I have a simple script that should cause one of three divs to be visible while the other two are not. The function that does the work is called like so:
onchange="switch(this);"
Firebug indicates that there is an error with this text:
Javascript Error: missing { before switch body
The erroneous code it indicates is line one of my .php file where the doctype is defined like so:
<!doctype html>
The funny thing here is that I have another page with the same doctype and a script that is virtually identical which works 100%. The only differences between the two pages are that in the one that does work, I call the script from
One more thing about the Firebug output: On the page that works, the firebug script window shows the javascript like so:
function onclick(event) {
switch(this);
}
Now, on the page where the script doesn't work, Firebug shows no output that has anything to do with onchange, onclick, or anything else. It just shows the code from my javascript file and tells me I am missing the opening bracket to the function when it is clear as day that it's there. Perhaps, even with the script in the head of my main php file, something odd is happening with scope, making the defined function invisible to the callers. Any ideas?
1: why would Firebug tell me the error is on line 1 where the doctype is defined when the function that fails isn't even in the same file?
2: Does the doctype effect the way that javascript runs, and how do I debug it if it does?
I would prefer to continue using only HTML5 for this project and use a javascript file for backwards compatibility. Any help is very welcome!
P.S. I am running Ubuntu 11.10 with Apache2, PostgreSQL, and PHP5. Everything works perfectly outside of this one javascript issue.
EDIT: Totally stupid question, but I guess these things happen sometimes. As stated in the answers, switch is a keyword in Javascript and changing the name of my function fixed the problem. I really should have noticed that since my editor highlights keywords in brown...
I am not deleting this post (unless someone else suggests I do) in case someone else out there runs into the same problem. I am giving the answer to the guy who answered it first because his answer also explained the reason why I was getting the error messages I was getting, which is probably more helpful in the long run than a simple awareness of switch statements.
This error has nothing to do with your doctype or HTML5. It occurs because switch is a reserved word used for switch statements; you cannot name a function switch.
So when you do switch(this) the JavaScript engine is expecting you to follow that up with the rest of the switch statement, including the opening {, the switch body, and then the closing }. When you don't do that, it throws the given error.
The error is on "line 1" because you used an inline event handler, which in Firebug's mind is a JavaScript file with one line---that line simply being switch(this);. Firebug does not deal in line numbers of HTML files, only those of JavaScript files---whether they be real JavaScript files, or "virtual" ones generated by inline event handlers.
switch is a keyword in javascript, rename your function to something else like myswitch.
switch is a keyword in Javascript
Related
I am new to javascript and have been working overnight to see how I can fix this error on IE: Here's the question I asked here yesterday: How to fix this jquery function to work in IE?
After spending more than 20 hours I still can't find out why it wouldn't render parts of my page properly.
At the very least I thought I could find a way to get the errors so I can fix them or do a separate javascript file just for IE, but no luck.
How do I see error messages for my script?
I used F12 to see the developer console but no help there, it won't even tell me what's wrong.
I am using IE 8 and 9.
I know that there could be many things wrong with this and I appreciate your patience in advance for helping me out. Thanks!
You have invalid HTML including many invisible characters within the head section which is also blocking the W3C HTML Validator from getting past the first few errors.
When I copied your source code into my text editor, I found a bunch of invalid invisible characters. Did you cut/paste your JavaScript from someplace like a web-page? The invisibles only appear in front of your custom written scripts in the <head> and nowhere else. This could certainly explain a lot, including the validation error about a misplaced </head> tag. Go back to your editor and delete the indentations on every single line within the entire <head></head> section, then re-indent each line from scratch.
I also see an invalid closing tag, </label6>.
Remove the invisible characters, fix the invalid HTML, and see what IE does.
Moving forward, get yourself a powerful text editor that will allow you to see invisible characters so you can delete them and properly indent as needed. Otherwise, I recommend re-typing your code rather than cutting & pasting.
For JavaScript errors, the best is to see the 'Console' tab for records.
If IE's one isn't showing anything, maybe you could try using FireBug Lite, adding the following script after <head> (YES, put it as first thing, so it loads first than anything else).
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://getfirebug.com/firebug-lite.js"></script>
On side note, maybe isn't a JS problem and yes something about running code locally. IE has some policies that mostly block client-side code from running. (Remember those annoying ActiveX prompts?). Check Intranet configuration on Settings.
I developed a .htm document with an in-built script for javascript to run a program. In google chrome, the program works fine, but I got a beta test complaint that it didn't work on firefox 14.01 or opera. On testing with firefox 14.01, I can confirm it doesn't work (I assumed opera to be the same). I cannot insist the audience upgrade their browsers, as this is supposed to be widely compatible.
Doing a little tracing of the issue, I installed Firebug, which, on clicking the Javascript button to generate a coordinate the first time, it worked (clearly showing the function is defined and exists), but the second time, Firebug complained that:
"ReferenceError: GenerateCoord is not defined".
This wouldn't be so ironic if it only did this after generating an (encrypted) coordinate (thus calling GenerateCoord that is supposedly 'undefined').
