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hash

Property. A string beginning with a hash mark (#) that specifies an anchor name in the URL.

Syntax

1. links[index].hash
2. location.hash
3. areaName.hash

Parameters

index is an integer representing a Link object.

areaName is the value of the NAME attribute of an Area object.

Property of

Area object, Link object, location object

Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: property of Area

    Description

    The hash property specifies a portion of the URL. This property applies to http URLs only.

    You can set the hash property at any time, although it is safer to set the href property to change a location. If the hash that you specify cannot be found in the current location, you will get an error.

    In event handlers, you must specify window.location.hash instead of simply using location.hash. Due to the scoping of static objects in JavaScript, a call to location without specifying an object name is equivalent to document.location, which is a synonym for document.URL.

    See RFC 1738 for complete information about the hash.

    Examples

    See the examples for the Anchor object and the href property.

    See also

    host, hostname, href, pathname, port, protocol, search properties


    height

    Property. A string specifying the height of an image either in pixels or as a percentage of the window height.

    Syntax

    imageName.height

    Parameters

    imageName is either the name of an Image object or an element in the images array.

    Property of

    Image

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    The height property reflects the HEIGHT attribute of the <IMG> tag. For images created with the Image() constructor, the value of the height property is the actual, not the displayed, height of the image.

    height is a read-only property.

    Examples

    The following function displays the values of an image's height, width, hspace, and vspace properties.

    function showImageSize(theImage) {
       alert('height=' + theImage.height+
           '; width=' + theImage.width +
           '; hspace=' + theImage.hspace +
           '; vspace=' + theImage.vspace)
    }

    See also

    border, hspace, vspace, width properties


    Hidden

    Object. A Text object that is suppressed from form display on an HTML form. A Hidden object is used for passing name/value pairs when a form submits.

    HTML syntax

    To define a Hidden object:

    <INPUT
       TYPE="hidden"
       NAME="hiddenName"
       [VALUE="textValue"]>

    HTML attributes

    NAME="hiddenName" specifies the name of the Hidden object. You can access this value using the name property.

    VALUE="textValue" specifies the initial value of the Hidden object.

    Syntax

    To use a Hidden object's properties:

    1. hiddenName.propertyName
    2. formName.elements[index].propertyName

    Parameters

    hiddenName is the value of the NAME attribute of a Hidden object.

    formName is either the value of the NAME attribute of a Form object or an element in the forms array.

    index is an integer representing a Hidden object on a form.

    propertyName is one of the properties listed below.

    Property of

    Form

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: added type property

    Description

    A Hidden object is a form element and must be defined within a <FORM> tag.

    A Hidden object cannot be seen or modified by a user, but you can programmatically change the value of the object by changing its value property. You can use Hidden objects for client/server communication.

    Properties

    The Hidden object has the following properties:
    Property Description
    name

    Reflects the NAME attribute

    type

    Reflects the TYPE attribute

    value

    Reflects the current value of the Hidden object

    Methods

    None

    Event handlers

    None

    Examples

    The following example uses a Hidden object to store the value of the last object the user clicked. The form contains a "Display hidden value" button that the user can click to display the value of the Hidden object in an Alert dialog box.

    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
    <TITLE>Hidden object example</TITLE>
    </HEAD>
    <BODY>
    <B>Click some of these objects, then click the "Display value" button
    <BR>to see the value of the last object clicked.</B>
    <FORM NAME="form1">
    <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="hiddenObject" VALUE="None">
    <P>
    <INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Click me" NAME="button1"
       onClick="document.form1.hiddenObject.value=this.value">
    <P>
    <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="musicChoice" VALUE="soul-and-r&b"
       onClick="document.form1.hiddenObject.value=this.value"> Soul and R&B
    <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="musicChoice" VALUE="jazz"
       onClick="document.form1.hiddenObject.value=this.value"> Jazz
    <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="musicChoice" VALUE="classical"
       onClick="document.form1.hiddenObject.value=this.value"> Classical
    <P>
    <SELECT NAME="music_type_single"
       onFocus="document.form1.hiddenObject.value=this.options[this.selectedIndex].text">
       <OPTION SELECTED> Red <OPTION> Orange <OPTION> Yellow
    </SELECT>
    <P><INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Display hidden value" NAME="button2"
       onClick="alert('Last object clicked: ' + document.form1.hiddenObject.value)">
    </FORM>
    </BODY>
    </HTML>

    See also

    cookie property


    history

    Object. Contains information on the URLs that the client has visited within a window. This information is stored in a history list and is accessible through the Navigator Go menu.

    Syntax

    To use a history object:

    1. history.propertyName
    2. history.methodName(parameters)

    Parameters

    propertyName is one of the properties listed below.

    methodName is one of the methods listed below.

    Property of

    window object

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    The history object is a linked list of URLs the user has visited, as shown in the Navigator Go menu.

    Properties

    The history object has the following properties:
    Property Description
    length

    Reflects the number of entries in the history list

    Methods

  • back
  • forward
  • go

    Event handlers

    None

    Examples

    Example 1. The following example goes to the URL the user visited three clicks ago in the current window.

    history.go(-3)
    Example 2. You can use the history object with a specific window or frame. The following example causes window2 to go back one item in its window (or session) history:

    window2.history.back()
    Example 3. The following example causes the second frame in a frameset to go back one item:

    parent.frames[1].history.back()
    Example 4. The following example causes the frame named frame1 in a frameset to go back one item:

    parent.frame1.history.back()
    Example 5. The following example causes the frame named frame2 in window2 to go back one item:

    window2.frame2.history.back()

    See also

    location object


    host

    Property. A string specifying the server name, subdomain, and domain name.

