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Can't access iframe content in IE

I'm building a CMS application which I'm debugging now for IE. But things happen I cant comprehend.
First I have a div with the content of a page. I extract the content of the div and with javascript I create an iFrame and append that to the div. This is for making the WYSIWYG-editor. Then when I want to add the content to the iFrame the problems start. IE can't access the iFrame's body for some reason. I can alert the iFrame's document, which gives me [object Document] or [object HTMLDocument], but when I then alert the body I get null.
I use this function for getting the document as part of a javascript object:
iframedoc: function(aID) {
if (document.getElementById(aID).contentDocument){
return document.getElementById(aID).contentDocument;
} else {
var iFrame = document.getElementById(aID);
return iFrame.contentWindow.document;
}
},
and this is where I call it for the first time:
tas[i].innerHTML = "";
tas[i].appendChild(ta_edit_functions);
tas[i].appendChild(ta_edit);
tas[i].appendChild(ta_result);
alert(ta.iframedoc(ta_edit_id));
ta.iframedoc(ta_edit_id).body.innerHTML = ta_edit_content;
ta.iframedoc(ta_edit_id).designMode = 'on';
Here I empty the div, append a div containing the WYSIWYG-functions, the iFrame and the textarea for eventually submitting the form.
I'm testing in IE 8 and 9. Weirdest thing is that when I put an alert before first calling iframedoc in IE 8 I suddenly do get the body.
I would be really grateful if someone could at least point me in the right direction. I really don't have a clue what's happening.

I'm testing in IE 8 and 9. Weirdest thing is that when I put an alert before first calling iframedoc in IE 8 I suddenly do get the body.
That sounds as though you're going too fast for the browser -- the iframe is probably just not fully loaded yet when you try messing with it, so adding in an alert gives it the extra time it needs. Try deferring some of your code using an onload event on the iframe element.

Eventually my solution was using a interval function checking if the body of the iFrame is available.
But with those errors gone I found out that in IE8 turning on designmode for the iFrame removed all the content of it. So I ended up just using a contenteditable div..

How to force an iFrame to reload once it loads

I have numerous iframes that load specific content on my pages. Both the parent and iframe are on the same domain.
I have a scrollbar inside the iframe that doesn't seem to load correctly in all browsers. But when I refresh the iframe it loads perfect. I have no idea why it does this.
I have used the meta refresh, which works but I don't want the page to refresh constantly, just once.
The solution I'm looking for will reload the iFrame content after the iFrame is opened, with a minimal delay.
Edit
I realized that my page loads all of my iframes when the index is loaded. The iframes appear in a jQuery overlay, which is also loaded but visibility:hidden until called. So on this call is when I would want the iframe to be reloaded.
Could anyone help me come up with a Javascript function that reloads the iFrame when I click the link to the iFrame? I've gotten close but I know nothing about js and I keep falling short. I have a function that reloads the page, but I can't figure out how to get it called just once.
I have this so far:
<script type="text/javascript">
var pl;
var change;
pl=1;
function ifr() {
if (pl=1) {
document.location.reload([true]);
alert("Page Reloaded!");
change=1;
return change;
}
change+pl;
}
So basically it uses the document.location.reload which works to reload the page. I'm trying to then make pl change to something other than 1 so the function doesnt run again. I've been calling this JS from the body with onLoad.

All the leads on this went dead, but I did find a code snippet that worked. Not written by me, and I don't remember where it came from. Just posting to help someone should they ever have the same question.
<div class="overlay-content"> //Content container needed for CSS Styling
<div id="Reloader">
//iFrame will be reloaded into this div
</div>
//Script to reload the iframe when the page loads
<script>
function aboutReload() {
$("#Reloader").html('<iframe id="Reloader" height="355px" width="830px" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="about.html"></iframe>');
}
</script>
</div>
Basically just loads the iFrame source when the window with the iFrame opens, as opposed to the iFrame loading when the original page loads.

Beyond the scope of the original question, however this jQuery snippit works with cross domain iframe elements where the contentDocument.location.reload(true) method won't due to sandboxing.
//assumes 'this' is the iframe you want to reload.
$(this).replaceWith($(this).clone()); //Force a reload
Basically it replaces the whole iframe element with a copy of itself. We're using it to force resize embedded 3rd party "dumb" widgets like video players that don't notice when their size changes.

On the iframe element itself, set an onload:
iframe.onload = function() {this.contentWindow.location.reload(); this.onload = null;};
(Only works if the iframe's location is in the same domain as the main page)

Here's a complete solution to the original question:
<iframe onload="reloadOnce(this)" src="test2.html"></iframe>
<script>
var iframeLoadCount = 0;
function reloadOnce(iframe) {
iframeLoadCount ++;
if (iframeLoadCount <= 1) {
iframe.contentWindow.location.reload();
console.log("reload()");
}
}
</script>
The updated question is not really clear (what's "the link to the iFrame" and where is it in your snippet?), but you have a few issues with the code:
"calling this JS from the body with onLoad", assuming you mean an iframe's body, means the variable you're hoping to use to avoid infinite reloading will get clobbered along with the rest of the iframe's page when it's reloaded. You need to either load a slightly different URL in the iframe (and check the URL on iframe's onload before reloading) or put the flag variable in the outer page (and access it with parent.variableName - that should work I think)
if (pl=1) { should use ==, as = is always an assignment.
change+pl; has no effect.