If one looks in the code, one can clearly see that the function GenerateCoord is clearly defined before it is called. I would say firefox has an 'onclick' issue, but then it begs the question why did it work the first time I clicked it (calling GenerateCoord via 'onclick') but not the second?
Reloading the file allows the button to work the first time, and the first time only. I am baffled as to how firefox can call a function one time that it then says is undefined the next. Am I missing something here?
Javascript and HTML code can be viewed here:
http://pastebin.com/4qykTfEW
-
How do I solve the problem, and is there an easier solution than re-writing the code to avoid onclick (that seems to work in certain circumstances but not others)?
The problem is that using document.write overwrites the entire HTML page, thus inadvertently removing the GenerateCoord script. I'd suggest appending the link to the document (in ShowTarget) rather than attempting to re-write it.
For example, have a container element where the link should be:
<div id="links_container"></div>
Then to append the links, use:
document.getElementById('links_container').innerHTML = Link;
This has been asked already, but the solution there did not help me. What does this mean exactly? My regular HTML page uses a "script" tag to load my main_script.js file, where the first thing I do is:
var internetExplorerSucks = 30;
The variable used be be called FPS, but I thought it might have been taken by some random default global, so I renamed it to something that obviously isn't already taken. Still it fails to work. I get this error in the IE debug console:
SCRIPT5039: Redeclaration of const property
main_script.js, line 1 character 1
I tried making it a global by taking out "var", still didn't work. It should be noted that this is not in any function, just literally the first line of code in the file.
Some background: All of this code works perfectly in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari on Windows, OS X and Linux. IE is the only browser this does not work on. This project involves using an HTML5 canvas, which I got to at least display in IE 9 (I am using version 9), but this code does not immediately pertain to the canvas at all. In fact, I cannot seem to declare any variables whatsoever in my main_script.js file. I am able to, however, create functions without running into an error. Is that what I have to do? Put everything in a function (that would involve a lot of moving things around)?
Anyway, thanks for the help.
P.S. Internet Explorer is a nightmare.
I had the same problem in my code and it turn out that IE show wrong line were the redeclaration appear. In my case it was history I use later in the code. You should check whole code for redeclaration of the constants. You can try to comment out part of the code and see when it throw that error.
I'm facing a problem: I have a javascript function in my application.js but it's not working correctly. Always when I click in the button, it gives me this error in the firebug:
goto_nex_photo is not defined
but I have this function implemented in the application.js. I don't what is going wrong. I will post the code of application.js and the gallery_detail.html.erb:
https://gist.github.com/902973
Line 600 you have a random F at the start of the line.
That is a lot of code to work though. To much for me but I can offer you a method to find what is broken. Mostly likely there is something wrong with some piece of code above that function in the javascript.
Start by moving that function to the top of the script... ... then move it subsequently down ... one method at a time until you find the method that had the bad code...
Another thing you could do is look at the RAW html actually outputted and make sure that the javascript include for the function is there... I did actually check your code and it looks like all your curly braces match up...
I'm looking for a way to debug a dynamically loaded jQuery document.ready function.
Obviously I can't just bring up the script panel and add a breakpoint with the mouse since the function does not exist there.
I've also tried adding "debugger;" to the function (without the quotes), but that did not do anything. I have ensured that the function is actually executed while I tried this.
Thanks for your help,
Adrian
Edit: I just noticed that Firebug actually breaks on debug. However, when it does so on a dynamically loaded script, it does not bring up the source code of that script as usual. Plus, the call stack ends right below my own code. I can bring up the implementation for document.ready via the call stack, but that does not really help. Is this a Firebug bug or have I missed something?
I just worked on this similar question. The solution involves adding the word debugger twice; once at the top of the external file and one more time at the top of the function that needs to be debugged.
I noticed that if the debugger word was used only once, it did not work. Example:
//myExternal.js
debugger;
function myExternalFunction(){
debugger;
/* do something here */
}
You might try placing a break point where the event is called, and then instead of click "Play", choose "Step Into" (F11). I don't have a test case in front of me, but I think this may work.
I don't know if you ever got this figured out, but in case someone else needs it...
I got around this by moving the code I wanted to debug to an external file that was linked from the main page.
In my case, I had default.aspx loading services.aspx into a content div using jQuery AJAX. Services.aspx in turn, was loading jQuery UI tab elements using AJAX from a webservice that was providing it data. The webservice code was in a file called data.js which was linked from default.aspx. I needed to debug the code that was in the header of services.aspx (that loaded the tabs with data), but couldn't ever see it in any of the available inspectors. I just moved the code I needed to a new function in data.js and called it from the header in services.aspx.
I hope that makes sense to someone who needs it!
Just encountered same behavior (Firebug ignoring debugger; statement in dynamically loaded code) in Firefox 5.0/Firebug 1.7.3.
Worked around by detaching Firebug window ("Open Firebug in New Window").
There's also a 'debugger' keyword that's supported by the IE JScript debugger, and Safari's Web Inspector, so i would be surprised ifit wasn't supported in firebug.
Basically:
// mydynamicallyloadedfile.js
... // do stuff
debugger; // triggers debugger
... // more stuff
And i would expect firebug to break at the debugger keyword