src code

class method Element.recursivelyCollect

Element.recursivelyCollect(element, property) → [Element…]

Recursively collects elements whose relationship to element is specified by property. property has to be a property (a method won't do!) of element that points to a single DOM node (e.g., nextSibling or parentNode).

More information

This method is used internally by Element.ancestors, Element.descendants, Element.nextSiblings, Element.previousSiblings and Element.siblings which offer really convenient way to grab elements, so directly accessing Element.recursivelyCollect should seldom be needed. However, if you are after something out of the ordinary, it is the way to go.

Note that all of Prototype's DOM traversal methods ignore text nodes and return element nodes only.

Examples
<ul id="fruits">
  <li id="apples">
    <ul id="list-of-apples">
      <li id="golden-delicious"><p>Golden Delicious</p></li>
      <li id="mutsu">Mutsu</li>
      <li id="mcintosh">McIntosh</li>
      <li id="ida-red">Ida Red</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

And the associated JavaScript:

$('fruits').recursivelyCollect('firstChild');
// -> [li#apples, ul#list-of-apples, li#golden-delicious, p]

This method can be called either as an instance method or as a generic method. If calling as a generic, pass the instance in as the first argument.