Sorry I see that the comments don't line up well, thought I'd re-write the code such as to simplify reading the comments:
// select all the cells with class "mychkbox" : $("td.mychkbox").each( // apply the mousedown event to each one of these : function(){ $(this).bind( "mousedown", // (and here $(this) is correctly referring to those cells // because the mousedown event is triggering correctly on all of them) function(){ if (allchecked.attr("checked")==false){ // only if allchecked is NOT checked, do such n such. // Now what I need to do here is get the "checked" state of the // checkbox which is a child of the table cell. // If I do: var itsme = this; // this seems to get the table cell, in fact: alert(itsme); // gives me [object HtmlTableCellElement] // But I can't seem to access any of the attributes of the table cell // let alone the children. alert(itsme.name); // gives "undefined" // or: var itsyou = itsme.attr("name"); alert(itsyou); // gives no results, it actually stops everything from working. // or: var itsyou = eccomi.find("input:checkbox"); alert(eccoti); // gives no results, it actually stops everything from working } }); }); Hmmm... I'm stumped, I can't access the child checkbox, much less the child checkboxes "checked" value. Anyone have any ideas?