Javascript Document Write Inquiry - javascript

I have been trying many times to write a code using JavaScript events,
so I thought that JavaScript's document.write will be somehow similar to
PHP's echo.
Is there any way to force document.write to perform an inline write similar to PHP's echo?
The sample: Situation
My website
<input type="text" id="inputText" onchange="writeText()">
Script
<script>
function writeText(){document.write(document.getElementById("inputText").value);}
</script>
I want it to act like every time you change the value of the text box, it will display the value of the textbox just below the text box where it came from or much nicer have it executed by using PHP's echo with some how like this:
<script>
var inputs = document.getElementById("inputText").value;
function writeText(){document.write("<"."?php "."echo '".inputs."';"."?".">");}
</script>
Note: please don't use elements to catch the values, I know it but what I want to aim here is to write inline with document.write without deleting the other contents of the page.

document.write() is not designed for use from event handlers because if the current document has already finished loading (which it has when an event fires), then document.write() first clears the current document and then adds new content to the empty document.
To add content to a document after it has already loaded, you need to either modify the innerHTML of an existing element or create new elements and programmatically add them to the page.
In your question, it is not clear where you want the writeText() function to put the content that it generates, but here's an example of append some new content into a document at a particular location in the document.
function writeText(parentElem, newHTML) {
var elem = document.createElement("span");
elem.innerHTML = newHTML;
parentElem.appendChild(elem);
}

Related

Document.write nondestructive alternative [duplicate]

