cross-window synchronization

mikeg · April 27th, 2005, 07:26 PM

I'm trying to build a small "application" where the main window (firstfile.html) loads some other HTML file into a second window, and then manipulates its content via DOM.

The straightforward approach

// firstfile.html
w=window.open("secondfile.html");
w.document.getElementById("p1").style.visibility=" hidden";
// ...

does not work because DOM is not ready when the second line is executed. So I tried to use the onload event of the 2nd window, attaching an event handler to it, which points to a callback function in the 1st window:

// firstfile.html
function o() { alert("secondfile loaded"); }
w=window.open("secondfile.html");
w.onload=o;
// ...

And now the problem:
Under Firefox and Opera, the function o() gets called as expected.
But not under the Internet Explorer.
Any ideas, what am I doing wrong, and how to get this code to work also under IE?

// I'd like to keep the secondfile.html free of scripts

joefawcett · April 28th, 2005, 03:49 AM

Alternatively use a loop:

Code:

var oNewWin = window.open(....);
while (!oNewWin.document)
{
  //Something to pass the time here.
}
//carry on

Inside your loop you can do nothing, if the document can take a long time then you might want to look at using setTimeout to check for the new window.
I would have thought your code would have worked. Is the second page from the same server as the first? If not you will be forbidden access to the window and the DOM anyway by IE unless this is a "Trusted Site".

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

mikeg · April 28th, 2005, 10:10 AM

Thanks for the suggested alternative!

To answer your question :
Yes, the second page is even from the same folder as the first.

And that code works fine in Firefox and in Opera. But not in IE - neither with both pages on the server (defined as a "Trusted Site") nor locally.