window.name storage for a named window in <=IE7 - javascript

I have an application that uses window.name as a fallback storage to sessionStorage.
Example (simplified for brevity):
function setData(data){
window.name = JSON.stringify(data);
}
function getData(data){
return JSON.parse(window.name);
}
This all works fine and dandy in just about all browsers. However, I have recently discovered that this DOES NOT work in IE7 and below when the window is launched with a target.
winning.html
If I launch the winning.html file from the above A, using IE7, getData will always return "bob", regardless of what we try to set through setData.
If I modify the launch link like so (remove the target), it will set and remember data correctly.
winning.html
The problem is that I do not always have control of that originating link. Is there any way around this?

As is often the case, putting this problem down for a couple of days, and then coming back to it fresh has revealed the answer.
I tested the bug using this script (from this Sitepoint article) for the window.name session storage.
As you might guess, this script is not affected by the bug in my original post. Why? What makes this one work, and my simple example above not work? This bit right here is the key:
// page unload event
if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener("unload", Save, false);
else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent("onunload", Save);
else window.onunload = Save;
For some reason, you MUST save the data back into the window.name container within the window's unload event.
Beware of using only the onunload method for this, as mobile safari will not remember the data. To get mobile safari to persist the data in window.name, you must save it manually before onunload. Essentially, for maximum compatibility, you must do both: save in onunload; save manually whenever new data is set.

window.name probably holds the name of the window which is set when you use target="bob", which actualy is the name of the window or frame ...so just use another global variable for example window._session ... if you have frames it would be nice to use window.top._session. FYI: All global JS variables are stored in window so if you define a global variable just like that: var name = "hello" ... you can access it also as window.name

Related

How do I navigate to bing.com and enter a search text using the chrome console?

Below is my code.
It is resulting in unexpected behaviour.
It navigates to bing.com but it does not fill in the text field. Also, I have noticed that the console get cleared after navigating to a new webpage.
window.location = "https://www.bing.com";
window.onload = function(){
var editSearch = document.getElementById("sb_form_q");
editSearch.value = "Quux";
}
You are binding the onload function to the existing window object.
When the browser loads the new page, it will make a new window object which won't have your property set on it.
JavaScript run in one page (even when you are running it through developer tools) can't persist variables onto a different page.
(Storage mechanisms like localStorage and cookies are available, but you would need code in the subsequent page to look for them).
JavaScript is only valid for the current page you are on. When you are executing code from DevTools console, you are executing code on that page itself. So, when you navigate to another page using window.location you loose the onload handler you have defined.
To add handlers to a different page, it must be connected to your page (the parent) in some way, like an iframe or a popup.
ifrm = document.getElementById('frame');
ifrm.src = 'http://example.com';
ifrm.contentWindow.onload = function () {
// do something here with
// ifrm.contentWindow.document.getElementById('form')
}
As #Quentin said.
But you can do another way like ..
var keyword = "Quux";
window.location = "https://www.bing.com/search?q="+keyword;

Javascript: How to make sure window.open returns same window, if already opened

I am working on a web based application, in which I have to open popup window. I am using window.open() method to open the popup, like this:
window.open(url, "popupWin");
where url contains the URL I would like my popup window to navigate to. Now, the problem is, if I execute window.open() from multiple tabs (with same or different URLs), at least on Chrome, it might / might not give you the same window which was opened earlier. This behaviour is inconsistent, I mean, either it should get me fresh window every time, or it should get me previously opened window every time.
I need to persist the same popup window for entire domain. How can I do that?
Well looks like there is a direction to go or at least to give it a try.
It fully remains on localStorage which gives you ability to share the knowledge across your tabs within a single domain.
The code I give below does not work yet (it is only a direction), so don't expect too much from running it as it is.
What it does: it saves the popups by the url in a localStorage and when you try to open a new one with the same url it won't do that. If you don't want to distinguish them by URL it is even simpler: store boolean in a localStorage instead of an object.
What it does not do but should:
it should listen to the popup onunload (close) event and reset the localStorage information accordingly. Best for you here is just to set your localStorage boolean value to false
it should listen to the current tab onunload (reload, close) event and also reset something according to Your logic. As I understand the best for you would be just check whether this tab is the last one from your domain (you can also do this using localStorage, e.g. on every new tab adding its identifier, e.g. creation timestamp and destroying it on tab close) and if it is set your localStorage boolean value to false.
This, I think, would be enough to solve the problem. And finally a small piece of code:
// get the localstorage url map
function getOpenPopups() {
var obj = localStorage.getItem('mypopups');
return obj ? JSON.parse(obj) : {};
}
// set the localstorage url map
function setOpenPopups(object) {
localStorage.setItem('mypopups', JSON.stringify(object))
}
// open the popup
function popup(url, title) {
var popups = getOpenPopups();
// check whether popup with this url is already open
// if not then set it and open the popup
if (!popups[url]) {
popups[url] = true;
setOpenPopups(popups);
return window.open('abc', 'cde');
}
else {
return false;
}
}
jsFiddle
From w3c documentation we can see that window.open() returns a reference to the newly created window, or null if the call failed. That means we can keep it in memory and check for closed flag of that window.
var newWindow = window.open('/some/path', 'TestWindow');
// ...
if (!newWindow.closed) {
}
Keep in mind that if window with following name exists, page will be loaded in the same window without opening new one.
Other variants of name parameter like _blank, _self, _top, _parent you can find in official docs too.

