Brief Contents
Contents in Detail
Foreword
Foreword to the First Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
How This Book Is Organized
Companion Website
Welcome to JavaScript!
Is JavaScript for You?
Is This Book for You?
The Goals of This Book
What Can JavaScript Do?
What Are the Alternatives to JavaScript?
CGI Scripting
VBScript
Java
Flash
JavaScriptโs Limitations
JavaScript Canโt Talk to Servers
JavaScript Canโt Create Graphics
JavaScript Works Differently in Different Browsers
Getting Started
Where JavaScript Goes on Your Web Pages
Dealing with Older Browsers
Your First JavaScript
Summary
Assignment
Using Variables and Built-in Functions to Update Your Web Pages Automatically
Variables Store Information
Syntax of Variables
Naming Variables
Arithmetic with Variables
Write Here Right Now: Displaying Results
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 2-4
Strings
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 2-6
More About Functions
alert()
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 2-9
prompt()
Parameters
Writing the Date to Your Web Page
Built-in Date Functions
Date and Time Methods
Code for Writing the Date and Time
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 2-12
How the European Space Agency Writes the Date to Its Page
Summary
Assignment
Giving the Browsers What They Want
A Real-World Example of Browser Detection
Browser Detection Methods
Quick-but-Rough Browser Detection
More Accurate Browser Detection
Redirecting Visitors to Other Pages
if-then Statements
Boolean Expressions
Nesting
if-then-else Statements
if-then-else-if Statements
When and Where to Place Curly Brackets
OR and AND
OR
AND
Putting It All Together
A Few More Details About Boolean Expressions
How Netscape Provides Browser-Specific Content
Summary
Assignment
Working with Rollovers
A Real-World Example of Rollovers
Triggering Events
Event Types
Quotes in JavaScript
Clicking the Link to Nowhere
More Interesting Actions
Swapping Images
Working with Multiple Images
Whatโs with All the Dots?
The document Object
Object Properties
Finally, Rollovers!
Image Preloading
How the Tin House Rollovers Work
Summary
Assignment
Opening and Manipulating Windows
Real-World Examples of Opening Windows to Further Information
Working with Windows as Objects
Opening Windows
Manipulating the Appearance of New Windows
Some Browsers and Computers Open Windows Differently
Closing Windows
Using the Right Name: How Windows See Themselves and Each Other
Moving Windows to the Front or Back of the Screen
Window Properties
The status Property
The opener Property
More Window Methods
Resizing Windows
Moving Windows
Summary
Assignment
Writing Your Own JavaScript Functions
Functions as Shortcuts
Basic Structure of JavaScript Functions
Naming Your Functions
Parentheses and Curly Brackets
An Example of a Simple Function
Writing Flexible Functions
Using Parameters
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 6-4
Using More Than One Parameter
Getting Information from Functions
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 6-9
Dealing with Y2K
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 6-12
Defining Variables Properly
Summary
Assignment
Providing and Receiving Information with Forms
Real-World Examples of Forms
Form Basics
Text Fields
Buttons, Checkboxes, and Radio Buttons
Select Elements
Textareas
Final Form Comments
Forms and JavaScript
Naming Form Elements
Naming Radio Buttons
Naming Options
Reading and Setting Form Elements
Reading Information from Text Fields
Setting the Value of a Text Field
Textareas
Checkboxes
Radio Buttons
Pull-Down Menus and Scrollable Lists
Handling Events Using Form Elements
Make this a Shortcut
Using Pull-Down Menus as Navigational Tools
One Last Forms Shortcut
How the Doctors Without Borders Pull-Down Navigation Tool Works
Summary
Assignment
Keeping Track of Information with Arrays and Loops
Real-World Examples of Arrays
JavaScriptโs Built-In Arrays
Figuring Out How Many Items an Array Contains
Going Through Arrays
while Loops
while Loops and Arrays
Going Off the Deep End
Using array.length in Your Loop
An Incremental Shortcut
Beware of Infinite Loops
for Loops
How AntWeb Checks Off All the Checkboxes
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 8-11
Creating Your Own Arrays
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 8-12
How the Book of JavaScript Tip Box Works
Checking for Blank Statements
Checking the Last Element in the Array
Testing the Limits of Arrays
The startScroll() Function
A Streamlined Version
Loops Can Nest
Creating Arrays As You Go Along
Associative Arrays
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 8-18
Summary
Assignment
Timing Events
Real-World Examples of Timing Events
Setting an Alarm with setTimeout()
Canceling an Alarm with clearTimeout()
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 9-3
Repeating Timed Actions
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 9-5
Using parseInt() with Form Elements
Clearing Out a Time-Out Before You Set a New One
Declaring Variables That Hold Time-Outs Outside Functions
Building a Clock with Timing Loops
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 9-7
How the Book of JavaScript Websiteโs Timer Works
How Space.comโs Countdown Script Works
Calculating Times
Global Variables and Constants
A Timed Slide Show
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 9-11