    Syntax

    1. links[index].host
    2. location.host
    3. areaName.host

    Parameters

    index is an integer representing a Link object.

    areaName is the value of the NAME attribute of an Area object.

    Property of

    Area object, Link object, location object

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: property of Area

    Description

    The host property specifies a portion of a URL. The host property is a substring of the hostname property. The hostname property is the concatenation of the host and port properties, separated by a colon. When the port property is null, the host property is the same as the hostname property.

    You can set the host property at any time, although it is safer to set the href property to change a location. If the host that you specify cannot be found in the current location, you will get an error.

    In event handlers, you must specify window.location.host instead of simply using location.host. Due to the scoping of static objects in JavaScript, a call to location without specifying an object name is equivalent to document.location, which is a synonym for document.URL.

    See Section 3.1 of RFC 1738 for complete information about the hostname and port.

    Examples

    See the examples for the href property.

    See also

    hash, hostname, href, pathname, port, protocol, search properties


    hostname

    Property. A string containing the full hostname of the server, including the server name, subdomain, domain, and port number.

    Syntax

    1. links[index].hostname
    2. location.hostname
    3. areaName.hostname

    Parameters

    index is an integer representing a Link object.

    areaName is the value of the NAME attribute of an Area object.

    Property of

    Area object, Link object, location object

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: property of Area

    Description

    The hostname property specifies a portion of a URL. The hostname property is the concatenation of the host and port properties, separated by a colon. When the port property is 80 (the default), the host property is the same as the hostname property.

    You can set the hostname property at any time, although it is safer to set the href property to change a location. If the hostname that you specify cannot be found in the current location, you will get an error.

    In event handlers, you must specify window.location.hostname instead of simply using location.hostname. Due to the scoping of static objects in JavaScript, a call to location without specifying an object name is equivalent to document.location, which is a synonym for document.URL.

    See Section 3.1 of RFC 1738 for complete information about the hostname.

    Examples

    See the examples for the href property.

    See also

    hash, host, href, pathname, port, protocol, search properties


    href

    Property. A string specifying the entire URL.

    Syntax

    1. links[index].href
    2. location.href
    3. areaName.href

    Parameters

    index is an integer representing a Link object.

    areaName is the value of the NAME attribute of an Area object.

    Property of

    Area object, Link object, location object

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: property of Area

    Description

    The href property specifies the entire URL. Other location object properties are substrings of the href property.

    You can set the href property at any time.

    Omitting a property name from the location object is equivalent to specifying location.href. For example, the following two statements are equivalent and set the URL of the current window to the Netscape home page:

    window.location.href="http://www.netscape.com/"
    window.location="http://www.netscape.com/"
    In event handlers, you must specify window.location.href instead of simply using location.href. Due to the scoping of static objects in JavaScript, a call to location without specifying an object name is equivalent to document.location, which is a synonym for document.URL.

    See RFC 1738 for complete information about the URL.

    Examples

    In the following example, the window.open statement creates a window called newWindow and loads the specified URL into it. The document.write statements display all the properties of newWindow.location in a window called msgWindow.

    newWindow=window.open
       ("http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/
       version_2.0/script/script_info/objects.html#checkbox_object")

    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.href = " +
       newWindow.location.href + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.protocol = " +
       newWindow.location.protocol + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.host = " +
       newWindow.location.host + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.hostName = " +
       newWindow.location.hostName + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.port = " +
       newWindow.location.port + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.pathname = " +
       newWindow.location.pathname + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.hash = " +
       newWindow.location.hash + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.write("newWindow.location.search = " +
       newWindow.location.search + "<P>")
    msgWindow.document.close()
    The previous example displays output such as the following:

    newWindow.location.href =
       http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/
       version_2.0/script/script_info/objects.html#checkbox_object
    newWindow.location.protocol = http:
    newWindow.location.host = home.netscape.com
    newWindow.location.hostName = home.netscape.com
    newWindow.location.port =
    newWindow.location.pathname =
       /comprod/products/navigator/version_2.0/script/
       script_info/objects.html
    newWindow.location.hash = #checkbox_object
    newWindow.location.search =

    See also

    hash, host, hostname, pathname, port, protocol, search properties


    hspace

    Property. A string specifying a margin in pixels between the left and right edges of an image and the surrounding text.

    Syntax

    imageName.hspace

    Parameters

    imageName is either the name of an Image object or an element in the images array.

    Property of

    Image

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    The hspace property reflects the HSPACE attribute of the <IMG> tag. For images created with the Image() constructor, the value of the hspace property is 0.

    hspace is a read-only property.

    Examples

    See the examples for the height property.

    See also

    border, height, vspace, width properties


    Image

    Object. An image on an HTML form.

    HTML syntax

    To define an image, use standard HTML syntax with the addition of the onAbort and onLoad event handlers:

    <IMG
       [NAME="imageName"]
       SRC="Location"
       [LOWSRC="Location"]
       [HEIGHT="Pixels"|"Value"%]
       [WIDTH="Pixels"|"Value"%]
       [HSPACE="Pixels"]
       [VSPACE="Pixels"]
       [BORDER="Pixels"]
       [ALIGN="left"|"right"|
          "top"|"absmiddle"|"absbottom"|
          "texttop"|"middle"|"baseline"|"bottom"]
       [ISMAP]
       [USEMAP="Location#MapName"]
       [onAbort="handlerText"]
       [onError="handlerText"]
       [onLoad="handlerText"]>

    HTML attributes

    NAME="imageName" specifies the name of the Image object. You can access this value using the name property.

    SRC="Location" specifies the URL of the image to be displayed in the document. You can access this value using the src property.

