Back Link Show and Hide?

[greencode]

I'd like to use the

a href="javascript: history.go(-1)

as a link on a Back Button I have on a number of pages but the only trouble with this is if you go direct to that page and therefore there's no page to go back to then the button doesn't do anything.

Is there any javascript out there that will show the link if there's a page to go back to or hide it if there's not?

[Fotiman]

The history object has a length property. You could check to see if history.length > 1.

[greencode]

Thanks for that - any idea how to implement? I've no idea!

[Fotiman]

For example, put this just before the closing </body>:

<script type="text/javascript">
// Note, I'm defining window.onload but a better
// approach would be to attach an event listener to the
// window load event (for example, using your favorite
// framework like jQuery, yui, etc., or defining your
// own method for attaching event listeners)
window.onload = function () {
  var backBtn;
  // See if this window has history
  if (window.history.length > 1) {
    // It does, so lets create the back button
    backBtn = document.createElement('input');
    backBtn.type = 'button';
    backBtn.value = 'Back';
    backBtn.onclick = function () {
      window.history.go(-1);
    };
    // Attach this element wherever you want it
    document.body.appendChild(backBtn);
  }
}
</script>

[greencode]

Many thanks for this Fotiman - I'll implement and report back.