Trying to build safari extension. Not working -.-

So I'm making a Safari extension for my own personal use, and it's not working at all.
I'm trying to skip adf.ly and go directly to the website. But it's not doing anything at all.
I've tried alerting the current URL and the supposed new URL, and they aren't even displaying either.
Global.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<script type='application/javascript'>
// Skip Adf.ly
// Made by Austen Patterson
// For Safari
//(C) Copyright 2013 Austen Patterson.
safari.application.addEventListener("start", performCommand, true);
safari.application.addEventListener("validate", validateCommand, true);
// Function to perform when event is received
function performCommand(event) {
// Make sure event comes from the button
if (event.command == "skip") {
var url = this.activeBrowserWindow.activeTab.url;
var newurl = url.replace(/http:\/\/adf\.ly\/(\d+)\//, '');
location.href(newurl);
window.open(newurl,"_self");
return;
}
}
</script>
and here is my extension builder settings.
You can't use alert from the global page. You can use console.debug, though, so that should help.
The bigger issue though is that you're treating the global page as though it has access to the page you're trying to modify via the window object. It doesn't work that way. location.href doesn't point to anything and window.open will probably not work from the global scope. (These are both leaky globals, which is something you want to avoid.) I haven't tested it, but something like this should work:
safari.application.addEventListener("beforeNavigate", function adflyChecker(event) {
var url = event.url.replace(/http:\/\/adf\.ly\/(\d+)\//, '');
safari.application.activeBrowserWindow.activeTab.url = url;
}, true);
This has the advantage of working on navigate and not requiring you to manually click the button. If you configure your extension to only apply to adf.ly URLs, then you can be sure that your code only fires when it's appropriate.
More information about the architecture of Safari extensions is available in the docs.

Invoking original unmolested window.open from bookmarklet

I have general purpose bookmarklet, which begins with:
javascript:with (window.open("")) {/* lots of irrelevant characters */
It works as should (opens new window and writes a report about page elements, specifically), however fails on certain pages, when authors decide what open is a good name for function:
/* somewhere in global scope */
function open() { /* something */ }
... effectively replacing window.open and breaking bookmarklet operation. By the nature of bookmarklet i cannot do anything to prevent such misbehaviour.
Is there any way to call original native window.open to recover in this cases?
Please note, my primary browser is Opera, i really want to make it work in there.
window.constructor.prototype.open
Nope, sorry. You can do some hackery to get a new one though :)
var ifr = document.createElement('iframe');
document.body.appendChild(ifr);
ifr.contentWindow.open(...)

How can I detect changes in location hash?

