JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, 2/e

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Strings

      1.1 Concatenating (Joining) Strings 

      1.2 Improving String Handling Performance 

      1.3 Accessing Substrings 

      1.4 Changing String Case 

      1.5 Testing Equality of Two Strings 

      1.6 Testing String Containment Without Regular Expressions 

      1.7 Testing String Containment with Regular Expressions 

      1.8 Searching and Replacing Substrings 

      1.9 Using Special and Escaped Characters 

      1.10 Reading and Writing Strings for Cookies 

      1.11 Converting Between Unicode Values and String Characters 

      1.12 Encoding and Decoding URL Strings 

      1.13 Encoding and Decoding Base64 Strings 

2. Numbers and Dates

      2.1 Converting Between Numbers and Strings 

      2.2 Testing a Number's Validity 

      2.3 Testing Numeric Equality 

      2.4 Rounding Floating-Point Numbers 

      2.5 Formatting Numbers for Text Display 

      2.6 Converting Between Decimal and Hexadecimal Numbers 

      2.7 Generating Pseudorandom Numbers 

      2.8 Calculating Trigonometric Functions 

      2.9 Creating a Date Object 

      2.10 Calculating a Previous or Future Date 

      2.11 Calculating the Number of Days Between Two Dates 

      2.12 Validating a Date 

3. Arrays and Objects

      3.1 Creating a Simple Array 

      3.2 Creating a Multidimensional Array 

      3.3 Converting Between Arrays and Strings 

      3.4 Doing Something with the Items in an Array 

      3.5 Sorting a Simple Array 

      3.6 Combining Arrays 

      3.7 Dividing Arrays 

      3.8 Creating a Custom Object 

      3.9 Simulating a Hash Table for Fast Array Lookup 

      3.10 Doing Something with a Property of an Object 

      3.11 Sorting an Array of Objects 

      3.12 Customizing an Object's Prototype 

      3.13 Converting Arrays and Custom Objects to Strings 

      3.14 Using Objects to Reduce Naming Conflicts 

4. Variables, Functions, and Flow Control

      4.1 Creating a JavaScript Variable 

      4.2 Creating a Named Function 

      4.3 Nesting Named Functions 

      4.4 Creating an Anonymous Function 

      4.5 Delaying a Function Call 

      4.6 Branching Execution Based on Conditions 

      4.7 Handling Script Errors Gracefully 

      4.8 Improving Script Performance 

5. Browser Feature Detection

      5.1 Detecting the Browser Brand 

      5.2 Detecting an Early Browser Version 

      5.3 Detecting the Internet Explorer Version 

      5.4 Detecting the Mozilla Version 

      5.5 Detecting the Safari Version 

      5.6 Detecting the Opera Version 

      5.7 Detecting the Client Operating System 

      5.8 Detecting Object Support 

      5.9 Detecting Object Property and Method Support 

      5.10 Detecting W3C DOM Standard Support 

      5.11 Detecting the Browser Written Language 

      5.12 Detecting Cookie Availability 

      5.13 Defining Browser- or Feature-Specific Links 

      5.14 Testing on Multiple Browser Versions 

6. Managing Browser Windows

      6.1 Living with Browser Window Control Limitations 

      6.2 Setting the Main Window's Size 

      6.3 Positioning the Main Window 

      6.4 Maximizing the Main Window 

      6.5 Creating a New Window 

      6.6 Bringing a Window to the Front 

      6.7 Communicating with a New Window 

      6.8 Communicating Back to the Main Window 

      6.9 Using Internet Explorer Modal/Modeless Windows 

      6.10 Simulating a Cross-Browser Modal Dialog Window 

      6.11 Simulating a Window with Layers 

7. Managing Multiple Frames

      7.1 Creating a Blank Frame in a New Frameset 

      7.2 Changing the Content of One Frame from Another 

      7.3 Changing the Content of Multiple Frames at Once 

      7.4 Replacing a Frameset with a Single Page 

      7.5 Avoiding Being "Framed" by Another Site 

      7.6 Ensuring a Page Loads in Its Frameset 

      7.7 Reading a Frame's Dimensions 

      7.8 Resizing Frames 

      7.9 Setting Frameset Specifications Dynamically 

8. Dynamic Forms

      8.1 Auto-Focusing the First Text Field 

      8.2 Performing Common Text Field Validations 

      8.3 Preventing Form Submission upon Validation Failure 

      8.4 Auto-Focusing an Invalid Text Field Entry 

      8.5 Using a Custom Validation Object 

      8.6 Changing a Form's Action 

      8.7 Blocking Submissions from the Enter Key 

      8.8 Advancing Text Field Focus with the Enter Key 

      8.9 Submitting a Form by an Enter Key Press in Any Text Box 

      8.10 Disabling Form Controls 

      8.11 Hiding and Showing Form Controls 

      8.12 Allowing Only Numbers (or Letters) in a Text Box 

      8.13 Auto-Tabbing for Fixed-Length Text Boxes 

      8.14 Changing select Element Content 

      8.15 Copying Form Data Between Pages 

9. Managing Events

      9.1 Equalizing the IE and W3C Event Models 

      9.2 Initiating a Process After the Page Loads 

      9.3 Appending Multiple Load Event Handlers 

      9.4 Determining the Coordinates of a Click Event 