In tutorials I've learnt to use document.write. Now I understand that by many this is frowned upon. I've tried print(), but then it literally sends it to the printer.
So what are alternatives I should use, and why shouldn't I use document.write? Both w3schools and MDN use document.write.
The reason that your HTML is replaced is because of an evil JavaScript function: document.write().
It is most definitely "bad form." It only works with webpages if you use it on the page load; and if you use it during runtime, it will replace your entire document with the input. And if you're applying it as strict XHTML structure it's not even valid code.
the problem:
document.write writes to the document stream. Calling document.write on a closed (or loaded) document automatically calls document.open which will clear the document.
-- quote from the MDN
document.write() has two henchmen, document.open(), and document.close(). When the HTML document is loading, the document is "open". When the document has finished loading, the document has "closed". Using document.write() at this point will erase your entire (closed) HTML document and replace it with a new (open) document. This means your webpage has erased itself and started writing a new page - from scratch.
I believe document.write() causes the browser to have a performance decrease as well (correct me if I am wrong).
an example:
This example writes output to the HTML document after the page has loaded. Watch document.write()'s evil powers clear the entire document when you press the "exterminate" button:
I am an ordinary HTML page. I am innocent, and purely for informational purposes. Please do not <input type="button" onclick="document.write('This HTML page has been succesfully exterminated.')" value="exterminate"/>
me!
the alternatives:
.innerHTML This is a wonderful alternative, but this attribute has to be attached to the element where you want to put the text.
Example: document.getElementById('output1').innerHTML = 'Some text!';
.createTextNode() is the alternative recommended by the W3C.
Example: var para = document.createElement('p');
para.appendChild(document.createTextNode('Hello, '));
NOTE: This is known to have some performance decreases (slower than .innerHTML). I recommend using .innerHTML instead.
the example with the .innerHTML alternative:
I am an ordinary HTML page.
I am innocent, and purely for informational purposes.
Please do not
<input type="button" onclick="document.getElementById('output1').innerHTML = 'There was an error exterminating this page. Please replace <code>.innerHTML</code> with <code>document.write()</code> to complete extermination.';" value="exterminate"/>
me!
<p id="output1"></p>
Here is code that should replace document.write in-place:
document.write=function(s){
var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script');
var lastScript = scripts[scripts.length-1];
lastScript.insertAdjacentHTML("beforebegin", s);
}
You can combine insertAdjacentHTML method and document.currentScript property.
The insertAdjacentHTML() method of the Element interface parses the specified text as HTML or XML and inserts the resulting nodes into the DOM tree at a specified position:
'beforebegin': Before the element itself.
'afterbegin': Just inside the element, before its first child.
'beforeend': Just inside the element, after its last child.
'afterend': After the element itself.
The document.currentScript property returns the <script> element whose script is currently being processed. Best position will be beforebegin — new HTML will be inserted before <script> itself. To match document.write's native behavior, one would position the text afterend, but then the nodes from consecutive calls to the function aren't placed in the same order as you called them (like document.write does), but in reverse. The order in which your HTML appears is probably more important than where they're place relative to the <script> tag, hence the use of beforebegin.
document.currentScript.insertAdjacentHTML(
'beforebegin',
'This is a document.write alternative'
)
As a recommended alternative to document.write you could use DOM manipulation to directly query and add node elements to the DOM.
Just dropping a note here to say that, although using document.write is highly frowned upon due to performance concerns (synchronous DOM injection and evaluation), there is also no actual 1:1 alternative if you are using document.write to inject script tags on demand.
There are a lot of great ways to avoid having to do this (e.g. script loaders like RequireJS that manage your dependency chains) but they are more invasive and so are best used throughout the site/application.
I fail to see the problem with document.write. If you are using it before the onload event fires, as you presumably are, to build elements from structured data for instance, it is the appropriate tool to use. There is no performance advantage to using insertAdjacentHTML or explicitly adding nodes to the DOM after it has been built. I just tested it three different ways with an old script I once used to schedule incoming modem calls for a 24/7 service on a bank of 4 modems.
By the time it is finished this script creates over 3000 DOM nodes, mostly table cells. On a 7 year old PC running Firefox on Vista, this little exercise takes less than 2 seconds using document.write from a local 12kb source file and three 1px GIFs which are re-used about 2000 times. The page just pops into existence fully formed, ready to handle events.
Using insertAdjacentHTML is not a direct substitute as the browser closes tags which the script requires remain open, and takes twice as long to ultimately create a mangled page. Writing all the pieces to a string and then passing it to insertAdjacentHTML takes even longer, but at least you get the page as designed. Other options (like manually re-building the DOM one node at a time) are so ridiculous that I'm not even going there.
Sometimes document.write is the thing to use. The fact that it is one of the oldest methods in JavaScript is not a point against it, but a point in its favor - it is highly optimized code which does exactly what it was intended to do and has been doing since its inception.
It's nice to know that there are alternative post-load methods available, but it must be understood that these are intended for a different purpose entirely; namely modifying the DOM after it has been created and memory allocated to it. It is inherently more resource-intensive to use these methods if your script is intended to write the HTML from which the browser creates the DOM in the first place.
Just write it and let the browser and interpreter do the work. That's what they are there for.
PS: I just tested using an onload param in the body tag and even at this point the document is still open and document.write() functions as intended. Also, there is no perceivable performance difference between the various methods in the latest version of Firefox. Of course there is a ton of caching probably going on somewhere in the hardware/software stack, but that's the point really - let the machine do the work. It may make a difference on a cheap smartphone though. Cheers!
The question depends on what you are actually trying to do.
Usually, instead of doing document.write you can use someElement.innerHTML or better, document.createElement with an someElement.appendChild.
You can also consider using a library like jQuery and using the modification functions in there: http://api.jquery.com/category/manipulation/
This is probably the most correct, direct replacement: insertAdjacentHTML.
Try to use getElementById() or getElementsByName() to access a specific element and then to use innerHTML property:
<html>
<body>
<div id="myDiv1"></div>
<div id="myDiv2"></div>
</body>
<script type="text/javascript">
var myDiv1 = document.getElementById("myDiv1");
var myDiv2 = document.getElementById("myDiv2");
myDiv1.innerHTML = "<b>Content of 1st DIV</b>";
myDiv2.innerHTML = "<i>Content of second DIV element</i>";
</script>
</html>
Use
var documentwrite =(value, method="", display="")=>{
switch(display) {
case "block":
var x = document.createElement("p");
break;
case "inline":
var x = document.createElement("span");
break;
default:
var x = document.createElement("p");
}
var t = document.createTextNode(value);
x.appendChild(t);
if(method==""){
document.body.appendChild(x);
}
else{
document.querySelector(method).appendChild(x);
}
}
and call the function based on your requirement as below
documentwrite("My sample text"); //print value inside body
documentwrite("My sample text inside id", "#demoid", "block"); // print value inside id and display block
documentwrite("My sample text inside class", ".democlass","inline"); // print value inside class and and display inline
I'm not sure if this will work exactly, but I thought of
var docwrite = function(doc) {
document.write(doc);
};
This solved the problem with the error messages for me.

