I use the following code to dynamically create an iframe.
var iframe_jquery = $("<iframe>")
.addClass("foo")
.appendTo(container); // container is a jQuery object containing a <div> which already exists
Then, I want to access its contentWindow, but it's null:
var iframe = iframe_jquery.get(0);
if (iframe){ // iFrame exists
console.log(iframe.contentWindow); // Prints "null"
var doc = iframe.contentWindow.document; // NullpointerException
}
So I thought: "Maybe the iframe isn't ready yet?" So I tried:
iframe_jquery.ready(function(){
var iframe = iframe_jquery.get(0);
console.log(iframe.contentWindow); // Prints "null"
var doc = iframe.contentWindow.document; // NullpointerException
});
Same result.
What's wrong?
I had this problem last week while playing with iframes (building an rtf editor), and yeah it's not ready yet.
I thought if I put it in a .ready(), it would work, but .ready() is when the DOM is ready, not when the iframe has loaded its contents, so I ended up wrapping my code with jQuery .load().
So try this:
$(function () {
$("#myiframe").load(function () {
frames["myframe"].document.body.innerHTML = htmlValue;
});
});
Hope this helps
The problem is that your <iframe> won't be "real" until it's really added to the actual DOM for the page. Here is a fiddle to demonstrate..
Depending on the browser, accessing the document or an <iframe> may vary.
Here is an example of how to handle it:
if (iframe.contentDocument) // FF Chrome
doc = iframe.contentDocument;
else if ( iframe.contentWindow ) // IE
doc = iframe.contentWindow.document;
You can also make a function that will be executed when the iframe has finished loading by setting it's onload attribute.
Bookmarklet version
Just out of curiosity I thought I'd put this together. Remembering that iframes and load events don't play well together on different browsers (mainly older, falling apart, should-be-dead browsers)... plus not being entirely sure how jQuery gets around this problem... my brain decided that this would be better supported (whether it is or not is neither here nor there):
$(function(){
/// bind a listener for the bespoke iframeload event
$(window).bind('iframeload', function(){
/// access the contents of the iframe using jQuery notation
iframe.show().contents().find('body').html('hello');
});
/// create your iframe
var iframe = $('<iframe />')
/// by forcing our iframe to evaluate javascript in the path, we know when it's ready
.attr('src', 'javascript:(function(){try{p=window.parent;p.jQuery(p).trigger(\'iframeload\');}catch(ee){};})();')
/// insert the iframe into the live DOM
.appendTo('body');
});
The reason for taking this approach is that it is normally far better to trigger your load event from inside the iframe itself. But this means having a proper document loaded in to the iframe, so for dynamic iframes this is a little tedious. This is kind of a mixture between having a document loaded, and not.
The above works on everything I have tested so far - and yes you are correct - it is a little ridiculous, non-future-proof and propably other things that have negative connotations ;)
One positive thing I'll say about this post is that introduces the use of .contents() to access the document of the iframe, which is at least a little bit useful...
Related
In my HTML, I have a simple button defined, like so:
<button id="toggleButton">Stop</button>
I am trying to grab it with the following code:
buttonElement = document.getElementById("toggleButton");
with the goal of assigning an event to it, like so:
buttonElement.onclick = stopTextColor();
The problem is that the getElementById is returning null, even though I can see it in the DOM. What am I doing wrong here?
For clarity, I posted the full code at http://cdpn.io/sqEuH
The problem, probably, is that you're including the JS in the head. What's happening there is the JS is running before the page gets loaded, so the button doesn't show up. Move it to right before the </body> tag, and this problem will be solved, or wrap it with a window.onload() event.
The code you post will work unless the javascript cannot access the given DOM element.
The main possibilities:
The javascript runs before the DOM is parsed (IE if you run it in the head of the document without any code to instruct it to wait till the DOM is ready)
You can usually get around this by placing your script at the bottom of the body rather than in the head or midway through the body. The essential thing to understand here though is that JS can't access an element till the browser has parsed the DOM. The browser parses HTML top-down, and JS scripts run top down, so if you run the JS before the element is parsed, it won't be available to the javascript function yet.
The javascript runs in a context where it can't access the element (inside an iFrame for instance). In this case it would be a question of whether the element is really under the "document" object that you're referring to. If the element is inside an iFrame it will be underneath the iFrame's document object.
Try putting your script just before closing your <body> tag. The DOM is probably not fully loaded when your script is run.