    LOWSRC="Location" specifies the URL of a low-resolution version of the image to be displayed in the document. Navigator loads this smaller image and then replaces it with the larger image specified by SRC. You can access this value using the lowsrc property.

    HEIGHT="Pixels"|"Value"% specifies the height of the image either in pixels or as a percentage of the window height. If necessary, Navigator scales the image to fit the space specified by this attribute. You can access this value using the height property.

    WIDTH="Pixels"|"Value"% specifies the width of the image either in pixels or as a percentage of the window width. If necessary, Navigator scales the image to fit the space specified by this attribute. You can access this value using the width property.

    HSPACE="Pixels" specifies a margin in pixels between the left and right edges of the image and the surrounding text. This attribute applies only to images that use "left" or "right" as the value of the ALIGN attribute. You can access this value using the hspace property.

    VSPACE="Pixels" specifies a margin in pixels between the top and bottom edges of the image and the surrounding text. This attribute applies only to images that use "left" or "right" as the value of the ALIGN attribute. You can access this value using the vspace property.

    BORDER="Pixels" specifies the width, in pixels, of an image border. You can suppress the border by setting its value to 0; however, if you suppress the border of an image that appears within an anchor, users will not see a colored border indicating that the image is a hyperlink. You can access this value using the border property.

    ALIGN specifies the alignment of the image in relation to the surrounding text. Images that are aligned as "left" or "right" float into the next available space on the left or right side of the page, and cause text to wrap around them. Other ALIGN values place the image in a line of text and do not cause the text to wrap. If omitted, "bottom" is used.

    ISMAP specifies the image as a server-side image map.

    USEMAP="Location#MapName" specifies the image as a client-side image map. This attribute must specify the URL of the file that contains the map definition, followed by a # symbol, and then the name of the map. For example, USEMAP="http://www.HomeWorld.com/maplist.html#areamap".

    Syntax

    To create an Image object:

    imageName = new Image([width, height])
    To use an Image object's properties:

    1. imageName.propertyName
    2. document.images[index].propertyName
    3. formName.elements[index].propertyName
    To define an event handler for an Image object created with the Image() constructor:

    1. imageName.onabort = handlerFunction
    2. imageName.onerror = handlerFunction
    3. imageName.onload = handlerFunction

    Parameters

    imageName is either the name of a new object or a property of an existing object. When using an Image object's properties, imageName is the value of the NAME attribute of an Image object

    width is the image width, in pixels.

    height is the image height, in pixels.

    formName is either the value of the NAME attribute of a Form object or an element in the forms array.

    index, when used with the images array is an integer or string representing an Image object. index, when used with the elements array, is an integer representing an Image object on a form.

    propertyName is one of the properties listed below.

    handlerFunction is the keyword null, the name of a function, or a variable or property that contains null or a valid function reference.

    Property of

    document

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    The position and size of an image in a document are set when the document is displayed in Navigator and cannot be changed. You can change the image displayed by setting the src and lowsrc properties. (See the descriptions of src and lowsrc.)

    You can use JavaScript to create an animation with an Image object by repeatedly setting the src property, as shown in Example 4 below. JavaScript animation is slower than GIF animation, because with GIF animation the entire animation is in one file; with JavaScript animation, each frame is in a separate file, and each file must be loaded across the network (host contacted and data transferred).

    Image objects do not have onClick, onMouseOut, and onMouseOver event handlers. However, if you define an Area object for the image or place the <IMG> tag within a Link object, you can use the Area or Link object's event handlers. See the Area object and Link object.

    The Image() constructor

    The primary use for an Image object created with the Image() constructor is to load an image from the network (and decode it) before it is actually needed for display. Then when you need to display the image within an existing image cell, set the src property of the displayed image to the same value as that used for the prefetched image, as follows.

    myImage = new Image()
    myImage.src = "seaotter.gif"
    ...
    document.images[0].src = myImage.src
    The resulting image will be obtained from cache, rather than loaded over the network. You can use this technique to create smooth animations, or you could display one of several images based on form input.

    The images array

    You can reference the images in your code by using the images array. This array contains an entry for each Image object (<IMG> tag) in a document in source order (images created with the Image() constructor are not included in the images array). For example, if a document contains three images, these images are reflected as document.images[0], document.images[1], and document.images[2].

    To use the images array:

    1. document.images[index]
    2. document.images.length
    index is an integer representing an image in a document or a string containing the name of an Image object.

    To obtain the number of images in a document, use the length property: document.images.length.

    Elements in the images array are read-only. For example, the statement document.images[0]="logo.gif" has no effect.

    Properties

    The Image object has the following properties:
    Property Description
    border

    Reflects the BORDER attribute

    complete

    Boolean value indicating whether Navigator has completed its attempt to load the image

    height

    Reflects the HEIGHT attribute

    hspace

    Reflects the HSPACE attribute

    lowsrc

    Reflects the LOWSRC attribute

    name

    Reflects the NAME attribute

    prototype

    Lets you add a properties to an Image object.

    src

    Reflects the SRC attribute

    vspace

    Reflects the VSPACE attribute

    width

    Reflects the WIDTH attribute

    Note
    The border, hspace, name, and vspace properties are not meaningful for images created with the Image() constructor.
    The images array has the following properties:
    Property Description
    length

    Reflects the number of images in a document

    Methods

    None.