Change Spotfire Document Properties value using javascript

I want to Change the value assigned to a Document Property in spot fire. Lets say i have created a new document property called "Test1" as a string and assign it a value "a". Is there are way to change this value using Javascript every time i load the spotfire dashboard ?
I'm unaware of a way to use JavaScript for this, but you can assign a string document property via custom expression (if it's a List Box) or run an IronPython script each time the value changes. So, you could set the expression to the current date, datetimenow() and then every time it's loaded the IronPython script would fire. However, I don't see why you'd need the property control for this.
I suppose it really depends on what you want the document property to be set to. Is it data from your tables? Output from complex code? These are all things to consider.
1) Create an input type property control using the Document Property you want to change.
2) Edit Html to assign parent element an id say "testInput". And add the script as shown below in the Edit HTML window.
<span id="testInput"><SpotfireControl id="7db34e6c423240f59fc99e6b80fa23ec" /></span>
<script>
$("#testInput input").val("after");
$("#testInput input").focus();
$("#testInput input").blur();
</script>
3) This script will change the document property value to "after" whenever you open a file.
As you comment seemed to suggest, something you can do is write this code in Python and attach the script to an action control, e.i. a Link or a Button. Something simple like: Document.Properties["Test1"] = newValue
or even: Document.Properties[changingProperty] = newValue
allowing the code to be more reusable.
Then you insert Javascript into the Text Area as well to the effect of: $("#VeryLongSpotfireControlID").click();
Which should simulate clicking on action control, which in turn triggers the Python script to update the value. Just be careful not to use this approach when it would result in reloading the text area HTML, as this will re-trigger the Javascript, thus creating an endless loop.
I believe I have found a possible solution/work-around for the issue, entirely based on pure JavaScript (since TIBCO removed jQuery starting from Spotfire X). The solution is to force a simulated Enter Keystroke while focusing the input box to trigger updating the Document Property. (No data function and R needed)
HTML (SpotfireControl Element is an single line input-box for a Doc. Prop.):
<div id="container"><SpotfireControl id="b8534f13dc62416db6d4eaab16030f5e" /></div>
JS (focus and blur might no longer be needed for this solution, but I'm still keeping them just in case):
const inputConfirmationEvent = new KeyboardEvent("keypress", {
    keyCode: 13,
    bubbles: true,
    cancelable: false
});
var elem = document.querySelector("#container input");
elem.value = "stringValue";
elem.blur();
elem.focus();
document.querySelector("#container input").dispatchEvent(inputConfirmationEvent);
Hope it helps someone.
Best,
Aaron

