Position of window.onload in Javascript - javascript

I have a javascript code like this
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload=myFunction;
</script>
Is there any difference in using the above snippet in the <head></head> tag and just before
</body> tag, as I would like to call my function after the page loads.

basically there's no pratical difference, but I recommend
to place that code at the bottom, since you need to use a script (blocking-rendering tag) it's better put it at the end of the document.
to avoid a destructive assignments like that: writing window.onload=myFunction you destroy other previous assignments to window.onload event (if any) so it's better something like
(function() {
var previousOnLoadIfAny = window.onload;
window.onload = function() {
if (typeof previousOnLoadIfAny === 'function') {
previousOnLoadIfAny();
}
yourfunction();
}
}());

Binding to window.onload will always run your function when the load event fires. This only fires after everything in the page has finished loading, including images etc. If you want to run your function when the DOM has finished loading but before everything else then you can bind to the DOMContentLoaded event or use a library like jQuery (e.g. $(function(){ myFunction() });).
The benefit about putting your function at the end of your <body> is that theoretically this means that the rest of your content has already loaded and you don’t need to bind your function to a load event. This sometimes works, but depends on the situation.

No, where you place that will not matter - anywhere in the document and it will trigger when the document and all external resources (images, scripts etc) has loaded.
Because onload triggers after all external resources one often want to use DOMContentLoaded instead which triggers when the HTML DOM is ready. Which will make for a page that is more responsive.

Related

Javascript - DOM ready after loading external javascript?

Is the DOM always ready when my external scripts have finished loading?
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="base.js"></script>
</head>
Inside base.js, I have an object that loads external scripts. It uses the following method to do so:
var head = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0],
scriptElement = document.createElement("script");
scriptElement.type = "text/javascript";
scriptElement.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (this.readyState === "complete") onModuleLoaded();
};
scriptElement.onload = onModuleLoaded;
scriptElement.src = "externalScript.js";
head.appendChild(scriptElement);
Now, when all external scripts have been loaded, a callback function is called. My question is: Is this callback function suitable to place the
rest of my javascript code in? This code needs the DOM to be ready.
My scripts also use jQuery. But I don't think I can use
$(document).ready(function () { ... });
because in my tests that fires before my scripts have been loaded. However, I do not know if this will always be the case. If it will, my callback function is suitable for my DOM-manupilating javascript code.
But if it is possible that my scripts can be loaded before the DOM is ready to be manipulated, I need to find another way.
Thank you for reading!
Check jQuery.holdReady(). If you will try to load external js via getScript then you can easily do that.
Delay the ready event until a custom plugin has loaded:
$.holdReady( true );
$.getScript( "externalScript.js", function() {
$.holdReady( false );
});
Is the DOM always ready when my external scripts have finished loading?
Probably, yes. No.
Dynamically-added script elements load their scripts asynchronously. You're quite correct that you can't use jQuery's ready callback because it looks at when the DOM defined by the main HTML is fully loaded, which may well be before your additional scripts have loaded.
I'd be really, really surprised if the main DOM weren't loaded before your onModuleLoaded callback was called. So probably, yes, it'll be ready. Color me surprised. I ran the experiment, and guess what? It's possible for the script load and callback to happen before the rest of the page has been processed. (This is why I test my assumptions.)
But if you're worried there may be edge cases around it, you could always use ready within your callback. If jQuery has already fired the ready callbacks and you hook another one, jQuery calls it right away.