    Event handlers

  • onAbort
  • onError
  • onLoad

    Examples

    Example 1: Refer to an image by its name. If you refer to an image by its name, you must include the form name if the image is on a form. For example, suppose the following image is defined:

    <IMG NAME="aircraft" SRC="f15e.gif" ALIGN="left" VSPACE="10">
    The following code refers to the image if it is on a form:

    document.myForm.aircraft.src='f15e.gif'
    The following code refers to the image if is not on a form:

    document.aircraft.src='f15e.gif'
    Example 2: Create an image with the Image() constructor. The following example creates an Image object, myImage, that is 70 pixels wide and 50 pixels high. If the source URL, seaotter.gif, does not have dimensions of 70x50 pixels, it is scaled to that size.

    myImage = new Image(70, 50)
    myImage.src = "seaotter.gif"
    If you omit the width and height arguments from the Image() constructor, myImage is created with dimensions equal to that of the image named in the source URL.

    myImage = new Image()
    myImage.src = "seaotter.gif"
    Example 3: Display an image based on form input. In the following example, the user selects which image is displayed. The user orders a shirt by filling out a form. The image displayed depends on the shirt color and size that the user chooses. All possible image choices are pre-loaded to speed response time. When the user clicks the button to order the shirt, the allShirts function displays the images of all the shirts.

    <SCRIPT>
    shirts = new Array()
    shirts[0] = "R-S"
    shirts[1] = "R-M"
    shirts[2] = "R-L"
    shirts[3] = "W-S"
    shirts[4] = "W-M"
    shirts[5] = "W-L"
    shirts[6] = "B-S"
    shirts[7] = "B-M"
    shirts[8] = "B-L"

    doneThis = 0
    shirtImg = new Array()

    // Preload shirt images
    for(j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
       for(k = 0; k < 3; k++) {
          idx = j*3 + k
          shirtImg[idx] = new Image()
          shirtImg[idx].src = "shirt-" + shirts[idx] + ".gif"
       }
    }

    function changeShirt(form)
    {
       shirtColor = form.color.options[form.color.selectedIndex].text
       shirtSize = form.size.options[form.size.selectedIndex].text

       newSrc = "shirt-" + shirtColor.charAt(0) + "-" + shirtSize.charAt(0) + ".gif"
       document.shirt.src = newSrc
    }

    function allShirts()
    {
       document.shirt.src = shirtImg[doneThis].src
       doneThis++
       if(doneThis != 9)setTimeout("allShirts()", 500)
       else doneThis = 0

       return
    }

    </SCRIPT>

    <FONT SIZE=+2><B>Netscape Polo Shirts!</FONT></B>

    <TABLE CELLSPACING=20 BORDER=0>
    <TR>
    <TD><IMG name="shirt" SRC="shirt-W-L.gif"></TD>

    <TD>
    <FORM>
    <B>Color</B>
    <SELECT SIZE=3 NAME="color" onChange="changeShirt(this.form)">
    <OPTION> Red
    <OPTION SELECTED> White
    <OPTION> Blue
    </SELECT>

    <P>
    <B>Size</B>
    <SELECT SIZE=3 NAME="size" onChange="changeShirt(this.form)">
    <OPTION> Small
    <OPTION> Medium
    <OPTION SELECTED> Large
    </SELECT>

    <P><INPUT type="button" name="buy" value="Buy This Shirt!"
       onClick="allShirts()">
    </FORM>

    </TD>
    </TR>
    </TABLE>
    Example 4: JavaScript animation. The following example uses JavaScript to create an animation with an Image object by repeatedly changing the value the src property. The script begins by preloading the ten images that make up the animation (!image1.gif, !image2.gif, !image3.gif, and so on). When the Image object is placed on the document with the <IMG> tag, !image1.gif is displayed and the onLoad event handler starts the animation by calling the animate function. Notice that the animate function does not call itself after changing the src property of the Image object. This is because when the src property changes, the image's onLoad event handler is triggered and the animate function is called.

    <SCRIPT>
    delay = 100
    imageNum = 1

    // Preload animation images
    theImages = new Array()
    for(i = 1; i < 11; i++) {
       theImages[i] = new Image()
       theImages[i].src = "!image" + i + ".gif"
       }

    function animate() {
       document.animation.src = theImages[imageNum].src
       imageNum++
       if(imageNum > 10) {
       imageNum = 1
       }
    }

    function slower() {
       delay+=10
       if(delay > 4000) delay = 4000
    }

    function faster() {
       delay-=10
       if(delay < 0) delay = 0
    }
    </SCRIPT>

    <BODY BGCOLOR="white">

    <IMG NAME="animation" SRC="!image1.gif" ALT="[Animation]"
       onLoad="setTimeout('animate()', delay)">

    <FORM>
       <INPUT TYPE="button" Value="Slower" onClick="slower()">
       <INPUT TYPE="button" Value="Faster" onClick="faster()">
    </FORM>
    </BODY>
    See also the examples for the onAbort, onError, and onLoad event handlers.

    See also

    Area object, Link object; onClick, onMouseOut, onMouseOver event handlers


    images

    Property. An array reflecting all the images in a document in source order. See the Image object for information.


    index

    Property. An integer representing the index of an option in a Select object.

    Syntax

    1. selectName.options[indexValue].index
    2. optionName.index

    Parameters

    selectName is either the value of the NAME attribute of a Select object or an element in the elements array.

    indexValue is an integer representing an option in a Select object.

    optionName is the name of a Select object option created using the Option() constructor.

    Property of

    Option object (see the Select object), options array (see the Select object)

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: property of Option

    Description

    The number identifying the position of the option in the selection, starting from zero.

    See also

    defaultSelected, selected, selectedIndex properties


    indexOf

    Method. Returns the index within the calling String object of the first occurrence of the specified value, starting the search at fromIndex.

    Syntax

    stringName.indexOf(searchValue, [fromIndex])

    Parameters

    stringName is any string or a property of an existing object.

    searchValue is a string or a property of an existing object, representing the value to search for.

    fromIndex is the location within the calling string to start the search from. It can be any integer from zero to stringName.length - 1 or a property of an existing object.

