# What in the world might this be?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-in-the-world-might-this-be/176880>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 7, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-in-the-world-might-this-be/176880 "2009-10-07T15:14:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RVince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RVince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RVince)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-in-the-world-might-this-be/176880/1 "2009-10-07T15:14:18Z")

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I am using the autocomplete plugin succesfully in a Rails 2.3.2  
application. However, when I run in firebug, when it first renders, I  
get the following error, below. Can anyone tell me what on earth might  
be the cause (and cure?) of this? Thanks, RVince

element is null  
anonymous(Object name=element)prototyp…249466790 (line 3588)  
anonymous()prototyp…249466790 (line 3723)  
anonymous(function(), “channel[channelnote\_note]”, 1, function())  
prototyp…249466790 (line 3708)  
anonymous()prototyp…249466790 (line 248)  
klass()prototyp…249466790 (line 51)  
uplog?update=UpLogBody()uplog?up…UpLogBody (line 175)  
[Break on this error] var method = element.tagName.toLowerCase();  
\nprototyp…249466790 (line 3588)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RVince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RVince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RVince)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-in-the-world-might-this-be/176880/2 "2009-10-07T18:43:54Z")

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RVince wrote:

> element is null  
> anonymous(Object name=element)prototyp…249466790 (line 3588)  
> anonymous()prototyp…249466790 (line 3723)  
> anonymous(function(), “channel[channelnote\_note]”, 1, function())  
> prototyp…249466790 (line 3708)  
> anonymous()prototyp…249466790 (line 248)  
> klass()prototyp…249466790 (line 51)  
> uplog?update=UpLogBody()uplog?up…UpLogBody (line 175)  
> [Break on this error] var method = element.tagName.toLowerCase();  
> \nprototyp…249466790 (line 3588)

I don’t speak JS or Prototype very well, but it sounds to me likt it’s  
trying to to “toLowerCase()” on something that’s nil… Is it just me?