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targeting the parent with location.href

I have an interactive map that is set in an iframe in a word press web page. the links are passed to a javascript function. when I click on a link on the map I want it to go to another web page altogether, but it keeps loading that web page into the iframe no matter what I try.
I tried 3 different ways of linking to it in the javascript.
function go2Link(e,link) {
var code = (e.code ? e.keyCode : e.which);
if (code == 13) {
//window.parent.location.href = link;
//window.open(link)
window.parent.open(link);
}
}
But instead of it going to a new web page, the web page does not seem to break out of the iframe and gets downsized inside it.

Have you tried window.parent().open(link); ?
And otherwise I think you can try window.parent().parent().open(link); if that doesn't work.

window.parent.open(link, '_blank');
This will open that link in another tab itself.
Cheers

I figured out the problem. that particular link was missig the target="_parent" tag the others had in the normal a href tag. it wasn't in the javascript link at all. that was working fine. dummy me.

Keep Popup Open when Opening a new Page

I have the following code to introduce my Chrome Extension.
// detect if this is the first time running
var first_run = false;
if (!localStorage['ran_before']) {
first_run = true;
localStorage['ran_before'] = '1';
}
// if not, start the intro() script
if (first_run) intro();
// intro script
function intro() {
window.open("intro/index.html", '_blank');
}
But sadly, when I click the extension, it doesn't open the popup.html but just opens the intro page.. it needs to keep the popup.html open and I'm sure there is a way to do this. I want to open them both at the same time.
What is the best way to do this?

the method you are using is valid and should work, but you should probably
just use the onInstalled event for consistency:
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function(info){
if(info.reason == "install"){
console.log("Installed!");
}else if(info.reason == "update"){
console.log("Updated!");
}
});
It doesn't require new permissions, and will keep your install code clearly separated from the rest of your code.

While Marc Guiselin's answer is excellent, it may be useful to know how to open a tab without closing a popup.
You could open the tab in the background, that way it won't close your popup.
chrome.tabs.create({
url: chrome.runtime.getURL("intro/index.html"),
active: false
});
In general, you should avoid using window.open in extensions and use chrome.tabs and chrome.windows API instead.

Embed a webpage and run a javascript file on it

I am basically trying to show end users a demonstration of how their webpage will look after they use my service[This would be a javascript file to run on their webpage.]
I have tried the following:
Used iframe to embed the webpage - The problem here is that i cant access the iframe content and run my js functions on them.
used jquery load(), html embed, and object but the same problem persists. i am unable to run my javascript on the embedded webpage.
Basically what i want to do can be seen here http://www.luminate.com/publisher/ . Just type in a website URL in the Preview Luminate section and see what happens. The page loads in a new tab and they have loaded a javascript on pageload.
Can someone suggest any way to do this or what these guys have done[ http://www.luminate.com/publisher/ ]?

here is the script which they used to call the page
<script type="text/javascript">
function pop_demo(event) {
event.preventDefault();
var url = $("#preview-site-url").val();
if (!url) {
alert("Please enter a URL to preview.");
return false;
}
if (!/^(http|https):\/\//.test(url)) {
url = "http://" + url;
}
url = "/publisher/demo/?url=" + encodeURIComponent(url);
window.open(url, "");
}
Here your calling url : "/publisher/demo/?url
and internally it get load frame and pass the result to next page.

Auto-download behavior and back button issue

Instead of linking directly to files for download on a web site we link to a page that says "thank you for downloading". The page has tracking codes on it so we know how many people have downloaded the file. The page launches the download file using the jQuery code shown which adds a short delay after the page loads before the download begins. The download location has a content disposition header so it always downloads properly in the browser leaving the "thank you for downloading" page visible. This all works well.
The problem comes if the user carries on browsing past this page and then hits back. The download fires again.
Using window.location.replace(href); didn't seem to fix it.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that the CMS delivering the page has set it to expire immediately so it's not being cached.
Suggestions for (i) ways to avoid this problem; (ii) any better ways to handle file download / thank you pages?
jQuery Code
$(document).ready(function () {
$('a.autoDownload').each(function () {
setTimeout('navigateToDownload("' + $(this).attr('href') + '")', 4000);
});
});
function navigateToDownload(href) {
document.location.href = href;
}

One possible approach would be to set a cookie via Javascript when the page first loads. Then, if that page is ever loaded again, you can check for the presence of the cookie, and if present, do not execute the auto download?
Using the Cookie plugin for jQuery as an example:
$(document).ready(function () {
$('a.autoDownload').each(function () {
var hasDownloadedThisLink = $.cookie("site." + $(this).attr('id'));
if (!hasDownloadedThisLink) {
$.cookie("site." + $(this).attr('id'), "true");
setTimeout('navigateToDownload("' + $(this).attr('href') + '")', 4000);
}
});
});
This is just an example. If you went this way, you'd have to consider how many possible download links there might be, as there is a limit on how many cookies you can set. Also notice that I used an id attribute of the links to identify them in the cookie - I figured this would be more suitable that using some form the href attribute. I also prefixed the cookie name with site..

Well there are a couple of solutions to this. Here's an example:
function navigateToDownload(href){
var e = document.createElement("iframe");
e.src=href;
e.style.display='none';
document.body.appendChild(e);
}
Other implemenatations might exist, but I doubt they're less "hacky".

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 :-)