    Method of

    String

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Characters in a string are indexed from left to right. The index of the first character is zero, and the index of the last character is stringName.length - 1.

    If you do not specify a value for fromIndex, JavaScript assumes zero by default. If searchValue is not found, JavaScript returns -1.

    Examples

    The following example uses indexOf and lastIndexOf to locate values in the string "Brave new world."

    var anyString="Brave new world"

    //Displays 8
    document.write("<P>The index of the first w from the beginning is " +
       anyString.indexOf("w"))
    //Displays 10
    document.write("<P>The index of the first w from the end is " +
       anyString.lastIndexOf("w"))
    //Displays 6
    document.write("<P>The index of 'new' from the beginning is " +
       anyString.indexOf("new"))
    //Displays 6
    document.write("<P>The index of 'new' from the end is " +
       anyString.lastIndexOf("new"))
    In LiveWire, you can display the same values by calling the write function instead of using document.write.

    See also

    charAt, lastIndexOf, split methods


    isNaN

    Function. Evaluates an argument to determine if it is "NaN" (not a number).

    Syntax

    isNaN(testValue)

    Parameters

    testValue is the value you want to evaluate.

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: works on all platforms (in previous releases, worked only on Unix platforms)

    Description

    isNaN is a built-in JavaScript function. It is not a method associated with any object, but is part of the language itself. isNaN is available on Solaris and Irix platforms only.

    On platforms that support NaN, the parseFloat and parseInt functions return "NaN" when they evaluate a value that is not a number. isNaN returns true if passed "NaN," and false otherwise.

    Examples

    The following example evaluates floatValue to determine if it is a number and then calls a procedure accordingly:

    floatValue=parseFloat(toFloat)

    if (isNaN(floatValue)) {
       notFloat()
    } else {
       isFloat()
    }

    See also

    parseFloat, parseInt functions


    italics

    Method. Causes a string to be italic, as if it were in an <I> tag.

    Syntax

    stringName.italics()

    Parameters

    stringName is any string or a property of an existing object.

    Method of

    String

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Use the italics method with the write or writeln methods to format and display a string in a document. In LiveWire, use the write function to display the string.

    Examples

    The following example uses string methods to change the formatting of a string:

    var worldString="Hello, world"

    document.write(worldString.blink())
    document.write("<P>" + worldString.bold())
    document.write("<P>" + worldString.italics())
    document.write("<P>" + worldString.strike())
    The previous example produces the same output as the following HTML:

    <BLINK>Hello, world</BLINK>
    <P><B>Hello, world</B>
    <P><I>Hello, world</I>
    <P><STRIKE>Hello, world</STRIKE>
    In LiveWire, you could generate this HTML by calling the write function instead of using document.write.

    See also

    blink, bold, strike methods


    javaEnabled

    Method. Specifies whether Java is enabled.

    Syntax

    navigator.javaEnabled()

    Method of

    navigator

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    javaEnabled returns true if Java is enabled, false otherwise. The user can enable or disable Java by choosing Network Preferences from the Navigator's Options menu.

    Examples

    The following code executes function1 if Java is enabled; otherwise it executes function2.

    if (navigator.javaEnabled()) {
       function1()
    }
    else function2()

    See also

    appCodeName, appName, userAgent properties


    join

    Method. Joins all elements of an array into a string.

    Syntax

    arrayName.join(separator)

    Parameters

    arrayName is the name of an Array object or a property of an existing object.

    separator specifies a string to separate each element of the array. The separator is converted to a string if necessary. If omitted, the array elements are separated with a comma (,).

    Method of

    Array

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    The string conversion of all array elements are joined into one string.

    Examples

    The following example creates an array, a with three elements, then joins the array three times: using the default separator, then a comma and a space, and then a plus.

    a = new Array("Wind","Rain","Fire")
    document.write(a.join() +"<BR>")
    document.write(a.join(", ") +"<BR>")
    document.write(a.join(" + ") +"<BR>")
    This code produces the following output:

    Wind,Rain,Fire
    Wind, Rain, Fire
    Wind + Rain + Fire

    See also

    reverse, sort methods


    lastIndexOf

    Method. Returns the index within the calling String object of the last occurrence of the specified value. The calling string is searched backward, starting at fromIndex.

    Syntax

    stringName.lastIndexOf(searchValue, [fromIndex])

    Parameters

    stringName is any string or a property of an existing object.

    searchValue is a string or a property of an existing object, representing the value to search for.

    fromIndex is the location within the calling string to start the search from. It can be any integer from zero to stringName.length - 1 or a property of an existing object.

    Method of

    String

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Characters in a string are indexed from left to right. The index of the first character is zero, and the index of the last character is stringName.length - 1.

    If you do not specify a value for fromIndex, JavaScript assumes stringName.length - 1 (the end of the string) by default. If searchValue is not found, JavaScript returns -1.

    Examples

    The following example uses indexOf and lastIndexOf to locate values in the string "Brave new world."

    var anyString="Brave new world"

    //Displays 8
    document.write("<P>The index of the first w from the beginning is " +
       anyString.indexOf("w"))
    //Displays 10
    document.write("<P>The index of the first w from the end is " +
       anyString.lastIndexOf("w"))
    //Displays 6
    document.write("<P>The index of 'new' from the beginning is " +
       anyString.indexOf("new"))
    //Displays 6
    document.write("<P>The index of 'new' from the end is " +
       anyString.lastIndexOf("new"))
    In LiveWire, you can display the same output by calling the write function instead of using document.write.

    See also

    charAt, indexOf, split methods


    lastModified

    Property. A string representing the date that a document was last modified.

    Syntax

    document.lastModified

    Property of

    document

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    lastModified is a read-only property.

