Display hash (or fragment Identifier) with Javascript - javascript

My DNS hosting points a domain to my website (Stealth forward) so the domain that shows in my website is like www.mydomain.com, my website is based on SPA (Single page) design and that pages are accessed through fragment identifiers like (#home, #aboutus, etc).
The problem is the forward is stealth so the URL in the browser does not show the hash when navigating to pages.
How can I deal with this with Javascript? How can I make the hash (#home, #aboutus) in the browser URL?
Can this be easily be done with plain JS or I need jQuery for this?

Here's how I manager links in SPA:
Each anchor tag (or button for that matter) gets explicit hash like this:
My Title
You can generate hash like above easily like this:
var urlHash = "#" + $.param({ action:"doSomething", param1: 5, param2: 10});
I don't attach any event handlers to these anchors at all. They are really just plain anchors in HTML. Instead I use delegated event to catch hashchange event. One very easy way to do this is using JQuery BBQ plugin. There are numerous advantages in doing this including the fact that your users can bookmark fragments in SPA or send those URLs in emails because they show up in browser just like normal URLs. They also go in history so users can use back and forward buttons just like normal website.
Here's the sample code that listens to hashchange events which will be triggered whenever user clicks on above anchor:
//Global event handler for hash change for above type of anchors
$(window).bind("hashchange", function (e) {
var action = e.getState("action");
if (action === "doSomething") {
var param1= e.getState("param1");
var param2= e.getState("param2");
doSomething(param1, param2);
}
//else ignore unknown state
});

Related

Keep UTM Source tracking in URL when user clicks on link

I run a news/publishing website where 95% of the traffic is coming from Facebook and from different Facebook fanpages.
I have set up UTM tracking through Google Analytics to track all links from different Fanpages to calculate how many visitors each page sents. This only tracks sessions when the user is sent to the website but when a user clicks on a link in the website such as another article the tracking is lost.
All users sent to the website have a UTM tracking code to the URL but when a user clicks on another link or article on the website the UTM tracking is removed from the URL therefore the tracking is lost for that user.
I want to track all pageviews from all users and sessions sent to the site.
I want the website to automatically have the UTM tracking in the URL when a user clicks on any link on the website.
For example, this is a link when a user is brought to the website:
http://99soccer.com/man-united-worried-as-rivals-man-city-are-poised-to-sign-their-transfer-target/?utm_source=slign-11&utm_medium=slign&utm_campaign=slign-11
If the user clicks on an article on the website this UTM tracking will disappear from the URL therefore not tracking the pageviews.
/?utm_source=slign-11&utm_medium=slign&utm_campaign=slign-11
Every user that will be sent to the website will be sent via referral and will have a utm source to track them but once you click on a link when you are on the website the tracking url (utm source) disappears. I want the tracking to stay there when you click on another link in the website.
var links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
var utm = /(utm_source=.*)&(utm_medium=.*)&(utm_campaign=.*)/gi.exec(window.location.href);
for(var i=0;i<links.length;i++){
console.log(links[i].href = links[i].href + "?" + utm[0]);
}
This should do the trick.
I had this same problem and everywhere I searched, the solutions would suggest querying all <a> tags in the document on page load, loop over them, and apply the UTM parameters. This seems incomplete to me... what if the DOM gets updated with new links after page load? Seems using a click event handler would be the better route.
I came up with this and it seems to work for me. I don't know if it's foolproof though, so I'm open to improvements.
if (window.location.search.includes('utm_')) {
document.addEventListener('click', function(event){
// get the nearest anchor tag to where the user clicked (in case they clicked on something inside the anchor tag like an <img> or <span>
let aTag = event.target.closest('a');
if (aTag !== null) {
let urlParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
let aParams = new URLSearchParams(aTag.search);
// update the <a> tag's params with UTM params
for (let [key, value] of urlParams.entries()) {
// skip duplicates and only add new params that belong to UTM
if (! aParams.has(key) && key.includes('utm_')) {
aParams.append(key, value);
}
}
// reset the anchor's URL with all the query params added
aTag.href = aTag.href.split('?')[0] + '?' + aParams.toString();
}
});
}
There are better ways to get this data within GA. You can segment users with the initial referal source to your site and track the data that they have associated with them. I think this will accomplish what you want.
If for some reason I can't really think of you NEED to do this you could actively change all links on a page to include the UTM tag if a user loads the page with a UTM tag.
The rough structure of this:
1. Get the Document.url attribute
2. Logic check if it contains a UTM tag
3. If yes, add the same UTM tag to all links on the page
4. Add additional checks to remove UTM tags or other params those links might have as needed. Especially as the use of the & and ? in the url will need to be addressed.
You can manually set parameters for the session like this on the home page.
sessionStorage.setItem('utm_source', params.utm_source);
sessionStorage.setItem('utm_medium', params.utm_medium);
sessionStorage.setItem('utm_campaign', params.utm_campaign);
And then retrieve them on the contact page, probably to assign to a form field.
sessionStorage.getItem('itemName');