A Safer Version of rotateImage()
Why Declaring a Variable Outside a Function Is Unsafe
Why You Canโt Put var Inside a Timing Loop
The Solution
The Hitch
The Solution to the Hitch
Why image_array Is Declared Outside the rotateImage() Function
Summary
Assignment
Using Frames and Image Maps
A Real-World Example of Frames and Image Maps
Frames
Frame Basics
Frames and JavaScript
Frames and Image Swaps
Changing the Contents of Two Frames at Once
Frames Inside Frames
JavaScript and Frames Inside Frames
Frame Busting
Using Frames to Store Information
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 10-15
Image Maps
Image Map Basics
Image Maps and JavaScript
How Salonโs Bug-Eating Script Works
Salonโs Nested Frames
Salonโs Image Map
The changeMe() Function
Summary
Assignment
Validating Forms, Massaging Strings, and Working with Server-Side Programs
A Real-World Example of Form Validation
Making Sure a Visitor Has Filled Out a Form Element
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 11-2
String Handling
Breaking Strings Apart
Matching String Patterns with Regular Expressions
How Dictionary.comโs Form Validators Work
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 11-11
Summary
Assignment
Saving Visitor Information with Cookies
A Real-World Example of Cookies
What Are Cookies?
What Cookies Can and Canโt Do
Working with Cookies
Setting Cookies
Reading Cookies
Resetting Cookies
Setting More Than One Piece of Information
Setting the Duration of a Cookie
Who Can Read the Cookie?
The Whole Cookie
Setting Multiple Cookies
Cookie Libraries
A Cookie-Based Shopping Cart
Adding an Item to the Cart
The Checkout Page
The readTheCookie() Function
The checkOut() Function
Summary
Assignment
Dynamic HTML
Real-World Examples of DHTML
CSS Basics
The
Tag
Positioning a div with CSS
Hiding a div
Layering divs
JavaScript and DHTML
Making divs Move
Using setTimeout() and clearTimeout() to Animate a Page
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 13-10
Changing the Contents of a div
spans and getElementsByTagName()
Advanced DOM Techniques
W3C DOM Overview
Creating and Adding Elements Using the W3C DOM
Adding Text to an Element
Adding Elements in the Middle of a Page and Removing Elements
Additional DOM Details
Manipulating a Page Using the DOM
Fancy Event Handling
The event Object
Adding Event Handlers Using JavaScript
Drop-Down Menus
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 13-23
The Borders
Summary
Assignment
Ajax Basics
A Real-World Example of Ajax
Introduction to Ajax
Asynchronicity-The A in Ajax
XML-The X in Ajax
JavaScript-The J in Ajax
Creating and Sending Requests
Creating a Request Object
Telling the Object Where to Send the Request
What to Do When the Request Is Answered
Writing JavaScript That Is Called After the Request Has Been Answered
Sending the Request
Putting Everything Together
Getting the Results
Demonstrating Asynchronicity
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 14-6
Ajax and Usability
The Back Button
URLs and Bookmarking
Poor Design
To Ajax, or Not to Ajax
Bad: Just Because You Can
Bad: Itโs the Hot New Thing
Bad: Replacing Something That Works with Something New and Confusing
Good: In-Context Data Manipulation
Good: Interactive Widgets
Good: Saving State
Summary
Assignment
XML in JavaScript and Ajax
A Real-World Example of Ajax and XML
Google Suggest
XML-the Extensible Markup Language
The Rules of XML
The XML Header
XML Elements
XML Attributes
Illegal XML Characters
XML Documents Have a Single Root Element
Final Comments About the XML Format
Processing XML
Line-by-Line Analysis of Figure 15-6
Internet Explorer, responseXML, and Client-Side Ajax
Problems with White Space in XML
Creating a Suggest Application for Translation
Finding the Translations
Displaying the Results
Summary
Assignment
Server-Side Ajax
Real-World Examples of Server-Side Ajax
The Power of Webservers
A Server-Side Programming Language
PHP Basics
Sending Simple Input to PHP with a GET Request
Passing Input in a URL
Using PHP to Read the Inputs of a GET Request
Creating a Google Suggest Application with an Ajax GET Request
Contacting Third-Party Webservers with Ajax and PHP
The JavaScript for the Homemade Google Suggest Application
Using PHP to Contact Other Webservers
Ajax and the POST Method
An Ajax-Friendly Form
POSTing with Ajax
Sending XML Information from the Browser to a Webserver
HEAD Requests: Getting Information About a Server-Side File
Adding Headers to Your Responses
Headers and XML
The Caching Problem
File Handling in PHP
Creating and Adding Contents to a Text File with PHP
Reading Files in PHP
When Communication Breaks Down
Automatically Updating a Web Page When a Server-Side File Changes
readFileDoFunction()
callReadFile()
callUpdateIfChanged()
stopTimer()
Recap and Breathe
The Server-Side PHP Code
Summary
Assignment
Putting It All Together in a Shared To Do List
Features of the To Do List Application
To Do List Data Files
userInfo.xml
To Do List File
To Do List Server Side
The To Do List Client Side, Part 1: The HTML
The To Do List Client Side, Part 2: The JavaScript
The Function Road Map
Logging In and Out
Functions Related to Logging In
Helper Functions
Displaying Available Lists
Displaying a Specific List
Processing Changes to a List
Limitations on Manipulating XML Documents
Adding a New Item
A Few Closing Notes
Client-Side or Server-Side Code?
