. I excel in building APIs and services, and also have experience in web server setup & maintenance. My versatile skill set allows you to develop and maintain web applications effectively, from the user interface to the server-side functionality. I love coding with never ending learning attitude, thanks for visiting danya.dk