bookmarklet that works on 2 pages

I'm using a bookmarklet to inject javascript into a webpage. I am trying to login into my gmail account(that part works) and in my gmail account automatically click Sent folder as the page loads. This is the starting page:
This is the code I am using in bookmarklet:
javascript:
document.getElementById('Email').value='myEmail#gmail.com';
document.getElementById('next').click();
setTimeout(function(){
document.getElementById('Passwd').value='myPassword';
document.getElementById('signIn').click();},1000);
setTimeout(function(){
document.getElementsByClassName("J-Ke n0 aBU")[0].click();
},6000);
J-Ke n0 aBU is the class of Sent folder. This code logins into my account, but it doesn't click Sent folder.
I noticed similar behavior on other websites; whenever a new page loads or refreshes, the bookmarklet stops working.
Why is that and what is the correct way of using the same bookmarklet on different page than it was originally clicked.
Disclaimer: I don't have gmail, so I didn't test this for gmail specifically.
This answer exists to address your comment:
What about iframes. Is theoretically possible to use gmail login in an iframe and therefore when the iframe changes to another page this doesnt have effect on the bookmarklet?
Yes, it is technically possible to have a persistent bookmarklet using iframes (or, deity forbid, a frameset).
As long as your parent window (and it's containing iframe) remain on the same domain, it should work according to cross-domain spec.
It is however possible (depending on used method) to (un-)intentionally 'counter-act' this (which, depending on used counter-action, can still be circumvented, etc..).
Navigate to website, then execute bookmarklet which:
Creates iframe.
Sets onload-handler to iframe.
Replaces current web-page content with iframe (to window's full width and height).
Set iframe's source to current url (reloading the currently open page in your injected iframe).
Then the iframe's onload-handler's job is to detect (using url/title/page-content) what page is loaded and which (if any) actions should be taken.
Example (minify (strip comments and unneeded whitespace) using Dean Edward's Packer v3):
javascript:(function(P){
var D=document
, B=D.createElement('body')
, F=D.createElement('iframe')
; //end vars
F.onload=function(){
var w=this.contentWindow //frame window
, d=w.document //frame window document
; //end vars
//BONUS: update address-bar and title.
//Use location.href instead of document.URL to include hash in FF, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1034621/get-current-url-in-web-browser
history.replaceState({}, D.title=d.title, w.location.href );
P(w, d); //execute handler
};
D.body.parentNode.replaceChild(B, D.body); //replace body with empty body
B.parentNode.style.cssText= B.style.cssText= (
F.style.cssText= 'width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;border:0;'
) + 'overflow:hidden;' ; //set styles for html, body and iframe
//B.appendChild(F).src=D.URL; //doesn't work in FF if parent url === iframe url
//B.appendChild(F).setAttribute('src', D.URL); //doesn't work in FF if parent url === iframe url
B.appendChild(F).contentWindow.location.replace(D.URL); //works in FF
}(function(W, D){ //payload function. W=frame window, D=frame window document
alert('loaded');
// perform tests on D.title, W.location.href, page content, etc.
// and perform tasks accordingly
}));
Note: one of the obvious methods to minify further is to utilize bracket-access with string-variables for things like createElement, contentWindow, etc.
Here is an example function-body for the payload-function (from above bookmarklet) to be used on http://www.w3schools.com (sorry, I couldn't quickly think of another target):
var tmp;
if(D.title==='W3Schools Online Web Tutorials'){
//scroll colorpicker into view and click it after 1 sec
tmp=D.getElementById('main').getElementsByTagName('img')[0].parentNode;
tmp.focus();
tmp.scrollIntoView();
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp.click()},1000);
return;
}
if(D.title==='HTML Color Picker'){
//type color in input and click update color button 'ok'
tmp=D.getElementById('entercolorDIV');
tmp.scrollIntoView();
tmp.querySelector('input').value='yellow';
tmp.querySelector('button').click();
//click 5 colors with 3 sec interval
tmp=D.getElementsByTagName('area');
tmp[0].parentNode.parentNode.scrollIntoView();
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[120].click()},3000);
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[48].click()},6000);
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[92].click()},9000);
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[31].click()},12000);
W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[126].click()},15000);
return;
}
above example (inside bookmarklet) minified:
javascript:(function(P){var D=document,B=D.createElement('body'),F=D.createElement('iframe');F.onload=function(){var w=this.contentWindow,d=w.document;history.replaceState({},D.title=d.title,w.location.href);P(w,d)};D.body.parentNode.replaceChild(B,D.body);B.parentNode.style.cssText=B.style.cssText=(F.style.cssText='width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;border:0;')+'overflow:hidden;';B.appendChild(F).contentWindow.location.replace(D.URL)}(function(W,D){var tmp;if(D.title==='W3Schools Online Web Tutorials'){tmp=D.getElementById('main').getElementsByTagName('img')[0].parentNode;tmp.focus();tmp.scrollIntoView();W.setTimeout(function(){tmp.click()},1000);return}if(D.title==='HTML Color Picker'){tmp=D.getElementById('entercolorDIV');tmp.scrollIntoView();tmp.querySelector('input').value='yellow';tmp.querySelector('button').click();tmp=D.getElementsByTagName('area');tmp[0].parentNode.parentNode.scrollIntoView();W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[120].click()},3000);W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[48].click()},6000);W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[92].click()},9000);W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[31].click()},12000);W.setTimeout(function(){tmp[126].click()},15000);return}}));
Hope this helps (you get started)!
As JavaScript is executed in the context of the current page only, it's not possible to execute JavaScript which spans over more than one page. So whenever a second page is loaded, execution of the JavaScript of the first page get's halted.
If it would be possible to execute JavaScript on two pages, an attacker could send you to another page, read your personal information there and send it to another server in his control with AJAX (e.g. your mails).
A solution for your issue would be to use Selenium IDE for Firefox (direct link to the extension). Originally designed for automated testing, it can also be used to automate your browser.