Manipulating retrieved data that is being echoed by an external PHP script

I don't consider myself a professional by any means. I decided to spend this summer picking up a few web languages that would allow me to prototype my ideas (I am a designer).
To get with the question, I am having a tough time figuring out how to manipulate elements that I am echoing back from an external .php script. Essentially I am doing this.
process_feed.php:
- Gets data, does SQL search based on data, outputs rows
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($feedResult))
{
$ctime = date("U",strtotime($row['timestamp']));
echo '<div id="secretmsg">'.$row['secretmsg'].'</br>';
echo '<div id="postedby">Posted By: '.$row['postedby'].'</div>';
echo '<div id="timestamp">'.ago($ctime).'</div><button type ="button" name="'.$row['m_id'].'">Reply</button></div>';
}
main page:
function RefreshFeed()
{
var SchoolName = document.getElementById('schoolname').innerHTML;
$.post('../../process_feed.php', {name: SchoolName}, processResponse);
function processResponse(data) {
$('.secretfeed').html(data);
}
}
Perhaps not the best solution, but I have RefreshFeed on an interval so I can constantly get updated information.
The issue is this: I am trying to work on a comment system where users can respond to each post. On my process page, I am adding a Reply button with the name set to the ID in the database. I am trying to setup basic functionality where the Reply button will open up a text input for commenting, send the message to the DB based on the ID, etc etc. However, on my main page I am not able to manipulate the element because it's being echoed? What can I change in order to echo information from the database onto my main page, and then from my main page manipulate the echoed div's.
I hope this makes sense - thanks for the help :)
If I understand you correctly then you would like to modify the DOM once the data has been added - so you can then just use a selector to get the desired element and do what ever you want - e.g.:
function processResponse(data) {
// Selector to get all elements by class name within the whole document
$('.secretfeed').html(data);
// Selector to get all buttons by tag name inside $('.secretfeed')
$('.secretfeed').find('button').text('foo');
// Selector to get all buttons by attribute inside $('.secretfeed')
$('.secretfeed').find('[type="button"]').text('bar');
// Selector to get the element with the given id within the whole document
$('#secretmsg').css('color', '#ff0000');
}
Notes:
Ids for HTML elements should always be unique within the whole document! In your example you possibly echo multiple elements with the same id (as it is inside a while loop) - use class="" instead.
It is recommended to save selectors so that jQuery does not need to parse the DOM over and over again - e.g.:
var $myselector = $('.myclass');
$myselector.text('foo');
But keep in mind that the selector is not updated when you modify the DOM by e.g. adding another element with class="myclass" - you would then need to assign the variable again so the selector contains the newly inserted element as well.
Additionally be sure that the DOM is ready when you want to work on it - regarding your callback processResponse this will always be the case as jQuery takes care of it and does not execute the callback until it is ready - but when you come from a page reload wrap your code like this:
var $myselector = $();
$(document).ready(function(){
$myselector = $('.myclass');
});
Additional info:
Finally (out of the scope of your question) take a look at event delegation so that you do not need to select all elements directly - e.g. if you want to add a click handler to all of your buttons you do not need to register an event handler for each but can create a global one:
$(document).on('click', '.secretfeed button', function(){
alert($(this).attr('name'));
});

document.write to display content on same page.

I have a doubt with javascript document.write method. Mostly when I use document.write() it shows me the content written with the method in a different page. For instance, if I write the command like this, document.write("Hello, My name is Sameeksha"); then the execution of this line takes me to a different document on the same page. I want to be able to append the message on the same page, with other elements of the page. For example, if I have text boxes and buttons on the page and I want the text with document.write to appear under all the content of the page or on a particular section of a page. Please suggest what can be done to get the output in this way? As, this way it will be really easy to create dynamic HTML content.
Thank you so much for your time.
Regards,
Sameeksha Kumari
document.write is basically never used in modern Javascript.
Whan you do instead is to create explicit DOM elements and append them to the document in the place you want. For example
var x = document.createElement("div"); // Creates a new <div> node
x.textContent = "Hello, world"; // Sets the text content
document.body.appendChild(x); // Adds to the document
Instead of appending to the end you can also add child nodes to any existing node. For example:
function addChatMessage(msg) {
var chat = document.getElementById("chat"); // finds the container
var x = document.createElement("div");
x.textContent = msg;
chat.appendChild(x);
}
I'd say 6502 posted the more correct way to do it, but I think someone should mention innerHTML as well. First, give some element in your HTML body an id so you can reference it:
<div id="outputDiv">I'm empty.</div>
Then, either at the bottom of your document (at the end of the <body> tag), or any other time after the page is loaded, you can update the contents with innerHTML:
document.getElementById("outputDiv").innerHTML = "<h1>Hello!!!</h1>";
Here's a jsfiddle demonstrating this. This isn't as clean/correct/elegant as using the more standard DOM methods, but it's well supported. Sometimes quick and dirty is what you need!