Security Issues
Summary
Assignment
Debugging JavaScript and Ajax
Good Coding Practices
Starting with Comments
Filling In the Code
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Use a Consistent Naming Convention
Avoid Reserved Words
Remember to Use Two Equal Signs in Logical Tests
Use Quotation Marks Correctly
Finding Bugs
Printing Variables with alert() Statements
Debugging Beyond Alerts
Using Your Browserโs Bug Detector
Using JavaScript Debuggers
Debugging Ajax in Firefox 1.5 and 2.0
Other Debugging Resources
Fixing Bugs
Back Up Your Program
Fix One Bug at a Time
Avoid Voodoo Coding
Look for Similar Bugs
Clear Your Head
Ask for Help
Summary
Answers to Assignments
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
index.html
image_page.html
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
index.html
assignment-nav.html
blank.html
Chapter 11
index.html
assignment-nav.html
blank.html
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
addressBook.xml
index.html
Chapter 17
Join Functions
Giving a User Access to Your To Do List
Resources
Tutorials
HTML Tutorials
Cascading Style Sheets Tutorials
Advanced Topics in JavaScript
Ajax Tutorials
Example JavaScript and Ajax Code
Good Ajax Websites
Ajax Frameworks
JavaScript
PHP
Java
.NET
Ruby
Reference to JavaScript Objects and Functions
alert() [FF, IE 3]
Anchor
Properties
Applet
Properties
Methods
Area [FF, IE 3]
Array [FF, IE 3]
Properties
Methods
Less Common Methods
Button (Including Submit and Reset Buttons)
Properties
Handlers
Methods
Checkbox
Properties
Handlers
Methods
clearInterval() [FF, IE 4]
clearTimeout() [FF, IE 3]
confirm() [FF, IE 3]
Date
Methods for Getting the Date and Time
Methods for Getting the UTC Date and Time
The Problematic getYear() Method
Methods for Setting the Date and Time
Methods for Setting the UTC Date and Time
Methods for Converting Dates to Strings
Document
Properties
Methods
elements[] [FF, IE 3]
escape() [FF, IE 3]
eval() [FF, IE 3]
Event
Properties
FileUpload
Properties
Methods
Handlers
Form
Properties
Methods
Handlers
Hidden
Properties
History
Properties
Methods
HTMLElement [FF, IE 4]
Properties
Methods
Handlers [FF, IE 4]
Image
Properties
isNaN() [FF, IE 4]
Link
Location
Properties
Methods
Math [FF, IE 3]
Properties
Methods
Navigator
Properties
Less Common Properties
Methods
Number
Properties
Methods
Option
Properties
parseInt() [FF, IE 3]
parseFloat() [FF, IE 3]
Password
Properties
Methods
Handlers
prompt()
Radio
Properties
Methods
Handlers
Reset
Screen
Properties
Select
Properties
Handlers
setInterval() [FF, IE 4]
setTimeout() [FF, IE 3]
String
Properties
Methods
Style [FF, IE 4]
Properties [FF, IE 5]
Submit
Text
Textarea
Properties
Methods
Handlers
this [FF, IE 3]
unescape() [FF, IE 3]
var [FF, IE 3]
window
Properties
Methods
Features
Methods
Less Common Methods
Handlers
XMLHttpRequest [FF] and ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") [IE 5.5]
Properties
Methods
Handlers
Chapter 15โs Italian Translator and Chapter 17โs To Do List Application
Chapter 15โs Italian Translator
Chapter 17โs To Do List Application
todo.html
readXMLFile.php
saveXMLFile.php
Index
Updates