Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'top' of undefined

I apologize if this question has already been answered. I've tried searching for solutions but could not find any that suited my code. I'm still new to jQuery.

I have two different types of sticky menus for two different pages. Here's the code for both.

$(document).ready(function () {
    var contentNav = $('.content-nav').offset().top;
    var stickyNav = function () {
        var scrollTop = $(window).scrollTop();
        if (scrollTop > contentNav) {
            $('.content-nav').addClass('content-nav-sticky');
        } else {;
            $('.content-nav').removeClass('content-nav-sticky')
        }
    };
    stickyNav();
    $(window).scroll(function () {
        stickyNav();
    });
});
$(document).ready(function () {
    var stickyNavTop = $('.nav-map').offset().top;
    // var contentNav = $('.content-nav').offset().top;
    var stickyNav = function () {
        var scrollTop = $(window).scrollTop();
        if (scrollTop > stickyNavTop) {
            $('.nav-map').addClass('sticky');
            // $('.content-nav').addClass('sticky');
        } else {
            $('.nav-map').removeClass('sticky');
            // $('.content-nav').removeClass('sticky')
        }
    };
    stickyNav();
    $(window).scroll(function () {
        stickyNav();
    });
});

My problem is that the code for the sticky side menu on the bottom doesn't work because the second line of code var contentNav = $('.content-nav').offset().top; fires a error that reads "Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'top' of undefined". In fact, no other jQuery code below that second line works at all unless they are placed above it.

After some researching, I think the problem is that $('.content-nav').offset().top can't find the specified selector because it's on a different page. If so, I can't find a solution.

Check if the jQuery object contains any element before you try to get its offset:

var nav = $('.content-nav');
if (nav.length) {
  var contentNav = nav.offset().top;
  ...continue to set up the menu
}

Your document does not contain any element with class content-nav, thus the method .offset() returns undefined which indeed has no top property.

You can see for yourself in this fiddle

alert($('.content-nav').offset());

(you will see "undefined")

To avoid crashing the whole code, you can have such code instead:

var top = ($('.content-nav').offset() || { "top": NaN }).top;
if (isNaN(top)) {
    alert("something is wrong, no top");
} else {
    alert(top);
}

Updated fiddle.

The problem you are most likely having is that there is a link somewhere in the page to an anchor that does not exist. For instance, let's say you have the following:

<a href="#examples">Skip to examples</a>

There has to be an element in the page with that id, example:

<div id="examples">Here are the examples</div>

So make sure that each one of the links are matched inside the page with it's corresponding anchor.

I know this is extremely old, but I understand that this error type is a common mistake for beginners to make since most beginners will call their functions upon their header element being loaded. Seeing as this solution is not addressed at all in this thread, I'll add it. It is very likely that this javascript function was placed before the actual html was loaded. Remember, if you immediately call your javascript before the document is ready then elements requiring an element from the document might find an undefined value.

I ran through similar problem and found that I was trying to get the offset of footer but I was loading my script inside a div before the footer. It was something like this:

<div> I have some contents </div>
<script>
  $('footer').offset().top;
</script>
<footer>This is footer</footer>

So, the problem was, I was calling the footer element before the footer was loaded.

I pushed down my script below footer and it worked fine!

If this error appears whenever you click on the <a> tag. Try the code below.

CORRECT :

<a href="javascript:void(0)">

This malfunction occurs because your href is set to # inside of your <a> tag. Basically, your app is trying to find href which does not exist. The right way to set empty href is shown above.

WRONG :

<a href="#">

I had the same problem ("Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'top' of undefined")

I tried every solution I could find and noting helped. But then I've spotted that my DIV had two IDs.

So, I removed second ID and it worked.

I just wish somebody told me to check my IDs earlier))

In my case, I found a strange issue, I use this function to autoscroll to the last comment when posted by users, Actually, I added the same function twice in separate pages, when activate it for one page and disable it in the other the issue occur, when activate it in both pages the function passed successfully.

So strange :(