Also, I think you have an error in your Javascript. It should be
buttonElement.onclick = stopTextColor;
instead of
buttonElement.onclick = stopTextColor();
Altough it shouldn't throw any error, it's good practice.
If you want to keep your Javascript before <body>, you can use a listener to wait for the DOM to be loaded and then execute your script, like this :
window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
buttonElement = document.getElementById("toggleButton");
buttonElement.onclick = stopTextColor;
}, false);
[edit]
The snippet above doesn't work in IE < 9. If you need to support it, use document.load instead, it should give the same result, like so :
document.onload = function() {
buttonElement = document.getElementById("toggleButton");
buttonElement.onclick = stopTextColor;
}
The differece between both, besides browser compatibility, is that window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {...} will fire when the DOM is loaded, but window.load will fire when the DOM AND all other resources (images, stylesheets, etc.) are loaded (slower, and not necessary in your case).
I need to execute a callback when an IFRAME has finished loading. I have no control over the content in the IFRAME, so I can't fire the callback from there.
This IFRAME is programmaticly created, and I need to pass its data as a variable in the callback, as well as destroy the iframe.
Any ideas?
EDIT:
Here is what I have now:
function xssRequest(url, callback)
{
var iFrameObj = document.createElement('IFRAME');
iFrameObj.src = url;
document.body.appendChild(iFrameObj);
$(iFrameObj).load(function()
{
document.body.removeChild(iFrameObj);
callback(iFrameObj.innerHTML);
});
}
This callsback before the iFrame has loaded, so the callback has no data returned.
First up, going by the function name xssRequest it sounds like you're trying cross site request - which if that's right, you're not going to be able to read the contents of the iframe.
On the other hand, if the iframe's URL is on your domain you can access the body, but I've found that if I use a timeout to remove the iframe the callback works fine:
// possibly excessive use of jQuery - but I've got a live working example in production
$('#myUniqueID').load(function () {
if (typeof callback == 'function') {
callback($('body', this.contentWindow.document).html());
}
setTimeout(function () {$('#frameId').remove();}, 50);
});
I am using jQuery and surprisingly this seems to load as I just tested and loaded a heavy page and I didn't get the alert for a few seconds until I saw the iframe load:
$('#the_iframe').load(function(){
alert('loaded!');
});
So if you don't want to use jQuery take a look at their source code and see if this function behaves differently with iframe DOM elements, I will look at it myself later as I am interested and post here. Also I only tested in the latest chrome.
I have had to do this in cases where documents such as word docs and pdfs were being streamed to the iframe and found a solution that works pretty well. The key is handling the onreadystatechanged event on the iframe.
Lets say the name of your frame is "myIframe". First somewhere in your code startup (I do it inline any where after the iframe) add something like this to register the event handler:
document.getElementById('myIframe').onreadystatechange = MyIframeReadyStateChanged;
I was not able to use an onreadystatechage attribute on the iframe, I can't remember why, but the app had to work in IE 7 and Safari 3, so that may of been a factor.
Here is an example of a how to get the complete state:
function MyIframeReadyStateChanged()
{
if(document.getElementById('myIframe').readyState == 'complete')
{
// Do your complete stuff here.
}
}
The innerHTML of your iframe is blank because your iframe tag doesn't surround any content in the parent document. In order to get the content from the page referred to by the iframe's src attribute, you need to access the iframe's contentDocument property. An exception will be thrown if the src is from a different domain though. This is a security feature that prevents you from executing arbitrary JavaScript on someone else's page, which would create a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Here is some example code the illustrates what I'm talking about:
<script src="http://prototypejs.org/assets/2009/8/31/prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<h1>Parent</h1>
<script type="text/javascript">
function on_load(iframe) {
try {
// Displays the first 50 chars in the innerHTML of the
// body of the page that the iframe is showing.
// EDIT 2012-04-17: for wider support, fallback to contentWindow.document
var doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document;
alert(doc.body.innerHTML.substring(0, 50));
} catch (e) {
// This can happen if the src of the iframe is
// on another domain
alert('exception: ' + e);
}
}
</script>
<iframe id="child" src="iframe_content.html" onload="on_load(this)"></iframe>
To further the example, try using this as the content of the iframe:
<h1>Child</h1>
Google
<p>Use the preceeding link to change the src of the iframe
to see what happens when the src domain is different from
that of the parent page</p>
I wanted to hide the waiting spinner div when the i frame content is fully loaded on IE, i tried literally every solution mentioned in Stackoverflow.Com, but with nothing worked as i wanted.