Control Inner iframe's from parent

According to this answer:
Invoking JavaScript code in an iframe from the parent page
I have an iframe that loads a page that has a div with the id flash_container
<iframe src="http://www.remote.com/a.html" id="iframeID">
I placed this code on my parent page (the page that loads the iframe) but it doesn't seem to work:
document.getElementById('iframeID').contentWindow.targetFunction();
function targetFunction() {
var el = document.getElementById('flash_container');
el.style.zoom = 0.7;
el.style.MozTransform = 'scale(0.7)';
el.style.WebkitTransform = 'scale(0.7)';
}
What I'm trying to do is to zoom-out the inner page inside the iframe from the parent page.

It's impossible to say for certain what's wrong, but I have some ideas you might want to look into.
Make sure that the iframe is loaded. Trying to do something inside a frame that hasn't finished loading clearly won't work
Are you sure that you don't have cross-domain problems. You cannot manipulate the contents of a cross-domain iframe.

Actually you could, if both side (your page and the page in the iframe) agree on sharing information, you could use message passsing. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/7938270/1571709

jquery callback after if statement

Howdy guys, im having trouble finding help on creating a callback in certain situations.
I have a piece of code which loads a links page in to an iframe and then changes the scr if another link is pressed.
$(".iframe").hide();
$(".lnk").click(function(){
$(".iframe").show('slow')
;})
;
$(".frmclose").click(function(){
$(".iframe").hide('slow')
;})
;
The above runs within (document).ready
below is outside of this (for some reason it does not work on the inside)
function changeIframeSrc(id, url) {
if (!document.getElementById) return;
var el = document.getElementById(id);
if (el && el.src) {el.src = url;return false;}return true;}
the link :
google
prior to this i have the div in which the iframe is in become unhidden. I also have a button within that div which hides the div + iframe.
What im having problems with is once the iframe has been opened and then closed via the div link if it is re-opened by clicking a different link the iframe unhides to display the old page then changes. But what i want is for the frame to load the new page(while hidden) then unhide to display it. I thought of using a callback after the iframe src change but i cant see where i would implement it.
Example of it happening
(click the GDPH button to see the links for the iframe)
Any thoughts or help appreciated.
Regards
B Stoner

I think that all you need to do is clear the src of the <iframe> when it is closed. That will clear the page so that next time you show the iFrame it will start out blank again.
I made a small demo of this functionality that uses the 3 links from your page as an example. The <iframe> starts hidden (by CSS) and each link will show the <iframe> and then load the remote site. I added a close iframe link to simulate the close link you have under the <iframe> on your site.
Hope this helps!
Edit: Updated the demo link to include the callback part. Somehow missed that when I read the question!
Edit 2: Your changeIframeSrc function was not working was because it was defined inside the jQuery anonymous function and is a closure. See calling Jquery function from javascript

I would catch the .load() event for the iframe, this will fire after the document has been loaded in to the iframe.
$(".iframe").load(function { /* code to run when iframe is loaded */ });

Telling when an iframe is on a new URL

I am using JavaScript to make a small iframe application, and I cannot seem to figure out a way to update the URL in my URL bar I made when someone clicks a link inside the iframe.
It needs to be instantaneous, and preferably without checking every millisecond whether or not the value of document.getElementById('idofiframe').src has changed.
I can't seem to find a simple property to tell when the url has changed, so if there is not one, then solving this programmatically will work as well.
Thanks for the help!

This will be difficult to do because it is considered xss and most browsers block that.
There are most likely some workarounds involving AJAX.

First of all, what you want to do will be possible only if the source of your iframe points to the same domain as the parent window. So if you have a page page.html that iframes another page iframed.html, then both of them have to reside on the same domain (e.g. www.example.com/page.html and www.example.com/iframed.html)
If that is the case, you can do the following in the iframed.html page:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function() {
var links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0, link; link = links[i]; i++) {
link.onclick = function() {
window.parent.location.href = '#' + encodeURIComponent(this.href);
}
}
}
</script>
This will make it so that whenever you click on a link in iframed.html, the url bar will put the url of the link in the "hash tag" of the url (e.g. www.example.com/page.html#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2FanotherPage.html)
Obviously, you would have to have a script like this on every page that is to appear inside the iframe.
Once this is in place, then you can put this snippet inside of page.html, and it will make the iframe automatically load the url in the hash tag:
window.onload = function() {
var url = window.location.hash.substr(1);
if (url) {
document.getElementById('iframe').src = url;
}
}
I unfortunately haven't run this code to test it, but it is pretty straight forward and should explain the idea. Let me know how it goes!

You could add an onload event to the iframe and then monitor that - it'll get thrown whenever the frame finishes loading (though, of course, it could be the same URL again...)

Instead, can you add code to the frame's contents to have it raise an event to the container frame?
In IE, the "OnReadyStateChanged" event might give you what you want.