      9.5 Preventing an Event from Performing Its Default Behavior 

      9.6 Blocking Duplicate Clicks 

      9.7 Determining Which Element Received an Event 

      9.8 Determining Which Mouse Button Was Pressed 

      9.9 Reading Which Character Key Was Typed 

      9.10 Reading Which Noncharacter Key Was Pressed 

      9.11 Determining Which Modifier Keys Were Pressed During an Event 

      9.12 Determining the Element the Cursor Rolled From/To 

      9.13 Synchronizing Sounds to Events 

10. Page Navigation Techniques

      10.1 Loading a New Page or Anchor 

      10.2 Keeping a Page Out of the Browser History 

      10.3 Using a select Element for Navigation 

      10.4 Passing Data Between Pages via Cookies 

      10.5 Passing Data Between Pages via Frames 

      10.6 Passing Data Between Pages via URLs 

      10.7 Creating a Contextual (Right-Click) Menu 

      10.8 Creating Drop-Down Navigation Menus 

      10.9 Providing Navigation Trail Menus 

      10.10 Creating Expandable Menus 

      10.11 Creating Collapsible XML Menus 

11. Managing Style Sheets

      11.1 Assigning Style Sheet Rules to an Element Globally 

      11.2 Assigning Style Sheet Rules to a Subgroup of Elements 

      11.3 Assigning Style Sheet Rules to an Individual Element 

      11.4 Importing External Style Sheets 

      11.5 Importing Browser- or Operating System-Specific Style Sheets 

      11.6 Changing Imported Style Sheets After Loading 

      11.7 Enabling/Disabling Style Sheets 

      11.8 Toggling Between Style Sheets for an Element 

      11.9 Overriding a Style Sheet Rule 

      11.10 Turning Arbitrary Content into a Styled Element 

      11.11 Creating Center-Aligned Body Elements 

      11.12 Reading Effective Style Sheet Property Values 

      11.13 Forcing Recent Browsers into Standards-Compatibility Mode 

12. Visual Effects for Stationary Content

      12.1 Precaching Images 

      12.2 Swapping Images (Rollovers) 

      12.3 Reducing Rollover Image Downloads with JavaScript 

      12.4 Reducing Rollover Image Downloads with CSS 

      12.5 Dynamically Changing Image Sizes 

      12.6 Changing Text Style Properties 

      12.7 Offering Body Text Size Choices to Users 

      12.8 Creating Custom Link Styles 

      12.9 Changing Page Background Colors and Images 

      12.10 Hiding and Showing Elements 

      12.11 Adjusting Element Transparency 

      12.12 Creating Transition Visual Effects 

      12.13 Drawing Charts in the Canvas Element 

13. Positioning HTML Elements

      13.1 Making an Element Positionable in the Document Space 

      13.2 Connecting a Positioned Element to a Body Element 

      13.3 Controlling Positioning via a DHTML JavaScript Library 

      13.4 Deciding Between div and span Containers 

      13.5 Adjusting Positioned Element Stacking Order (Z-order) 

      13.6 Centering an Element on Top of Another Element 

      13.7 Centering an Element in a Window or Frame 

      13.8 Determining the Location of a Nonpositioned Element 

      13.9 Animating Straight-Line Element Paths 

      13.10 Animating Circular Element Paths 

      13.11 Creating a Draggable Element 

      13.12 Scrolling div Content 

      13.13 Creating a Custom Scrollbar 

      13.14 Creating a Slider Control 

14. Creating Dynamic Content

      14.1 Writing Dynamic Content During Page Loading 

      14.2 Creating New Page Content Dynamically 

      14.3 Including External HTML Content 

      14.4 Embedding XML Data 

      14.5 Embedding Data As JavaScript Objects 

      14.6 Transforming XML Data into HTML Tables 

      14.7 Transforming JavaScript Objects into HTML Tables 

      14.8 Converting an XML Node Tree to JavaScript Objects 

      14.9 Creating a New HTML Element 

      14.10 Creating Text Content for a New Element 

      14.11 Creating Mixed Element and Text Nodes 

      14.12 Inserting and Populating an iframe Element 

      14.13 Getting a Reference to an HTML Element Object 

      14.14 Referencing All Elements of the Same Class 

      14.15 Replacing Portions of Body Content 

      14.16 Removing Body Content 

      14.17 Using XMLHttpRequest for a REST Request 

      14.18 Using XMLHttpRequest for a SOAP Call 

      14.19 Sorting Dynamic Tables 

      14.20 Walking the Document Node Tree 

      14.21 Capturing Document Content 

15. Dynamic Content Applications

      15.1 Displaying a Random Aphorism 

      15.2 Converting a User Selection into an Arbitrary Element 

      15.3 Automating the Search-and-Replace of Body Content 

      15.4 Designing a User-Editable Content Page 

      15.5 Creating a Slide Show 

      15.6 Auto-Scrolling the Page 

      15.7 Greeting Users with Their Time of Day 

      15.8 Displaying the Number of Days Before Christmas 

      15.9 Displaying a Countdown Timer 

      15.10 Creating a Calendar Date Picker 

      15.11 Displaying an Animated Progress Bar 

A. Keyboard Event Character Values

B. Keyboard Key Code Values

C. ECMAScript Reserved Keywords

Index