    Examples

    In the following example, the lastModified property is used in a <SCRIPT> tag at the end of an HTML file to display the modification date of the page:

    document.write("This page updated on " + document.lastModified)

    length

    Property. An integer that specifies a length-related feature of the calling object or array.

    Syntax

    When used with objects:

    1. formName.length
    2. frameReference.length
    3. history.length
    4. radioName.length
    5. selectName.length
    6. stringName.length
    7. windowReference.length
    8. arrayName.length
    When used with array properties:

    9.  anchors.length
    10. arguments.length
    11. elements.length
    12. forms.length
    13. frameReference.frames.length
    14. windowReference.frames.length
    15. links.length
    16. selectName.options.length
    17. document.images.length
    18. navigator.mimeTypes[index].length
    19. navigator.plugins[index].length

    Parameters

    formName is either the name of a form or an element in the forms array.

    frameReference is either the value of the NAME attribute of a frame or an element in the frames array.

    radioName is either the value of the NAME attribute of a Radio object or an element in the elements array.

    selectName is either the value of the NAME attribute of a Select object or an element in the elements array.

    stringName is any string or a property of an existing object.

    windowReference is a valid way of referring to a window, as described in the window object.

    arrayName is the name of an Array object.

    index is either an integer representing plug-in installed on the client or string containing the name of a Plugin object (from the name property).

    Property of

    Implemented in

    Description

    The length property is an integer that specifies one of the following:

    For all objects except Array objects, length is always a read-only property.

    For a null string, length is zero. For a Select object, the values returned by form 5 and form 16 of the syntax are the same. For a window containing frames, the values returned by form 7 and form 14 of the syntax are the same. For a Form object, the values returned by form 1 and form 11 of the syntax are the same. For a frame containing frames, the values returned by form 2 and form 13 of the syntax are the same.

    For arrays, you can set the length property to truncate an array at any time. You cannot extend an array; for example, if you set length to 3 when it is currently 2, the array will still contain only 2 elements. For information on other ways to change the length of an array, see the Array object.

    Examples

    In the following example, the getChoice function uses the length property to iterate over every element in the musicType array. musicType is a select element on the musicForm form.

    function getChoice() {
       for (var i = 0; i < document.musicForm.musicType.length; i++) {
          if (document.musicForm.musicType.options[i].selected == true) {
             return document.musicForm.musicType.options[i].text
          }
       }
    }
    The following example displays 8 in an Alert dialog box:

    var x="Netscape"
    alert("The string length is " + x.length)
    The following example shortens the array statesUS to a length of 50 if the current length is greater than 50.

    if (statesUS.length > 50) {
       statesUS.length=50
       alert("The U.S. has only 50 states. New length is " + statesUS.length)
    }

    link method

    Method. Creates an HTML hypertext link that requests another URL.

    Syntax

    linkText.link(hrefAttribute)

    Parameters

    linkText is any string or a property of an existing object. This represents the text that will be displayed in the link.

    hrefAttribute is any string that specifies the HREF attribute of the <A> tag; it should be a valid URL (relative or absolute).

    Method of

    String

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Use the link method to programmatically create a hypertext link, and then call write or writeln to display the link in a document. In LiveWire, use the write function to display the string.

    Links created with the link method become elements in the links array. See the Link object for information about the links array.

    Examples

    The following example displays the word "Netscape" as a hypertext link that returns the user to the Netscape home page:

    var hotText="Netscape"
    var URL="http://www.netscape.com"

    document.write("Click to return to " + hotText.link(URL))
    The previous example produces the same output as the following HTML:

    Click to return to <A HREF="http://www.netscape.com">Netscape</A>
    In LiveWire, you can generate this HTML by calling the write function instead of using document.write.

    See also

    Anchor object


    Link object

    Object. A piece of text or an image identified as a hypertext link. When the user clicks the link text or image, the link hypertext reference is loaded into its target window.

    HTML syntax

    To define a link, use standard HTML syntax with the addition of the onClick and onMouseOver event handlers:

    <A HREF=locationOrURL
       [NAME="anchorName"]
       [TARGET="windowName"]
       [onClick="handlerText"]
       [onMouseOut="handlerText"]>
       [onMouseOver="handlerText"]>
       linkText
    </A>
    You can also define a link using the link method.

    HTML attributes

    HREF=locationOrURL identifies a destination anchor or URL. See the location object for a description of the URL components.

    NAME="anchorName" is used only if the link is also an anchor. It specifies a name for the anchor that then becomes an available hypertext target within the current document. See the Anchor object for details.

    TARGET="windowName" specifies the frame or window that the link is loaded into. windowName can be an existing window; it can be a frame name specified in a <FRAMESET> tag; or it can be one of the literal frame names _top, _parent, _self, or _blank. It cannot be a JavaScript expression (for example, it cannot be parent.frameName or windowName.frameName).

    linkText is the text or HTML source that the user sees as a hypertext link to the URL.

    Syntax

    To use a Link object's properties:

    document.links[index].propertyName

    Parameters

    index is an integer representing a Link object.

    propertyName is one of the properties listed below.

    Property of

    document

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: added onMouseOut event handler; links array contains Area objects created with <AREA HREF="...">

    Description

    Each Link object is a location object and has the same properties as a location object.

    If a Link object is also an Anchor object, the object has entries in both the anchors and links arrays.

    When a user clicks a Link object and navigates to the destination document (specified by HREF=locationOrURL), the destination document's referrer property contains the URL of the source document. Evaluate the referrer property from the destination document.

    You can use a Link object to execute a JavaScript function rather than link to a hypertext reference by specifying the javascript: URL protocol for the link's HREF attribute. You might want to do this if the link surrounds an Image object and you want to execute JavaScript code when the image is clicked. Or you might want to use a link instead of a button to execute JavaScript code.

