window.open questions

[shadowayex]

I'm trying to build a javascript application to help me teach a class. I have one working version, but I'm trying to compact code a little bit, so I came up with an idea. I built a small structured model that hasn't worked. Basically I'm trying to have one window open another window, and have the first window edit the second window's content via document.getElementById. I know i can edit via document.write, and I'm using that for my first version, but it's a lot of code. Here's an example:I can:

var openit = window.open("page.html", "", "*features here*");openit.document.write("hi");

And the window will appear with hi in it.But I would like to make it so text will go into certain tags. Something like:Assume the page has a div with the id "main" on it:

var openit = window.open("page.html", "", "*features here*");openit.document.getElementById("main").innerHTML = "hi";

In theory, it should work the same as the first, but does not.Is this because getElementById is not supported in this situation as write is? And if that's the case, is there a different function I can use to obtain these results?EDIT: If someone would like to see the code of my first one, let me know and I'll gladly post it. It's a page builder that I can show the class example on without having to save any files, but once I update it, I'll probably make an open to save the page.

[Synook]

The problem is you are trying to access the element with ID "main" before it loads - it is simply not there yet. You could try putting the assignment inside the onload handler for the window.

var openit = window.open("page.html", "", "*features here*");openit.onload = function() {	openit.document.getElementById("main").innerHTML = "hi";}

[shadowayex]

Well, the concept works, but is there any way I can make it automatically right stuff into a <script> or <style> tag. I used openit.body.innerHTML to edit the body and it worked fine. Then I tried:openit.document.getElementsByTagName("script").innerHTML = "alert(\"hi\")";openit.document.getElementsByTagName("style").innerHTML = "body{background-color: #330099;}";but those didn't work >_<. Is there a way to input text into those as well?

[jeffman]

Couple things.1. getElementsByTagName returns a collection, not an element, even if there is only one member in the collection. So you have to access members by [index]. If there is just one of each, then of course the index will be [0].2. I'm not sure if you're still working with an empty document or if you're loading page.html. So: if you want to edit the script and style, make sure those tags exist first.

[shadowayex]

Ok, well, they exist. The function opens up a blank template and adds what I've told it to. And I'm not sure what you mean by the index thing, but I'll google around now that I know what I'm looking for.

[shadowayex]

Ok so after googling, here's what I got:

			function openPage() {				var features="status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,menubar=yes,width=2000,height=2000,top=0,left=0";				var openit = window.open("", "HelpWindow", features);				openit.document.getElementsByTagName("title")[0].innerHTML = "Testing";		openit.document.getElementsByTagName("style")[0].innerHTML = "body{background-color:#0066ff;}";		openit.document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0].innerHTML = "alert(\"Hi!\");";		openit.document.body.innerHTML = "<p>Hello<br />Everyone!</p>";			}

Doesn't work. When I take the [0] stuff out, the last line does, but the first few don't. Am I getting the wrong idea or?

[Synook]

Try putting everything after the window.open call into the openit onload handler.

[shadowayex]

Ah ha! Don't know why I took that out. Well it's back in and looks like:

			function openPage() {				var features="status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,menubar=yes,width=2000,height=2000,top=0,left=0";				var openit = window.open("", "HelpWindow", features);		openit.onload = function() {					openit.document.getElementsByTagName("title").innerHTML[0] = "Testing";			openit.document.getElementsByTagName("style").innerHTML[0] = "body{background-color:#0066ff;}";			openit.document.getElementsByTagName("script").innerHTML[0] = "alert(\"Hi!\");";			openit.document.body.innerHTML = "<p>Hello<br />Everyone!</p>";		}			}

And for now, it servers it's purpose. Now I just gotta edit it to what it's really supposed to do. If anyone would like to see it when it's done, send me a PM asking and I'll send the code to and you can try it. It's a JS page generator to make pages, preview them, preview the actual source code, and save the actual file.