Then i had an idea, that when the i frame content is fully loaded, the $(Window ) load event might be fired. And that exactly what happened. So, i wrote this small script, and worked like magic:
$(window).load(function () {
//alert("Done window ready ");
var lblWait = document.getElementById("lblWait");
if (lblWait != null ) {
lblWait.style.visibility = "false";
document.getElementById("divWait").style.display = "none";
}
});
Hope this helps.
This function will run your callback function immediately if the iFrame is already loaded or wait until the iFrame is completely loaded.
This also addresses the following issues:
Chrome initializes every iFrame with an about:blank page which will have readyState == "complete". Later, it will replace `about:blank with the actual iframe src value. So, the initial value of readyState will not represent the readyState of your actual iFrame. Therefore, besides checking for readyState value, this function also addresses the about:blank issue.
DOMContentLoaded event doesn't work with iFrame. So it uses the load event for running the callback function if iFrame isn't already loaded. The load event is equivalent to readyState == "complete" which has been used to check whether iFrame is already loaded. So, in any scenario, the callback function will run after iFrame is fully loaded.
iFrame src can have redirects and therefore load a page different from the original src url. This function will also work in that scenario.
Pass in your callback function that you want to run when the iFrame finishes loading and the <iframe> element to this function:
function iframeReady(callback, iframeElement) {
const iframeWindow = iframeElement.contentWindow;
if ((iframeElement.src == "about:blank" || (iframeElement.src != "about:blank" && iframeWindow.location.href != "about:blank")) && iframeWindow.document.readyState == "complete") {
callback();
} else {
iframeWindow.addEventListener("load", callback);
}
}
I had a similar problem as you. What I did is that I use something called jQuery. What you then do in the javascript code is this:
$(function(){ //this is regular jQuery code. It waits for the dom to load fully the first time you open the page.
$("#myIframeId").load(function(){
callback($("#myIframeId").html());
$("#myIframeId").remove();
});
});
It seems as you delete you iFrame before you grab the html from it. Now, I do see a problem with that :p
Hope this helps :).
I have a similar code in my projects that works fine.
Adapting my code to your function, a solution could be the following:
function xssRequest(url, callback)
{
var iFrameObj = document.createElement('IFRAME');
iFrameObj.id = 'myUniqueID';
document.body.appendChild(iFrameObj);
iFrameObj.src = url;
$(iFrameObj).load(function()
{
callback(window['myUniqueID'].document.body.innerHTML);
document.body.removeChild(iFrameObj);
});
}
Maybe you have an empty innerHTML because (one or both causes):
1. you should use it against the body element
2. you have removed the iframe from the your page DOM
I think the load event is right.
What is not right is the way you use to retreive the content from iframe content dom.
What you need is the html of the page loaded in the iframe not the html of the iframe object.
What you have to do is to access the content document with iFrameObj.contentDocument.
This returns the dom of the page loaded inside the iframe, if it is on the same domain of the current page.
I would retreive the content before removing the iframe.
I've tested in firefox and opera.
Then i think you can retreive your data with $(childDom).html() or $(childDom).find('some selector') ...
I've had exactly the same problem in the past and the only way I found to fix it was to add the callback into the iframe page. Of course that only works when you have control over the iframe content.
Using onload attrbute will solve your problem.
Here is an example.
function a() {
alert("Your iframe has been loaded");
}
<iframe src="https://stackoverflow.com" onload="a()"></iframe>
Is this what you want?
Click here for more information.
OK, every other browser works fine with the method I have coded so far but for some reason Internet Explorer will not work. I have spent hours of time (more time than actually developing the feature!) on compatibility and am close to giving up!
I have a forum and one of its neat features is the WYSIWYG editor. For that, I essentially have an IFrame that acts as the document:
<iframe name="writer" src="/scripts/blank.html" class="writer"></iframe>
This is the current state of the JavaScript (constantly updated):
function initEditor()
{
w = frames['writer']
wc = g('writerCopy')
if(w == null) return
frames['writer'].document.designMode = 'on'
frames['writer'].document.body.innerHTML = styleSheet+wc.value
frames['writer'].focus()
}
It works partially now, but fails on the line:
frames['writer'].document.body.innerHTML = styleSheet+wc.value
in Internet Explorer with "'frames.writer.document.body' is null or not an object".
I'm not even sure IE supports that designMode.