I am using Ajax and hash for navigation.
Is there a way to check if the window.location.hash changed like this?
http://example.com/blah#123 to http://example.com/blah#456
It works if I check it when the document loads.
But if I have #hash based navigation it doesn't work when I press the back button on the browser (so I jump from blah#456 to blah#123).
It shows inside the address box, but I can't catch it with JavaScript.
The only way to really do this (and is how the 'reallysimplehistory' does this), is by setting an interval that keeps checking the current hash, and comparing it against what it was before, we do this and let subscribers subscribe to a changed event that we fire if the hash changes.. its not perfect but browsers really don't support this event natively.
Update to keep this answer fresh:
If you are using jQuery (which today should be somewhat foundational for most) then a nice solution is to use the abstraction that jQuery gives you by using its events system to listen to hashchange events on the window object.
$(window).on('hashchange', function() {
//.. work ..
});
The nice thing here is you can write code that doesn't need to even worry about hashchange support, however you DO need to do some magic, in form of a somewhat lesser known jQuery feature jQuery special events.
With this feature you essentially get to run some setup code for any event, the first time somebody attempts to use the event in any way (such as binding to the event).
In this setup code you can check for native browser support and if the browser doesn't natively implement this, you can setup a single timer to poll for changes, and trigger the jQuery event.
This completely unbinds your code from needing to understand this support problem, the implementation of a special event of this kind is trivial (to get a simple 98% working version), but why do that when somebody else has already.
HTML5 specifies a hashchange event. This event is now supported by all modern browsers. Support was added in the following browser versions:
Internet Explorer 8
Firefox 3.6
Chrome 5
Safari 5
Opera 10.6
Note that in case of Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 9 the if statment will give true (for "onhashchange" in windows), but the window.onhashchange will never fire, so it's better to store hash and check it after every 100 millisecond whether it's changed or not for all versions of Internet Explorer.
if (("onhashchange" in window) && !($.browser.msie)) {
window.onhashchange = function () {
alert(window.location.hash);
}
// Or $(window).bind( 'hashchange',function(e) {
// alert(window.location.hash);
// });
}
else {
var prevHash = window.location.hash;
window.setInterval(function () {
if (window.location.hash != prevHash) {
prevHash = window.location.hash;
alert(window.location.hash);
}
}, 100);
}
EDIT -
Since jQuery 1.9, $.browser.msie is not supported. Source: http://api.jquery.com/jquery.browser/
There are a lot of tricks to deal with History and window.location.hash in IE browsers:
As original question said, if you go from page a.html#b to a.html#c, and then hit the back button, the browser doesn't know that page has changed. Let me say it with an example: window.location.href will be 'a.html#c', no matter if you are in a.html#b or a.html#c.
Actually, a.html#b and a.html#c are stored in history only if elements '<a name="#b">' and '<a name="#c">' exists previously in the page.
However, if you put an iframe inside a page, navigate from a.html#b to a.html#c in that iframe and then hit the back button, iframe.contentWindow.document.location.href changes as expected.
If you use 'document.domain=something' in your code, then you can't access to iframe.contentWindow.document.open()' (and many History Managers does that)
I know this isn't a real response, but maybe IE-History notes are useful to somebody.
Firefox has had an onhashchange event since 3.6. See window.onhashchange.
I was using this in a react application to make the URL display different parameters depending what view the user was on.
I watched the hash parameter using
window.addEventListener('hashchange', doSomethingWithChangeFunction);
Then
function doSomethingWithChangeFunction () {
let urlParam = window.location.hash; // Get new hash value
// ... Do something with new hash value
};
Worked a treat, works with forward and back browser buttons and also in browser history.
You could easily implement an observer (the "watch" method) on the "hash" property of "window.location" object.
Firefox has its own implementation for watching changes of object, but if you use some other implementation (such as Watch for object properties changes in JavaScript) - for other browsers, that will do the trick.
The code will look like this:
window.location.watch(
'hash',
function(id,oldVal,newVal){
console.log("the window's hash value has changed from "+oldval+" to "+newVal);
}
);
Then you can test it:
var myHashLink = "home";
window.location = window.location + "#" + myHashLink;
And of course that will trigger your observer function.
Another great implementation is jQuery History which will use the native onhashchange event if it is supported by the browser, if not it will use an iframe or interval appropriately for the browser to ensure all the expected functionality is successfully emulated. It also provides a nice interface to bind to certain states.
Another project worth noting as well is jQuery Ajaxy which is pretty much an extension for jQuery History to add ajax to the mix. As when you start using ajax with hashes it get's quite complicated!
var page_url = 'http://www.yoursite.com/'; // full path leading up to hash;
var current_url_w_hash = page_url + window.location.hash; // now you might have something like: http://www.yoursite.com/#123
function TrackHash() {
if (document.location != page_url + current_url_w_hash) {
window.location = document.location;
}
return false;
}
var RunTabs = setInterval(TrackHash, 200);
That's it... now, anytime you hit your back or forward buttons, the page will reload as per the new hash value.
I've been using path.js for my client side routing. I've found it to be quite succinct and lightweight (it's also been published to NPM too), and makes use of hash based navigation.
path.js NPM
path.js GitHub
SHORT and SIMPLE example
Click on buttons to change hash
window.onhashchange = () => console.log(`Hash changed -> ${window.location.hash}`)
<button onclick="window.location.hash=Math.random()">hash to Math.Random</button>
<button onclick="window.location.hash='ABC'">Hash to ABC</button>
<button onclick="window.location.hash='XYZ'">Hash to XYZ</button>

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