files/en-us/web/api/elementinternals/ariaactivedescendantelement/index.md
{{APIRef("DOM")}}
The ariaActiveDescendantElement property of the {{domxref("ElementInternals")}} interface represents the current active element when focus is on a composite widget, combobox, textbox, group, or application.
The aria-activedescendant topic contains additional information about how the attribute and property should be used.
A subclass of {{domxref("HTMLElement")}} that represents the active descendant, or null if there is no active descendant.
The property is a flexible alternative to using the aria-activedescendant attribute.
Unlike aria-activedescendant, the element assigned to this property does not have to have an id attribute.
The property reflects the element's aria-activedescendant attribute when it is defined, but only for reference id values that match valid in-scope elements.
If the property is set, then the corresponding attribute is cleared.
For more information about reflected element references and scope see Reflected element references in the Reflected attributes guide.
{{Specifications}}
{{Compat}}
aria-activedescendant attribute