    For example, when a user clicks the following links, the slower and faster functions execute:

    <A HREF="javascript:slower()">Slower</A>
    <A HREF="javascript:faster()">Faster</A>
    You can use a Link object to do nothing rather than link to a hypertext reference by specifying the javascript:void(0) URL protocol for the link's HREF attribute. You might want to do this if the link surrounds an Image object and you want to use the link's event handlers with the image. When a user clicks the following link or image, nothing happens:

    <A HREF="javascript:void(0)">Click here to do nothing</A>

    <A HREF="javascript:void(0)">
       <IMG SRC="imagesglobe.gif" ALIGN="top" HEIGHT="50" WIDTH="50">
    </A>

    The links array

    You can reference the Area and Link objects in your code by using the links array. This array contains an entry for each Area (<AREA HREF="...">) and Link (<A HREF=""> tag) object in a document in source order. For example, if a document contains three Link objects, these links are reflected as document.links[0], document.links[1], and document.links[2].

    To use the links array:

    1. document.links[index]
    2. document.links.length
    index is an integer representing a link in a document.

    To obtain the number of links in a document, use the length property: document.links.length.

    Elements in the links array are read-only. For example, the statement document.links[0]="link1" has no effect.

    Properties

    The Link object has the following properties:
    Property Description
    hash

    Specifies an anchor name in the URL

    host

    Specifies the host and domain name, or IP address, of a network host

    hostname

    Specifies the host:port portion of the URL

    href

    Specifies the entire URL

    pathname

    Specifies the url-path portion of the URL

    port

    Specifies the communications port that the server uses for communications

    protocol

    Specifies the beginning of the URL, including the colon

    search

    Specifies a query

    target

    Reflects the TARGET attribute

    The links array has the following property:
    Property Description
    length

    Reflects the number of links in a document

    Methods

    None

    Event handlers

  • onClick
  • onMouseOut
  • onMouseOver

    Examples

    Example 1. The following example creates a hypertext link to an anchor named javascript_intro:

    <A HREF="#javascript_intro">Introduction to JavaScript</A>
    Example 2. The following example creates a hypertext link to an anchor named numbers in the file doc3.html in the window window2. If window2 does not exist, it is created.

    <LI><A HREF=doc3.html#numbers TARGET="window2">Numbers</A>
    Example 3. The following example takes the user back x entries in the history list:

    <A HREF="javascript:history.go(-1 * x)">Click here</A>
    Example 4. The following example creates a hypertext link to a URL. The user can use the set of radio buttons to choose between three URLs. The link's onClick event handler sets the URL (the link's href property) based on the selected radio button. The link also has an onMouseOver event handler that changes the window's status property. As the example shows, you must return true to set the window.status property in the onMouseOver event handler.

    <SCRIPT>
    var destHREF="http://www.netscape.com/"
    </SCRIPT>
    <FORM NAME="form1">
    <B>Choose a destination from the following list, then click "Click me" below.</B>
    <BR><INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="destination" VALUE="netscape"
       onClick="destHREF='http://www.netscape.com/'"> Netscape home page
    <BR><INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="destination" VALUE="sun"
       onClick="destHREF='http://www.sun.com/'"> Sun home page
    <BR><INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="destination" VALUE="rfc1867"
       onClick="destHREF='http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/html/rfc1867.txt'"> RFC 1867
    <P><A HREF=""
       onMouseOver="window.status='Click this if you dare!'; return true"
       onClick="this.href=destHREF">
       <B>Click me</B></A>
    </FORM>
    Example 5: links array. The following example opens the Netscape home page in the newWindow window. The linkGetter function uses the links array to display the value of each of its links.

    newWindow=window.open("http://www.netscape.com")

    function linkGetter() {
       msgWindow=window.open("")
       for (var i = 0; i < newWindow.document.links.length; i++) {
          msgWindow.document.write(newWindow.document.links[i] + "<BR>")
       }
    }

    See also

    Anchor object, link method


    linkColor

    Property. A string specifying the color of the document hyperlinks.

    Syntax

    document.linkColor

    Property of

    document

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    The linkColor property is expressed as a hexadecimal RGB triplet or as one of the string literals listed in "Color values". This property is the JavaScript reflection of the LINK attribute of the <BODY> tag. The default value of this property is set by the user on the Colors tab of the Preferences dialog box, which is displayed by choosing General Preferences from the Options menu. You cannot set this property after the HTML source has been through layout.

    If you express the color as a hexadecimal RGB triplet, you must use the format rrggbb. For example, the hexadecimal RGB values for salmon are red=FA, green=80, and blue=72, so the RGB triplet for salmon is "FA8072."

    Examples

    The following example sets the color of document links to aqua using a string literal:

    document.linkColor="aqua"
    The following example sets the color of document links to aqua using a hexadecimal triplet:

    document.linkColor="00FFFF"

    See also

    alinkColor, bgColor, fgColor, vlinkColor properties


    links

    Property. An array of objects corresponding to Area and Link objects in source order. See the Link object for information.


    LN2

    Property. The natural logarithm of two, approximately 0.693.

    Syntax

    Math.LN2

    Property of

    Math

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Because LN2 is a constant, it is a read-only property of Math.

    Examples

    The following function returns the natural log of two:

    function getNatLog2() {
       return Math.LN2
    }

    See also

    E, LN10, LOG2E, LOG10E, PI, SQRT1_2, SQRT2 properties


    LN10

    Property. The natural logarithm of ten, approximately 2.302.

    Syntax

    Math.LN10

    Property of

    Math

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Because LN10 is a constant, it is a read-only property of Math.

