Set value of textbox using JQuery

Make sure you have the right selector, and then wait until the page is ready and that the element exists until you run the function.

$(function(){
    $('#searchBar').val('hi')
});

As Derek points out, the ID is wrong as well.

Change to $('#main_search')


You are logging sup directly which is a string

console.log('sup')

Also you are using the wrong id

The template says #main_search but you are using #searchBar

I suppose you are trying this out

$(function() {
   var sup = $('#main_search').val('hi')
   console.log(sup);  // sup is a variable here
});