What are alternatives to document.write?

In tutorials I've learnt to use document.write. Now I understand that by many this is frowned upon. I've tried print(), but then it literally sends it to the printer.
So what are alternatives I should use, and why shouldn't I use document.write? Both w3schools and MDN use document.write.
The reason that your HTML is replaced is because of an evil JavaScript function: document.write().
It is most definitely "bad form." It only works with webpages if you use it on the page load; and if you use it during runtime, it will replace your entire document with the input. And if you're applying it as strict XHTML structure it's not even valid code.
the problem:
document.write writes to the document stream. Calling document.write on a closed (or loaded) document automatically calls document.open which will clear the document.
-- quote from the MDN
document.write() has two henchmen, document.open(), and document.close(). When the HTML document is loading, the document is "open". When the document has finished loading, the document has "closed". Using document.write() at this point will erase your entire (closed) HTML document and replace it with a new (open) document. This means your webpage has erased itself and started writing a new page - from scratch.
I believe document.write() causes the browser to have a performance decrease as well (correct me if I am wrong).
an example:
This example writes output to the HTML document after the page has loaded. Watch document.write()'s evil powers clear the entire document when you press the "exterminate" button:
I am an ordinary HTML page. I am innocent, and purely for informational purposes. Please do not <input type="button" onclick="document.write('This HTML page has been succesfully exterminated.')" value="exterminate"/>
me!
the alternatives:
.innerHTML This is a wonderful alternative, but this attribute has to be attached to the element where you want to put the text.
Example: document.getElementById('output1').innerHTML = 'Some text!';
.createTextNode() is the alternative recommended by the W3C.
Example: var para = document.createElement('p');
para.appendChild(document.createTextNode('Hello, '));
NOTE: This is known to have some performance decreases (slower than .innerHTML). I recommend using .innerHTML instead.
the example with the .innerHTML alternative:
I am an ordinary HTML page.
I am innocent, and purely for informational purposes.
Please do not
<input type="button" onclick="document.getElementById('output1').innerHTML = 'There was an error exterminating this page. Please replace <code>.innerHTML</code> with <code>document.write()</code> to complete extermination.';" value="exterminate"/>
me!
<p id="output1"></p>
Here is code that should replace document.write in-place:
document.write=function(s){
var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script');
var lastScript = scripts[scripts.length-1];
lastScript.insertAdjacentHTML("beforebegin", s);
}
You can combine insertAdjacentHTML method and document.currentScript property.
The insertAdjacentHTML() method of the Element interface parses the specified text as HTML or XML and inserts the resulting nodes into the DOM tree at a specified position:
'beforebegin': Before the element itself.
'afterbegin': Just inside the element, before its first child.
'beforeend': Just inside the element, after its last child.
'afterend': After the element itself.
The document.currentScript property returns the <script> element whose script is currently being processed. Best position will be beforebegin — new HTML will be inserted before <script> itself. To match document.write's native behavior, one would position the text afterend, but then the nodes from consecutive calls to the function aren't placed in the same order as you called them (like document.write does), but in reverse. The order in which your HTML appears is probably more important than where they're place relative to the <script> tag, hence the use of beforebegin.
document.currentScript.insertAdjacentHTML(
'beforebegin',
'This is a document.write alternative'
)
As a recommended alternative to document.write you could use DOM manipulation to directly query and add node elements to the DOM.
Just dropping a note here to say that, although using document.write is highly frowned upon due to performance concerns (synchronous DOM injection and evaluation), there is also no actual 1:1 alternative if you are using document.write to inject script tags on demand.
