Enable & Disable a Div and its elements in Javascript

You should be able to set these via the attr() or prop() functions in jQuery as shown below:

jQuery (< 1.7):

// This will disable just the div
$("#dcacl").attr('disabled','disabled');

or

// This will disable everything contained in the div
$("#dcacl").children().attr("disabled","disabled");

jQuery (>= 1.7):

// This will disable just the div
$("#dcacl").prop('disabled',true);

or

// This will disable everything contained in the div
$("#dcacl").children().prop('disabled',true);

or

//  disable ALL descendants of the DIV
$("#dcacl *").prop('disabled',true);

Javascript:

// This will disable just the div
document.getElementById("dcalc").disabled = true;

or

// This will disable all the children of the div
var nodes = document.getElementById("dcalc").getElementsByTagName('*');
for(var i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++){
     nodes[i].disabled = true;
}