And, .contentDocument is only IE8, IE7 and less uses .contentWindow.document, but iframe windows are part of the frames-collection.
try this, should be crossbrowser:
<iframe name="writer"></iframe>
frames["writer"].document.body.innerHTML = "some html...";
You need to point your iframe to a dummy document for IE. Just create a file blank.html with the following:
<html><body></body></html>
and set <iframe src="blank.html" ... >
Then you can go about referencing frame.document.body.innerHTML = '...' to your hearts content.
BTW that is a terrible title to a question.
Evidently IE8 does not make frame elements available until the entire parent page has loaded. Also note, you can write to the frame before the parent page loads, but this will overwrite the frame and prevent it from being loaded.
The easy solution is to move the InitEditor() call from inside the body to here:
<body onload="InitEditor()">
Perhaps the iframe isn't loaded yet. I can duplicate your "'frames.writer.document.body' is null or not an object" error. I added a setTimeout around it and it then worked for me.
setTimeout(function () {
frames['writer'].document.body.innerHTML = "some text";
}, 200);
Have you activated IE's debugging facilities?
Am I missing something here? shouldn't you use something like:
window.frames[nameOrNumberOfFrame]...
See also in MSDN:
This collection contains only window
objects and does not provide access to
the corresponding frame and iframe
objects. To access these objects, use
the all collection for the document
containing the objects.
In the end I used frames['frameName'].document.write('someText') but only if the other method fails.
I need to execute a callback when an IFRAME has finished loading. I have no control over the content in the IFRAME, so I can't fire the callback from there.
This IFRAME is programmaticly created, and I need to pass its data as a variable in the callback, as well as destroy the iframe.
Any ideas?
EDIT:
Here is what I have now:
function xssRequest(url, callback)
{
var iFrameObj = document.createElement('IFRAME');
iFrameObj.src = url;
document.body.appendChild(iFrameObj);
$(iFrameObj).load(function()
{
document.body.removeChild(iFrameObj);
callback(iFrameObj.innerHTML);
});
}
This callsback before the iFrame has loaded, so the callback has no data returned.
First up, going by the function name xssRequest it sounds like you're trying cross site request - which if that's right, you're not going to be able to read the contents of the iframe.
On the other hand, if the iframe's URL is on your domain you can access the body, but I've found that if I use a timeout to remove the iframe the callback works fine:
// possibly excessive use of jQuery - but I've got a live working example in production
$('#myUniqueID').load(function () {
if (typeof callback == 'function') {
callback($('body', this.contentWindow.document).html());
}
setTimeout(function () {$('#frameId').remove();}, 50);
});
I am using jQuery and surprisingly this seems to load as I just tested and loaded a heavy page and I didn't get the alert for a few seconds until I saw the iframe load:
$('#the_iframe').load(function(){
alert('loaded!');
});
So if you don't want to use jQuery take a look at their source code and see if this function behaves differently with iframe DOM elements, I will look at it myself later as I am interested and post here. Also I only tested in the latest chrome.
I have had to do this in cases where documents such as word docs and pdfs were being streamed to the iframe and found a solution that works pretty well. The key is handling the onreadystatechanged event on the iframe.
Lets say the name of your frame is "myIframe". First somewhere in your code startup (I do it inline any where after the iframe) add something like this to register the event handler:
document.getElementById('myIframe').onreadystatechange = MyIframeReadyStateChanged;
I was not able to use an onreadystatechage attribute on the iframe, I can't remember why, but the app had to work in IE 7 and Safari 3, so that may of been a factor.
Here is an example of a how to get the complete state:
function MyIframeReadyStateChanged()
{
if(document.getElementById('myIframe').readyState == 'complete')
{
// Do your complete stuff here.
}
}
The innerHTML of your iframe is blank because your iframe tag doesn't surround any content in the parent document. In order to get the content from the page referred to by the iframe's src attribute, you need to access the iframe's contentDocument property. An exception will be thrown if the src is from a different domain though. This is a security feature that prevents you from executing arbitrary JavaScript on someone else's page, which would create a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Here is some example code the illustrates what I'm talking about:
<script src="http://prototypejs.org/assets/2009/8/31/prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<h1>Parent</h1>
<script type="text/javascript">
function on_load(iframe) {
try {
// Displays the first 50 chars in the innerHTML of the
// body of the page that the iframe is showing.
// EDIT 2012-04-17: for wider support, fallback to contentWindow.document
var doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document;
alert(doc.body.innerHTML.substring(0, 50));
} catch (e) {
// This can happen if the src of the iframe is
// on another domain
alert('exception: ' + e);
}
}
</script>
<iframe id="child" src="iframe_content.html" onload="on_load(this)"></iframe>
To further the example, try using this as the content of the iframe:
<h1>Child</h1>
Google
<p>Use the preceeding link to change the src of the iframe
to see what happens when the src domain is different from
that of the parent page</p>
I wanted to hide the waiting spinner div when the i frame content is fully loaded on IE, i tried literally every solution mentioned in Stackoverflow.Com, but with nothing worked as i wanted.
