document.writeln Not Working As Hoped

Hello,

Ok, here is the scenario...

I have the parent page and in it are 2 frames (but both have pretty much the same functioning so I'll only explain 1).

Ok, now in one of the frames, a user clicks a link (this is what it looks like):
<a href="javascript:pmSend();">Private Message</a>

I don't know why, but the forum is putting a space in my javascript command, it should be javascript, not java script:

The pmSend function is simply:
function pmSend () {
parent.privateMsg("username");
}

I don't know if the above is right because I want the result of privateMsg to be in the parent window, not in the frame window. Please let me know.

Now in the parent window, the privateMsg function is:
function privateMsg(user) {
document.writeln("<scr"+"ipt language='JavaScript' src='javascripts.php?chatmain2&user="+user+"' type='text/javascript'>\n");
document.writeln("<\/scr"+"ipt>\n");
}

Now what SHOULD be happening, is whenever the privateMsg function is called, it should print those 2 lines with that username used, and if it's called with a different username, then it should print those 2 lines with the different username, NEVER overwriting the other. And all these lines should be printed in the parent window, not either of the frames.

But here's what's happening:
The parent window (meaning the whole page now) is redirecting to the frame which triggered the privateMsg function, and overwrote all other content, and just wrote the 2 specified lines.

The whole point of this is to dynamically write those 2 lines, and it has to be dynamic because different usernames are called.

Any help is appreciated, and I thank you ahead of time for any help given.

Thanks.

document.write and document.writln only works when the document is loading. If it's finished loading, it will clear the document and open a documetn stream to write to. You'll have to use the DOM instead. See <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16335#post80684>, <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16378>, <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11083>

document.write will destroy any content on the page since it renders it from scratch.

You should look into innerHTML to solve your problem.

Hello,

Thanks for the fast help.

For the innerHTML thing, won't that only work for IE?

I need this to be Netscape and IE compatible.

Thanks.

last time I checked innerHTML is compatible if you use it right....

Edited: Hello,

So in my parent window, if I replace:
function privateMsg(user) {
document.writeln("<scr"+"ipt language='JavaScript' src='javascripts.php?chatmain2&user="+user+"' type='text/javascript'>\n");
document.writeln("<\/scr"+"ipt>\n");
}

With:
function privateMsg(user) {
script = document.createElement('script');
script.type = 'text/javascript';
script.src = 'javascripts.php?chatmain2&user='+user;
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].apendChild(script);
}

And that will output the script calling to the parent window, right? Even though the frame is calling the actual function?

Thanks.

Sound's like that, yes.

Hello,

Ok, I totally screwed up the code to show you what I'm trying to accomplish (it doesn't work this way).

Can you please help me fix this?:

function privateMsg(user) {
eval("script"+user+" = document.createElement('script')");
eval("script"+user+".type = 'text/javascript'");
eval("script"+user+".src = 'javascripts.php?chatmain2&user="+user+"'");
eval("document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].apendChild(script"+user+")");
}

I'm not new to JavaScript, but I'm not very experienced with it either.

Thanks.

function privateMsg(user){
var
oScript=document.createElement('script');
oScript.src='javascripts.php?chatmain2&user='+user;
oScript.type='text/javascript';
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(oScript);
}

Hello,

liorean, sorry, I should have been more specific.

I need the variable name to be script and then the value of the variable user passed into the function.

Example:
If the value of the user variable was bob, then I need the script variable to be: scriptbob

Can you help me do that?

Thanks.

Oh, but the variable will disappear as soon as the function is finished... the script that you load, however, will be inserted into the document. So, design the script that you load such that it gets the user name from the query you send the php file instead. That's easiest.

The reason I would like this is so that if the same user is called twice (meaning the function is called twice), I don't want the 2 to conflict. Is that a problem, or will it not matter?

I tried to do it your way and it's not working, nothing is getting printed as far as I can tell.

I just inserted some alerts, I know that the privateMsg function is being called and it is functioning all the way through to the end of the function, but still, I don't think the script is actually being printed.

Please help. :(

Thanks.

I GOT IT, YOU'RE A GENIUS, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! :)

Add an alert box in top of the script that you try to load - that way you can see if it really gets loaded or not. As for what happens if you load it again, what happens is that exactly the same file will get loaded again and it's contents will be executed again. If that is a problem you can create a global variable that you save what users have been called, and check against it each time you call a new user.

Originally posted by powerpro
I GOT IT, YOU'RE A GENIUS, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! :)
<undertone type="Modesty">I know.</undertone>