onload function init not found

I'm encountering a strange issue. I am developing a books application and using javascript onload. I read somewhere that its best to include your javascript at the end of the html. This works for most of the html loaded. However some complain that onload init() not found. This gets solved if i include the javascript in the html head. But than other htmls start behaving strangely. onload gets called before the page is fully loaded. i dont get the correct scroll width. Please suggest what could be worng. Whats the best way of including javascripts. Thanks
html is as follows
columizer id use css column-width which i've defined like this.
css style below
#columnizer
{
width:290px;
height:450px;
column-width:290px;
column-gap:10px;
word-wrap:break-word;
}
Javascript onload is defined like this.
function init()
{
docScrollWidth = document.getElementById('columnizer').scrollWidth;
document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].style.width = docScrollWidth + "px";
window.external.notify(str);
}
Since the actual answer was in my comment, I'll add that to my answer:
My guess is that you're doing something like window.onload = init(); instead of window.onload = init; and the init function will have to be declared before you do that assignment. You assign function references without the parens. Using the parens causes it to get executed immediately.
You say you're using this code:
docScrollWidth = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].style.width
The main problem with this is that style.width ONLY reads a style attribute set directly on the body object. It doesn't get the width of the object as calculated by layout or CSS rules.
So, what you should use instead really depends upon what you're trying to do. The body width will nearly always be the same or more than the window width unless your content is entirely fixed width. So, that makes me wonder what you're trying to accomplish here? What you should use instead depends upon what you're really trying to do.
FYI, document.body is a direct reference to the body object so you don't need document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].
First, let me define the problem. The window.onload event is used by programmers to kick-start their web applications. This could be something trivial like animating a menu or something complex like initialising a mail application. The problem is that the onload event fires after all page content has loaded (including images and other binary content). If your page includes lots of images then you may see a noticeable lag before the page becomes active. What we want is a way to determine when the DOM has fully loaded without waiting for all those pesky images to load also.
Mozilla provides an (undocumented) event tailor-made for this: DOMContentLoaded. The following code will do exactly what we want on Mozilla platforms:
// for Mozilla browsers
if (document.addEventListener) {
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", init, false);
}
So what about Internet Explorer?
IE supports a very handy (but non-standard) attribute for the tag: defer. The presence of this attribute will instruct IE to defer the loading of a script until after the DOM has loaded. This only works for external scripts however. Another important thing to note is that this attribute cannot be set using script. That means you cannot create a script using DOM methods and set the defer attribute – it will be ignored.
Using the handy defer attribute we can create a mini-script that calls our onload handler:
<script defer src="ie_onload.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
The contents of this external script would be a single line of code to call our onload event handler:
init();
There is a small problem with this approach. Other browsers will ignore the defer attribute and load the script immediately. There are several ways round this. My preferred method is to use conditional comments to hide the deferred script from other browsers:
<!--[if IE]><script defer src="ie_onload.js"></script><![endif]-->
IE also supports conditional compilation. The following code is the JavaScript equivalent of the above HTML:
// for Internet Explorer
/*#cc_on #*/
/*#if (#_win32)
document.write("<script defer src=ie_onload.js><\/script>");
/*#end #*/
So far so good? We now need to support the remaining browsers. We have only one choice – the standard window.onload event:
// for other browsers
window.onload = init;
There is one remaining problem (who said this would be easy?). Because we are trapping the onload event for the remaining browsers we will be calling the init function twice for IE and Mozilla. To get around this we should flag the function so that it is executed only once. So our init method will look something like this:
function init() {
// quit if this function has already been called
if (arguments.callee.done) return;
// flag this function so we don't do the same thing twice
arguments.callee.done = true;
// do stuff
};
I’ve provided a sample page that demonstrates this technique.

Javascript not finding Button with ID

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).