Then i had an idea, that when the i frame content is fully loaded, the $(Window ) load event might be fired. And that exactly what happened. So, i wrote this small script, and worked like magic:
$(window).load(function () {
//alert("Done window ready ");
var lblWait = document.getElementById("lblWait");
if (lblWait != null ) {
lblWait.style.visibility = "false";
document.getElementById("divWait").style.display = "none";
}
});
Hope this helps.
This function will run your callback function immediately if the iFrame is already loaded or wait until the iFrame is completely loaded.
This also addresses the following issues:
Chrome initializes every iFrame with an about:blank page which will have readyState == "complete". Later, it will replace `about:blank with the actual iframe src value. So, the initial value of readyState will not represent the readyState of your actual iFrame. Therefore, besides checking for readyState value, this function also addresses the about:blank issue.
DOMContentLoaded event doesn't work with iFrame. So it uses the load event for running the callback function if iFrame isn't already loaded. The load event is equivalent to readyState == "complete" which has been used to check whether iFrame is already loaded. So, in any scenario, the callback function will run after iFrame is fully loaded.
iFrame src can have redirects and therefore load a page different from the original src url. This function will also work in that scenario.
Pass in your callback function that you want to run when the iFrame finishes loading and the <iframe> element to this function:
function iframeReady(callback, iframeElement) {
const iframeWindow = iframeElement.contentWindow;
if ((iframeElement.src == "about:blank" || (iframeElement.src != "about:blank" && iframeWindow.location.href != "about:blank")) && iframeWindow.document.readyState == "complete") {
callback();
} else {
iframeWindow.addEventListener("load", callback);
}
}
I had a similar problem as you. What I did is that I use something called jQuery. What you then do in the javascript code is this:
$(function(){ //this is regular jQuery code. It waits for the dom to load fully the first time you open the page.
$("#myIframeId").load(function(){
callback($("#myIframeId").html());
$("#myIframeId").remove();
});
});
It seems as you delete you iFrame before you grab the html from it. Now, I do see a problem with that :p
Hope this helps :).
I have a similar code in my projects that works fine.
Adapting my code to your function, a solution could be the following:
function xssRequest(url, callback)
{
var iFrameObj = document.createElement('IFRAME');
iFrameObj.id = 'myUniqueID';
document.body.appendChild(iFrameObj);
iFrameObj.src = url;
$(iFrameObj).load(function()
{
callback(window['myUniqueID'].document.body.innerHTML);
document.body.removeChild(iFrameObj);
});
}
Maybe you have an empty innerHTML because (one or both causes):
1. you should use it against the body element
2. you have removed the iframe from the your page DOM
I think the load event is right.
What is not right is the way you use to retreive the content from iframe content dom.
What you need is the html of the page loaded in the iframe not the html of the iframe object.
What you have to do is to access the content document with iFrameObj.contentDocument.
This returns the dom of the page loaded inside the iframe, if it is on the same domain of the current page.
I would retreive the content before removing the iframe.
I've tested in firefox and opera.
Then i think you can retreive your data with $(childDom).html() or $(childDom).find('some selector') ...
I've had exactly the same problem in the past and the only way I found to fix it was to add the callback into the iframe page. Of course that only works when you have control over the iframe content.
Using onload attrbute will solve your problem.
Here is an example.
function a() {
alert("Your iframe has been loaded");
}
<iframe src="https://stackoverflow.com" onload="a()"></iframe>
Is this what you want?
Click here for more information.
One of the most difficult problems in my javascript experience has been the correct (that is "cross-browser") computing of a iframe height.
In my applications I have a lot of dynamically generated iframe and I want them all do a sort of autoresize at the end of the load event to adjust their height and width.
In the case of height computing my best solution is the following (with the help of jQuery):
function getDocumentHeight(doc) {
var mdoc = doc || document;
if (mdoc.compatMode=='CSS1Compat') {
return mdoc.body.offsetHeight;
}
else {
if ($.browser.msie)
return mdoc.body.scrollHeight;
else
return Math.max($(mdoc).height(), $(mdoc.body).height());
}
}
I searched the internet without success. I also tested Yahoo library that has some methods for document and viewport dimensions, but it's not satisfactory.