There are a lot of great ways to avoid having to do this (e.g. script loaders like RequireJS that manage your dependency chains) but they are more invasive and so are best used throughout the site/application.
I fail to see the problem with document.write. If you are using it before the onload event fires, as you presumably are, to build elements from structured data for instance, it is the appropriate tool to use. There is no performance advantage to using insertAdjacentHTML or explicitly adding nodes to the DOM after it has been built. I just tested it three different ways with an old script I once used to schedule incoming modem calls for a 24/7 service on a bank of 4 modems.
By the time it is finished this script creates over 3000 DOM nodes, mostly table cells. On a 7 year old PC running Firefox on Vista, this little exercise takes less than 2 seconds using document.write from a local 12kb source file and three 1px GIFs which are re-used about 2000 times. The page just pops into existence fully formed, ready to handle events.
Using insertAdjacentHTML is not a direct substitute as the browser closes tags which the script requires remain open, and takes twice as long to ultimately create a mangled page. Writing all the pieces to a string and then passing it to insertAdjacentHTML takes even longer, but at least you get the page as designed. Other options (like manually re-building the DOM one node at a time) are so ridiculous that I'm not even going there.
Sometimes document.write is the thing to use. The fact that it is one of the oldest methods in JavaScript is not a point against it, but a point in its favor - it is highly optimized code which does exactly what it was intended to do and has been doing since its inception.
It's nice to know that there are alternative post-load methods available, but it must be understood that these are intended for a different purpose entirely; namely modifying the DOM after it has been created and memory allocated to it. It is inherently more resource-intensive to use these methods if your script is intended to write the HTML from which the browser creates the DOM in the first place.
Just write it and let the browser and interpreter do the work. That's what they are there for.
PS: I just tested using an onload param in the body tag and even at this point the document is still open and document.write() functions as intended. Also, there is no perceivable performance difference between the various methods in the latest version of Firefox. Of course there is a ton of caching probably going on somewhere in the hardware/software stack, but that's the point really - let the machine do the work. It may make a difference on a cheap smartphone though. Cheers!
The question depends on what you are actually trying to do.
Usually, instead of doing document.write you can use someElement.innerHTML or better, document.createElement with an someElement.appendChild.
You can also consider using a library like jQuery and using the modification functions in there: http://api.jquery.com/category/manipulation/
This is probably the most correct, direct replacement: insertAdjacentHTML.
Try to use getElementById() or getElementsByName() to access a specific element and then to use innerHTML property:
<html>
<body>
<div id="myDiv1"></div>
<div id="myDiv2"></div>
</body>
<script type="text/javascript">
var myDiv1 = document.getElementById("myDiv1");
var myDiv2 = document.getElementById("myDiv2");
myDiv1.innerHTML = "<b>Content of 1st DIV</b>";
myDiv2.innerHTML = "<i>Content of second DIV element</i>";
</script>
</html>
Use
var documentwrite =(value, method="", display="")=>{
switch(display) {
case "block":
var x = document.createElement("p");
break;
case "inline":
var x = document.createElement("span");
break;
default:
var x = document.createElement("p");
}
var t = document.createTextNode(value);
x.appendChild(t);
if(method==""){
document.body.appendChild(x);
}
else{
document.querySelector(method).appendChild(x);
}
}
and call the function based on your requirement as below
documentwrite("My sample text"); //print value inside body
documentwrite("My sample text inside id", "#demoid", "block"); // print value inside id and display block
documentwrite("My sample text inside class", ".democlass","inline"); // print value inside class and and display inline
I'm not sure if this will work exactly, but I thought of
var docwrite = function(doc) {
document.write(doc);
};
This solved the problem with the error messages for me.

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