Passing Messages from iFrame Across all Browsers

I have an embed-able iframe that will be used on 3rd party sites. It has several forms to fill out, and at the end must inform the parent page that it is done.
In other words, the iframe needs to pass a message to it's parent when a button is clicked.
After wading through oceans of "No, cross-domain policy is a jerk" stuff, I found window.postMessage, part of the HTML5 Draft Specification.
Basically, you place the following JavaScript in your page to capture a message from the iframe:
window.addEventListener('message', goToThing, false);
function goToThing(event) {
//check the origin, to make sure it comes from a trusted source.
if(event.origin !== 'http://localhost')
return;
//the event.data should be the id, a number.
//if it is, got to the page, using the id.
if(!isNaN(event.data))
window.location.href = 'http://localhost/somepage/' + event.data;
}
Then in the iframe, have some JavaScript that sends a message to the parent:
$('form').submit(function(){
parent.postMessage(someId, '*');
});
Awesome, right? Only problem is it doesn't seem to work in any version of IE. So, my question is this: Given that I need to pass a message from an iframe to it's parent (both of which I control), is there a method I can use that will work across any (>IE6) browser?
In IE you should use
attachEvent("onmessage", postMessageListener, false);
instead of
addEventListener("message", postMessageListener, false);
The main work-around I've seen used involves setting a hash value on the parent window and detecting the hash value in the parent, parsing the hash value to obtain the data and do whatever you want. Here's one example of doing that: http://www.onlineaspect.com/2010/01/15/backwards-compatible-postmessage/. There are more options via Google like this one: http://easyxdm.net/wp/.
This is way simpler than that.
You say you control both the parent and the content of the frame you can set up two way
communication in javascript.
All you need is
yourframename.document.getElementById('idofsomethinginttheframe')
And then from inside the frame address anything outside it with
parent.document