My solution works decently, but sometimes it calculates a taller height.
I've studied and tested tons of properties regarding document height in Firefox/IE/Safari: documentElement.clientHeight, documentElement.offsetHeight, documentElement.scrollHeight, body.offsetHeight, body.scrollHeight, ...
Also jQuery doesn't have a coherent behavior in various browser with the calls $(document.body).height(), $('html', doc).height(), $(window).height()
I call the above function not only at the end of load event, but also in the case of dynamically inserted DOM elements or elements hidden or shown. This is a case that sometimes breaks the code that works only in the load event.
Does someone have a real cross-browser (at least Firefox/IE/Safari) solution? Some tips or hints?
Although I like your solution, I've always found IFRAMEs to be more trouble than they're worth.
Why ? 1. The sizing issue. 2. the iframe has that src attribute to worry about. i.e. absolute path. 3. the extra complexity with the pages.
My solution - DIVs which are dynamically loaded through AJAX calls. DIVs will auto size. Although the AJAX code requires javascript work (which can be done through frameworks) they are relative to where the site is. 3 is a wash, you're trading complexity in pages up to javascript.
Instead of <IFRAME ...> use <DIV id="mystuff" />
Do the ajax call to fill the mystuff div with data and let the browser worry about it.
This has been without an accepted answer for awhile, so I wanted to contribute the solution I ended up going with after some research. This is cross-browser and cross-domain (e.g. when the iframe points to content from a different domain)
I ended up using html5's message passing mechanism wrapped in a jQuery pluging that makes it compatible with older browsers using various methods (some of them described in this thread).
The end solution is very simple.
On the host (parent) page:
// executes when a message is received from the iframe, to adjust
// the iframe's height
$.receiveMessage(
function( event ){
$( 'my_iframe' ).css({
height: event.data
});
});
// Please note this function could also verify event.origin and other security-related checks.
On the iframe page:
$(function(){
// Sends a message to the parent window to tell it the height of the
// iframe's body
var target = parent.postMessage ? parent : (parent.document.postMessage ? parent.document : undefined);
$.postMessage(
$('body').outerHeight( true ) + 'px',
'*',
target
);
});
I've tested this on Chrome 13+, Firefox 3.6+, IE7, 8 and 9 on XP and W7, safari on OSX and W7. ;)
Since in your example you're accessing the document inside the IFRAME I guess you're talking about knowing the height of the document and not of the frame itself. Also, that means that the content comes from your own website and you have control over it's contents.
So, why don't you simply place a DIV around your content and then use the clientHeight of that DIV?
Code you load in your IFRAME:
...
<body>
<div id="content">
...
</div>
</body>
The parent document:
function getDocumentHeight(mdoc) {
return mdoc.getElementById("content").clientHeight;
}
BTW, this part of your example function does not make sense as "document" does not refer to the IFRAME:
var mdoc = doc || document;
Here is a solution that seems to work. Basically, the scrollHeight is the correct value in most cases. However, in IE (specifically 6 and 7), if the content is simply contained in text nodes, the height is not calculated and just defaults to the height set in CSS or on the "height" attribute on the iframe. This was found through trial and error, so take it for what it is worth.
function getDocumentHeight(doc) {
var mdoc = doc || document;
var docHeight = mdoc.body.scrollHeight;
if ($.browser.msie) {
// IE 6/7 don't report body height correctly.
// Instead, insert a temporary div containing the contents.
var child = $("<div>" + mdoc.body.innerHTML + "</div>", mdoc);
$("body", mdoc).prepend(child);
docHeight = child.height();
child.remove();
}
return docHeight;
}
I have found this solution to work in ie 6+, ff 3.5+, safari 4+. I am creating and appending an iframe to the document. The following code is executed at the end of jQuery's load event after some other dom manipulation. The timeout is needed for me because of the additional dom manipulation taking place in the load event.
// sizing - slight delay for good scrollheight
setTimeout(function() {
var intContentHeight = objContentDoc.body.scrollHeight;
var $wrap = $("#divContentWrapper", objContentFrameDoc);
var intMaxHeight = getMaxLayeredContentHeight($wrap);
$this.height(intContentHeight > intMaxHeight ? intMaxHeight : intContentHeight);
// animate
fireLayeredContentAnimation($wrap);
}, 100);
I have some sizing constraints to consider, which is what the getMaxLayeredContentHeight call is checking for me. Hope that helps.
Here's a script that resizes the iFrame depending on the body inside it's height.