Question

Problem in IE6 with using javascript to show/hide a button

Asked by: Rongas

Greetings,

I have a registration page where a user fills his details and becomes a member of the site. In order to validate the details entered before going to the server I use Javascript. Therefore, the 'Submit' button that POSTS the FORM is not really a type="Submit" button but a type="button" button which is initially hidden with an onClick="validate()" assosiated with it. Of course that would work only for browsers that have javascript enabled. So, I had to also provide another button (type="submit" this time) for the browsers that have javascript disabled. So, when javascript is enabled, the javascript code "unhides" the submit button while when javascript is disabled the type="submit" button is shown (it rests inside<noscript></noscript> tags).

The above scenario works great in Firefox but not too good in Internet Explorer (what a surprise?). Firefox handles great both javascript enabled/disabled situations. The problem is when I use IE6 with javascript enabled. Since javascript is enabled the noscript content has no reason to execute and that's fine. However, the hidden button which should "unhide" during onload does not "unhide" unless I refresh the page (F5).
Therefore, IE6 leves me with no button at all to submit the form when javascript is enabled.

Seems as if onLoad did not run the first time a page is called but the it runs when the page is refreshed. Does anybody know anything on this matter?

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 04:48:26ID24866813
Tags

javascript

,

onLoad

,

IE

Topics

JavaScript

,

Java Programming Language

,

Java Server Pages (JSP)

Participating Experts
2
Points
200
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: oheilPosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:24:40ID: 25728631

We solve this problem using  style="display:none" and style="display:inline".

If javascript is enabled all elements which should show up are set by javascript to inline with the commands:
link = document.getElementById(id1);
link.style.display = "inline";
or
image = document.getElementById(id3);
image.style.display = "inline";

the others, which should only show up, if javascrip is disabled are set to none with:
image.style.display = "none";

This works stable in firefox an internet explorer (tested with 6 and above).

Perhaps this helps,

Oli



 

by: mplungjanPosted on 2009-11-03 at 06:00:54ID: 25728967

Please show the code in question (view-source html pasted into the "code" attachment box

 

by: RongasPosted on 2009-11-04 at 05:52:23ID: 25739265

Oli,

it does not seem to work for me:

the line of code I was using was:
document.registration.submitButton.className = "";
(registration is the form name and submitButton the input name)
in the jsp the submitButton is declared as class="hidden" therefore when js removes the class the button stops being 'hidden'.

so I changed it regarding your advice to:
document.registration.submitButton.style.display = "inline";

The result is that nothing different happens.
The new code works fine with firefox while I need to hit f5 to see the button in IE6.

//The jsp Code 
<!-- displayed only when js is enabled -->
<td><input class="hidden" name="submitButton" type="button" value="Submit" onclick="validate(this.form)">
</td>
              
<noscript>
  <tr>
    <!-- displayed only when js is disabled or not supported -->
    <td><input type="submit" value="Submit"></td>
  </tr>
</noscript>
//The js function (in external .js file) 
function enableJsComponents()
{
    document.registration.submitButton.style.display = "inline";
    //document.registration.submitButton.className = "";
}
                                              
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by: oheilPosted on 2009-11-04 at 06:05:56ID: 25739379

Do not use the <noscript> tags, add a div and style="inline" to the buttons, and toggle both using javascript.
Something like that:

//The jsp Code 
<!-- displayed only when js is enabled -->
<div id="button_js" style="display:none;">
<td><input name="submitButton" type="button" value="Submit" onclick="validate(this.form)">
</td>
</div>
              
<div id="button_nojs" style="display:inline;">
  <tr>
    <!-- displayed only when js is disabled or not supported -->
    <td><input type="submit" value="Submit"></td>
  </tr>
</div> 
//The js function (in external .js file) 
function enableJsComponents()
{
//call this function when the page is loaded
    button=document.getElementById('button_js');
    button.style.display = "inline";
    button=document.getElementById('button_nojs');
    button.style.display = "none";
    //document.registration.submitButton.style.display = "inline";
    //document.registration.submitButton.className = "";
}

                                              
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by: mplungjanPosted on 2009-11-04 at 06:27:25ID: 25739546

Why would he not use the noscript and the validation should be on the onSubmit, not on a button

 

by: mplungjanPosted on 2009-11-04 at 06:29:20ID: 25739568

Actually why can't you do this:

<form onSubmit="return validate(this)">
.
.
.
<input type="submit">
</form>

It will work in all browsers with or without JS enabled

 

by: RongasPosted on 2009-11-05 at 04:13:02ID: 31649362

That did the trick!

With a little correction: I had to enclose the function call in parentheses. So, it became
<FORM onsubmit="return(validate(this)) .... >.
Also, I only kept the type="Submit" button as you said.

After that, it worked, but initially I had a weird problem: if I entered invalid values in the form and attempted to submit it (which should result in the form NEVER being submitted to the server) the form was submitted to the server as if the validation was successful. To fix this I replaced the lines below:

if(formIsValid)
{
    form.submit();
}

with the lines:
if(formIsValid)
{
    form.submit();
}else
{
    return false;
}

and it worked fine.

Thanks for the help mplungjan !

 

by: mplungjanPosted on 2009-11-05 at 04:25:38ID: 25748692

that is very strange
If validate returns true or false then
onsubmit="return validate(this)"

should work in all browsers
If however it returns something else or does not return, then the () could be needed

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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