# How to know what type of element is selected (rectangle, ellipse, polygon...)

**URL:** <https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902>\
**Category:** UXP Plugin API\
**Tags:** javascript\
**Created:** [June 6, 2019, 11:19am UTC](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902 "2019-06-06T11:19:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![valentindb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/valentindb/32/1372_2.png) [@valentindb](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/u/valentindb)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:19am UTC](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902/1 "2019-06-06T11:19:50Z")

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Hello dear community,

I would like to know the selected element type of graphicNode, but do not really know how to proceed.  
I tried the following trying to know if the selected item is a Rectangle, but it seems that .includes() do not work, at least in my attempt:

```
currentNode = selection.items[0];
if (currentNode.includes("Rectangle (")){ /*do smthg*/ };

```

Any idea?  
thanks 🙂

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**Author:** ![stevekwak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/stevekwak/32/48_2.png) [@stevekwak](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/u/stevekwak)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902/2 "2019-06-06T14:41:12Z")

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Hi @valentindb, welcome to the community!

Try this:

```auto
const currentNode = selection.items[0];
const { Rectangle } = require("scenegraph");
if (currentNode instanceof Rectangle){ /*do smthg*/ };

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![valentindb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/valentindb/32/1372_2.png) [@valentindb](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/u/valentindb)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902/3 "2019-06-06T15:07:20Z")

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Hi Steve!

Thanks a lot for your quick reply.  
This works perfectly 👌  
I was able to implement it in my little ongoing plugin project that only works on Rectangles and Polygons for now.

I was looking for a way to detect when other type of graphicNodes are selected, so that I could display a Dialog when the plugin is triggered on a “not supported yet” graphicNode. So, perfect 🙂

Thanks a lot!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stevekwak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/stevekwak/32/48_2.png) [@stevekwak](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/u/stevekwak)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://forums.creativeclouddeveloper.com/t/how-to-know-what-type-of-element-is-selected-rectangle-ellipse-polygon/902/4 "2019-06-06T15:14:55Z")

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Glad to hear it was helpful!