Communication between firefox extension and page javascript

I am developing a web-based javascript/html application with a sister firefox-extension.
The application's page-javascript performs a few XHR calls immediately after page-load, in order to bring in and display all the content that the page requires.
Is there a way, without polling the DOM, that my extension can know that the page's initialisation procedures are complete?
Interesting question indeed..
I've just found out through this post on MozillaZine's forum an easy way to accomplish this. The technique basically consists in defining a custom DOM element within the web page, filling it with some arbitrary attributes, and then using it as the target of a custom event. The event can than be captured and used to pass values from the webpage to the extension.
Web page (assumes jquery is available)
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$.get("http://mywebsite.net/ajax.php",function(data){
//[...]process data
//define a custom element and append it to the document
var element = document.createElement("MyExtensionDataElement");
element.setAttribute("application_state", "ready");
document.documentElement.appendChild(element);
//create a custom event and dispatch it
// using the custom element as its target
var ev = document.createEvent("Events");
ev.initEvent("MyExtensionEvent", true, false);
element.dispatchEvent(ev);
});
});
</script>
Chrome code:
function myListener(e) {
alert("data:" + e.target.getAttribute("application_state"));
}
function on_specialpage_load(event) {
if (event.originalTarget instanceof HTMLDocument &&
event.originalTarget.location.href == "http://mywebsite.net/myspecialpage.html") {
var doc=event.originalTarget;
doc.addEventListener("MyExtensionEvent", myListener, false, true);
}
}
gBrowser.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",on_specialpage_load,false);
Notice that doc.addEventListener has a fourth parameter, indicating that it will accept events coming from untrusted code. However you can add this event listener selectively, so that only trusted pages from your site will be able to pass values to the extension.
You could hook into the XMLHttpRequest object from your extension and monitor the requests, similar to what this GreaseMonkey script does (description). Add a wrapper to onreadystatechange in the same way he's added a wrapper to open which notifies the extension when complete. Probably also want some code which makes sure you're only doing this when visiting your own page.
Firebug does similar stuff for its Net panel, the codebase for that is a bit more intimidating though :) I also had a look at the Firebug Lite watchXHR function, but that code is a bit too cunning for me, if you can work it out let me know.

Remove fragment in URL with JavaScript w/out causing page reload

Background: I have an HTML page which lets you expand certain content. As only small portions of the page need to be loaded for such an expansion, it's done via JavaScript, and not by directing to a new URL/ HTML page. However, as a bonus the user is able to permalink to such expanded sections, i.e. send someone else a URL like
http://example.com/#foobar
and have the "foobar" category be opened immediately for that other user. This works using parent.location.hash = 'foobar', so that part is fine.
Now the question: When the user closes such a category on the page, I want to empty the URL fragment again, i.e. turn http://example.com/#foobar into http://example.com/ to update the permalink display. However, doing so using parent.location.hash = '' causes a reload of the whole page (in Firefox 3, for instance), which I'd like to avoid. Using window.location.href = '/#' won't trigger a page reload, but leaves the somewhat unpretty-looking "#" sign in the URL. So is there a way in popular browsers to JavaScript-remove a URL anchor including the "#" sign without triggering a page refresh?
As others have mentioned, replaceState in HTML5 can be used to remove the URL fragment.
Here is an example:
// remove fragment as much as it can go without adding an entry in browser history:
window.location.replace("#");
// slice off the remaining '#' in HTML5:
if (typeof window.history.replaceState == 'function') {
history.replaceState({}, '', window.location.href.slice(0, -1));
}
Since you are controlling the action on the hash value, why not just use a token that means "nothing", like "#_" or "#default".
You could use the shiny new HTML5 window.history.pushState and replaceState methods, as described in ASCIIcasts 246: AJAX History State and on the GitHub blog. This lets you change the entire path (within the same origin host) not just the fragment. To try out this feature, browse around a GitHub repository with a recent browser.
Put this code on head section.
<script type="text/javascript">
var uri = window.location.toString();
if (uri.indexOf("?") > 0) {
var clean_uri = uri.substring(0, uri.indexOf("?"));
window.history.replaceState({}, document.title, clean_uri);
}
</script>
There is also another option instead of using hash,
you could use javascript: void(0);
Example: Open Div
I guess it also depends on when you need that kind of link, so you better check the following links:
How to use it: http://www.brightcherry.co.uk/scribbles/2010/04/25/javascript-how-to-remove-the-trailing-hash-in-a-url/
or check debate on what is better here: Which "href" value should I use for JavaScript links, "#" or "javascript:void(0)"?
$(document).ready(function() {
$(".lnk").click(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
$(this).attr("href", "stripped_url_via_desired_regex");
});
});
So use
parent.location.hash = '' first
then do
window.location.href=window.location.href.slice(0, -1);
As others have said, you can't do it. Plus... seriously, as the jQuery Ajaxy author - I've deployed complete ajax websites for years now - and I can guarantee no end user has ever complained or perhaps ever even noticed that there is this hash thing going on, user's don't care as long as it works and their getting what they came for.
A proper solution though is HTML5 PushState/ReplaceState/PopState ;-) Which doesn't need the fragement-identifier anymore:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/Manipulating_the_browser_history
For a HTML5 and HTML4 compatible project that supports this HTML5 State Functionality check out https://github.com/browserstate/History.js :-)

Categories