alert - How to get the content of a hidden sibling-div to a button - JQuery related -

maybe i've searched poorly, far have not found answer question. first code of javascript function:

<script>     function showcomment(){         var $data = $(this).parent("td").contents("div.hiddencomment").text();         console.log($data);         alert($data);         return false;     } </script> 

i've included the html code i'm working on below. <table>, , in 1 <td> there <button> , hidden <div>. content of <div> should presented in alert/dialog box.

<table class="center">       <thead>           <tr>              <th>status</th>              <th>datum</th>              <th>zeit</th>              <th>amount</th>              <th>source</th>              <th colspan="2">comment</th>           </tr>        </thead>        <tbody>            <tr>              <td>status1</td>              <td>2013-04-04</td>              <td>06:30:38</td>              <td>3.646.268,00</td>              <td>src1</td>              <td>                 <div class="hiddencomment">a comment</div>                 <button name="showcomment" type="button" href="#" class="showcomment" onclick="showcomment()">show</button>              </td>              <td><a href="#" class="addcomment">add</a>              </td>           </tr>           <tr>              <td>status</td>              <td>2013-04-05</td>              <td>06:30:48</td>              <td>1.732.213,00</td>              <td>src2</td>              <td>                 <div class="hiddencomment">an other comment</div>                 <button name="showcomment" type="button" href="#" class="showcomment" onclick="showcomment()">show</button>              </td>              <td><a href="#" class="addcomment">add</a>              </td>           </tr>           .....       </body> </table> 

i guess can idea <table> code. anyhow, best achieved until after searching web "undefined" message.

what should note: class .hiddencomment has css property display:none.

any hints, tips , tricks warmly welcome!

thanks time , help.

you can attach click event class showcomment. there can previous element , it's text.

demo

$('.showcomment').click(function(){     alert($(this).prev().text());     //or below if order of elements might change.     //alert($(this).siblings('.hiddencomment').text()); }); 

if of content dynamicly loaded can use delegate:

$('body').on('click','.showcomment',function(){     alert($(this).prev().text());  });