Javascript: Best place to register event handlers

This question is so basic, I'm certain in must be a duplicate of something, even though I've looked for something similar.
My question is basically: Where is the best place to initially register event handlers for HTML elements?
The easiest way to register an event handler is obviously to just do it inline:
<div id = "mybutton" onclick = "doSomething()">Click me</div>
But this goes against the overwhelming march towards separation of logic and content in modern web development. So, in 2012, all logic/behavior is supposed to be done in pure Javascript code. That's great, and it leads to more maintainable code. But you still need some initial hook that hooks up your HTML elements with your Javascript code.
Usually, I just do something like:
<body onload = "registerAllEventHandlers()">
But... that's still "cheating", isn't it - because we're still using inline Javascript here. But what other options do we have? We can't do it in a <script> tag in the <head> section, because at that point we can't access the DOM since the page hasn't loaded yet:
<head>
<script type = "text/javascript">
var myButton = document.getElementById("mybutton"); // myButton is null!
</script>
</head>
Do we place a <script> tag at the bottom of the page or something? Like:
<html>
<body>
...
...
<script type = "text/javascript">
registerAllEventHandlers();
</script>
</body>
</html>
What is the best practice here?
You can use window.onload:
<script type = "text/javascript">
window.onload = registerAllEventHandlers;
</script>
Or if you use jquery:
$(registerAllEventHandlers);
Using onload works because it registers onload event immediately but fires it when DOM is ready.
I had a similar answer to this but was about JavaScript in general. But the idea is still the same - load scripts before closing the body.
Take advantage of libraries that abstract the window.onload and the DOM ready event. That way, you can load the scripts as soon as the DOM is ready.
Personally, I have no problems with adding onlclick="doSomething();" to elements. No logic, just a function call.
All logic is where it should be: in the function defined in the HEAD or a separate file.
Tell me what the difference is when you add href="somepage.html" or even href="somepage.html#someanchor" to an A tag.
You should register your event handlers as soon as the DOM is ready. Detecting this across all browsers hasn't always been easy, although with the notable exception of IE 8 (and earlier) most widely used browsers now support the DOMContentLoaded event (thanks to gengkev for pointing that out in the comments).
This is essentially equivalent to calling your registerAllEventHandlers function at the end of your body, but it has the advantage that you don't need to add any JavaScript to your HTML.
It is significantly better than using window.onload because that isn't executed until all of the page's assets (images, CSS etc.) have loaded.
If you're using one of the major JavaScript frameworks, then you can very easily detect when the DOM is ready, even in older versions of IE. With jQuery you would use the ready event:
jQuery(document).ready(function () {
// Your initialisation code here
});
Or the shorthand:
jQuery(function() { … });
With Prototype you would use the dom:loaded event:
document.observe("dom:loaded", function() {
// Your initialisation code here
});

Javascript onload in HTML

I want to ask a question about the Javascript’s onload.
I’m writing a JSP page with the code <%# include file ="body.jsp". The included body.jsp contains:
<table onload="function()">
This should load the javascript function, but it doesn't appear to have any effect on the page. Is onload only usable on the body tag?
Onload can only be used for <body>, <img>, <script>, <iframe> tags, because it tells you when an external resource (image, script, frame) or the whole page (body) has been loaded
Since HTML5 these can also fire a load event: <link>, <style>, <input type=image>, <object>
Support for these can still be a hit or miss though (e.g. older Android browsers)
Why not just include it via a <script tag>?
Inside your .jsp file
<script>
window.onload = function() {
alert("Hello!");
}
// or to execute some function
window.onload = myFunction; //notice no parenthesis
</script>
As the other guys already stated the onLoad event will not fire on a table. What you can do ist attaching the onLoad-handler to the body element (which will then fire, when the page is loaded) and manipulate the table by for example assigning an id to the table.
<body onload="function() { var table = document.getElementById("table-id"); ... }">
<table id="table-id"></table>
</body>
Are you using some javascript framework?
"onLoad" may be used on body- and frameset-tags.
To see some action you may use:
<body onload="function(){alert('This is an action!')}">
The easiest way i find is to use an external javascript file and jquery.
// Variables and functions you want to declare
var socket = io.connect();
// .....
// Function you want to run on load
$(function() {
$('#submit').click(function() {addUser();});
// ... any other functions you want to run on load
});
This is a code snippet from something that i was working on. The variable is declared before the code runs (It creates a web socket).
Then there is the jquery document selector ($) which runs on load and calls the init function to modify my html. I use it to call an anonymous function which runs right away.
You can throw a <script> tag right after your table with code. Once it gets to the script tag it would mean that the DOM for the table element above it has been loaded and can now be accessed in your script below it.
Note: The following below isn't applicable to the question but rather the other answers being given.
I recommend using the addEventListener function in javascript for adding the event. This makes sure that you are not overwriting or going to be overwritten by anyone else wanting to listen to the event.
Example
var iframe = document.getElementsByTagName('iframe')[0];
iframe.addEventListener('load', function(event){ console.log("iframe Loaded", event); })

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