    Examples

    The following function returns the natural log of ten:

    function getNatLog10() {
       return Math.LN10
    }

    See also

    E, LN2, LOG2E, LOG10E, PI, SQRT1_2, SQRT2 properties


    location

    Object. Contains information on the current URL.

    Syntax

    To use a location object:

    [windowReference.]location[.propertyName]
    [windowReference.]location.methodName(parameters)

    Parameters

    windowReference is a variable windowVar from a window definition (see the window object), or one of the synonyms top or parent.

    propertyName is one of the properties listed below. Omitting the property name is equivalent to specifying the href property (the complete URL).

    methodName is one of the methods listed below.

    Property of

    window object

    Implemented in

  • Navigator 2.0
  • Navigator 3.0: added reload, replace methods

    Description

    The location object represents a complete URL. Each property of the location object represents a different portion of the URL.

    The following diagram of a URL shows the relationships between the location properties:

    protocol//host:port/pathname#hash?search
    For example:

    http://www.netscape.com/assist/extensions.html#topic1?x=7&y=2
    Following is a description of each part of the URL diagram:

    See the properties (listed below) for details about the different parts of the URL, or the href property for examples.

    The location object has two other properties not shown in the diagram above:

    The location object is contained by the window object and is within its scope. If you reference a location object without specifying a window, the location object represents the current location. If you reference a location object and specify a window name, for example, windowReference.location.propertyName, the location object represents the location of the specified window.

    In event handlers, you must specify window.location instead of simply using location. Due to the scoping of static objects in JavaScript, a call to location without specifying an object name is equivalent to document.location, which is a synonym for document.URL.

    Do not use location as a property of the document object; use the document.URL property instead. The document.location property, which is a synonym for document.URL, will be removed in a future release.

    Syntax for common URL types

    When you specify a URL, you can use standard URL formats and JavaScript statements. The following list shows the syntax for specifying some of the most common types of URLs.
    URL type Protocol Example
    JavaScript code

    javascript   

    javascript:history.go(-1)

    Navigator info

    about:

    about:cache

    World Wide Web   

    http:

    http://www.netscape.com/

    File

    file:/

    file:///javascript/methods.html

    FTP

    ftp:

    ftp://ftp.mine.com/home/mine

    MailTo

    mailto:

    mailto:info@netscape.com

    Usenet

    news:

    news://news.scruznet.com/comp.lang.javascript

    Gopher

    gopher:

    gopher.myhost.com

    The javascript: protocol evaluates the expression after the colon (:), if there is one, and loads a page containing the string value of the expression, unless it is undefined. If the expression evaluates to undefined, no new page loads.

    The about: protocol provides information on Navigator and has the following syntax:

    about:[cache|plugins]

    Properties

    The location object has the following properties:
    Property Description
    hash

    Specifies an anchor name in the URL

    host

    Specifies the host and domain name, or IP address, of a network host

    hostname

    specifies the host:port portion of the URL

    href

    Specifies the entire URL

    pathname

    Specifies the url-path portion of the URL

    port

    Specifies the communications port that the server uses for communications

    protocol

    Specifies the beginning of the URL, including the colon

    search

    Specifies a query

    Methods

  • reload
  • replace

    Event handlers

    None

    Examples

    Example 1. The following two statements are equivalent and set the URL of the current window to the Netscape home page:

    window.location.href="http://www.netscape.com/"
    window.location="http://www.netscape.com/"
    Example 2. The following statement sets the URL of a frame named frame2 to the Sun home page:

    parent.frame2.location.href="http://www.sun.com/"
    See also the example for the Anchor object.

    See also

    history object; URL property


    log

    Method. Returns the natural logarithm (base e) of a number.

    Syntax

    Math.log(number)

    Parameters

    number is any positive numeric expression or a property of an existing object.

    Method of

    Math

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    If the value of number is outside the suggested range, the return value is always -1.797693134862316e+308.

    Examples

    The following function returns the natural log of the variable x:

    function getLog(x) {
       return Math.log(x)
    }
    If you pass getLog the value ten, it returns 2.302585092994046; if you pass it the value zero, it returns -1.797693134862316e+308 because zero is out of range.

    See also

    exp, pow methods


    LOG2E

    Property. The base 2 logarithm of e (approximately 1.442).

    Syntax

    Math.LOG2E

    Property of

    Math

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Because LOG2E is a constant, it is a read-only property of Math.

    Examples

    The following function returns the base 2 logarithm of E:

    function getLog2e() {
       return Math.LOG2E
    }

    See also

    E, LN2, LN10, LOG10E, PI, SQRT1_2, SQRT2 properties


    LOG10E

    Property. The base 10 logarithm of e (approximately 0.434).

    Syntax

    Math.LOG10E

    Property of

    Math

    Implemented in

    Navigator 2.0

    Description

    Because LOG10E is a constant, it is a read-only property of Math.

    Examples

    The following function returns the base 10 logarithm of E:

    function getLog10e() {
       return Math.LOG10E
    }

    See also

    E, LN2, LN10, LOG2E, PI, SQRT1_2, SQRT2 properties


    lowsrc

    Property. A string specifying the URL of a low-resolution version of an image to be displayed in a document.

    Syntax

    imageName.lowsrc

    Parameters

    imageName is either the name of an Image object or an element in the images array.

    Property of

    Image

    Implemented in

    Navigator 3.0

    Description

    The lowsrc property initially reflects the LOWSRC attribute of the <IMG> tag. Navigator loads the smaller image specified by lowsrc and then replaces it with the larger image specified by the src property. You can change the lowsrc property at any time.

    Examples

    See the examples for the src property.

    See also

    complete, src properties


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