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I've ran into this Platform- / Browser-relevant Pitfall.
Work on a site full of nice, formely not-working stuff (png, css), which is located at [d-ing.net,...] but, of course, I can't get the simplest thing of all to properly work:
the layer-toggle.
I've set up some rather simple js-scripts which use the "getelementbyid()" to toggle .style.visibility, which, on a mac, work on most of every decent, modern browser outthere (netscape, mozilla, omni, safari, ie, opera), but, hey, the monopoly side told me to go back to field one and start over again.
setting up a "document.all" specially and exclusively for the browser called "" doesn't yet seem to work either...
But why is MSIE 5+, which I am told is able to understand "getelementbyid()", reluctant to toggle those layers? What am I doing wrong (besides ignoring the elderly browsers)?
thanks for any help
david
That being said, the correct syntax for getelementbyid() is getElementById(). Maybe that helps? Otherwise, please post the relevant lines of code.
No, the syntax is not the problem. I have it set correctly. Here's the snippets (Since it's a work in Progress again, there are probably awkward lines in it):
// the layer toggle:
function toggle(which, state){
if(document.all) {
state == 'hidden'? eval('document.all["'+which+'"].style.visibility = "hidden"') : eval('document.all["'+which+'"].style.visibility = "visible"');
}
else {document.getElementById(which).style.visibility = state
}
}
// the layer trigger:
function showdetail(which) {
if(detailshowed){toggle(detailshowed,'hidden')}
detailshowed = which
toggle(which,'visible')
}
function shownext(tohide,which) {
toggle(tohide,'hidden') // hide the first argument
if(which) {toggle(which,'visible'); // if there's a second argument, show it - works as a toggle and avoids a layer to stay on stage
detailshowed = which
}
}
========================
in the HTML, there's the following (not working) snippets:
<ul><li><a href="#ipk" onClick="showdetail('ipk'); return false">IPK 1999 -2004</a></li></ul>
<!-- and its target (truncated): -->
<a name="ipk"></a>
<div class="hiddenbox" id="ipk" onClick="shownext(this.id,'ipk2')">
<h2>IPK 1999 - 2004</h2>
</div>
<a name="ipk2"></a>
<div class="hiddenbox" id="ipk" onClick="shownext(this.id')">
<h2>IPK 1999 - 2004</h2>
</div>
When using this state of the stuff in IE (Mac, 5.2.3), the returned msg is
"document.all.ipk.style" is not an object.
Do you have an idea what the problem in the above code-snippets might be?
Thanks very much already
david
(I just went to check what happens if it always goes to document.getElementsById(), and on the mac, and it works - it'll most probably won't do it under Windows... but here I have to find myself a windows-box to really find out...)
===========================================
My Apologies for not having respected the Forums Term of Use (of not pointing to my site). I did it to give an opportunity to see what I'm struggling with and because I did not realize it isn't allowed.
"document.all.ipk.style" is not an object
By the way, why use eval() in the toggle function? It seems harmless but useless to me...
Thanks very much for hinting me on a typo...
Of course the ids are supposed to be unique - I start with an id='ipk' and then go on counting: #ipk2, #ipk3, etc.
On the page I actually struggle with, the IDs are set correctly, so I don't think that this is the problem... (Just went, and double-checked)
I throwed in the eval() out of pure desperation, and as a kind of a last resort (of my limited knowledge/imagination), just as I throwed in the "if(document.all()"-part.
Isn't MSIE on Windows supposed to support the getElementsById()-method?
Or could there be a conflict with any kind of CSS, or HTML-Formatting causing a script to be not working? - although hard to imagine, you find me clueless about why it doesn't work on Win-boxes...
In recent browsers you don't really need them anyway, because an ID can also be used as an anchor.
...should work. Note that you should put the getElementById function FIRST since that is the standard way of accessing elements (even in IE). Also, you should not put quotes around "which" in your document.all call :)
Thanks a million for looking into the issue and especially for helping me out of this. Although I remember I was considering the Anchor as a possible issue, I thought 'no, this can't be it' and didn't furrther think about it.
Luckily enough, it (the anchor) made the way into the forum. I'd have stared at the code for ages without getting it, I guess!
Now I can go on with my little adventure of 'replacing flash' (or so)
Again, accept all my respect and gratefulness...
david
