Need to include external file in HTML

[webmouse]

Sorry if this turns out to be a stupid question I'm a newbie to javascript.
Does javascript have a command comparable to the php command 'include'?

I have the need to change some variable settings without having to edit the html source. I was going to have a file that would look like:

var description1="#*$!xxx";
var description2="xxxxxx";

that could just be uploaded when some things need to be changed. Unfortunately the host of the website does not have database support, so I need to be able to upload a file that will allow for text on the webpage to be changed.

[rocknbil]

Have you considered server side includes, and does your host support them?

<!-- #include virtual="/some_other_directory/file.txt" -->

or

<!-- #include file="same_directory_file.txt" -->

the file normally has to be named with an .shtml extension to be parsed so that the file is included.

[webmouse]

Thanks! I'll give that a try. After further research it looks as if I should also be able to do:
<script src=#*$!x.js ....>
also. Sorry, it does appear to be a stupid question. Thanks for the help.

[Rambo Tribble]

You might also wish to consider iframes, both for visible content and/or for invisible parameter passing. XMLHttpRequest is now supported by a number of popular browsers, and is considered by many to be the most efficient way to stay within the page's execution framework while dynamically retrieving data from the server. [developer.apple.com...]

[SpaceFrog]

I personnaly would not go for frames nor iframes and would just use external javascript files:

<script type="text/javascript" id="mydata" src="fileone.js"></script>

should you need to change to another source file with other values of variables:

document.getElementById('mydata').src='newfile.js'

[Bernard Marx]

Changing the src of a SCRIPT element is really convenient, but it appears to only work in IE.

try this:
[jpspan.sourceforge.net...]

and wrt SCRIPT elements:
[dotvoid.com...]

[Rambo Tribble]

It was my understanding that this is a nonstandard behaviour on IE's part (can you imagine?), and that the specification calls for all scripts associated with a page to be available at load.

My only concern with XMLHttpRequest is that, to my understanding, in IE it is implemented as an ActiveX control. I would hope that most who still use IE to browse the web have ActiveX disabled, or at least hobbled.

Regarding iframes and quoting from Goodman's Dynamic HTML, Second Edition, "Because an iframe element draws its content from a separate server file, it may be used as a way to accomplish client-side 'includes'."