Question

Disable / enable the JavaScript links inside a DIV using JavaScript

Asked by: DanielWilson

I am using the "related solution" to toggle the editability of the input fields inside a DIV when I check/uncheck a box.

But I really need the JavaScript links in the DIV to disable/enable.

Example link: <a href="#" onclick="SetCalendars('D');">Today</a>

How would I do that?

The code in the other solution that actually finds the input fields and disables them is attached.


    var theFields = theDiv.getElementsByTagName('input');
    for (var i=0; i < theFields.length;i++) theFields[i].disabled=dis;

1:
2:
3:

Select all Open in new window

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

Plus...

30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On: 2009-11-04 at 15:26:46ID24872967
Topics: JavaScript
,; Miscellaneous Web Development
Participating Experts: 2
Points: 500
Comments: 10

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

"The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
"Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
"Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Free Tech Articles

WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
Create a Win7 Gadget
This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
Outlook continually prompting for username and password
There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Watch More

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

by: jb1devPosted on 2009-11-04 at 15:54:37ID: 25745478

Would something like this work for you?
Add ids to your anchor tags then use getElementById() and assign or remove the onclick property?

<html> 
    <body>
        <script language="javascript">
            function doSomething() {
                alert("Do something...");
            } 
            function enable() {
                document.getElementById('a1').onclick = doSomething;
            } 
            function disable() {
                document.getElementById('a1').onclick='';
            } 
        </script> 
        <a href="#" onclick="disable()">Disable</a> 
        <a href="#" onclick="enable()">Enable</a>  
 <br /> <br />
        <a id="a1" href="#" onclick="doSomething()">sample link</a>
    </body> 
</html>

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:

Select all Open in new window

by: DanielWilsonPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:05:41ID: 25745547

Not really. I have a bunch of links inside the DIV. Then another DIV a lot like this one.

I need a more generic solution.

<div id="divPayDate" class="right">
<a onclick="SetCalendars('Z');" href="#">Yesterday</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('D');" href="#">Today</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('W');" href="#">Week To Date</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('M');" href="#">Month To Date</a>
<input id="PaymentStartDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="StartDate" disabled=""/>
<script language="JavaScript">
</script>
<img id="tcalico_0" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['0'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif" title="Open Calendar"/>
<input id="PaymentEndDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="PaymentEndDate" disabled=""/>
<script language="JavaScript">
</script>
<img id="tcalico_1" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['1'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif"/>
<input id="ProcPay_sort_field" type="hidden" value="" name="sSort" disabled=""/>
<input id="iLimit" type="hidden" value="25" name="iLimit" disabled=""/>
</div>

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:

Select all Open in new window

by: DanielWilsonPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:15:44ID: 25745611

Looks like I'm completely on the wrong path:
http://radio.javaranch.com/pascarello/2005/05/17/1116355421179.html

I guess I need to cover the DIV with a translucent one to prevent the clicks ...

Does that sound right?

by: jb1devPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:22:36ID: 25745657

That might work, make sure it's z-index is higher than the div below it.

by: DanielWilsonPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:24:16ID: 25745664

I'm not that good w/ CSS yet. I think I'll settle for changing the background color of the DIV to indicate it's disabled.

if (dis)
theDiv.style.background='#bbbbbb';
else
theDiv.style.background='#ffffff';

thanks for the suggestions!

by: AkshPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:41:03ID: 25745772

Hi,

Here is the generic solution....

//////////////////// JS code starts /////////////////////
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

var setOfLinksOnclickAction = new Array();

function DisableLinks(someDivId)
{
//Getting Target Div to disable all the links inside it.
var targetDiv = document.getElementById(someDivId)

//Getting all the archorList in the div
var anchorList = targetDiv.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0; i < anchorList.length;i++)
{
//Making sure that end-user identifies(sees) that the link is disabled
anchorList[i].disabled=true;
//Storing the link-onclick action in global variable which will be used in EnableLinks(...) function
setOfLinksOnclickAction[i] = anchorList[i].onclick
//Real-Disabling
anchorList[i].onclick = '';
}
}

function EnableLinks(someDivId)
{
//Getting Target Div to disable all the links inside it.
var targetDiv = document.getElementById(someDivId)

//Getting all the archorList in the div
var anchorList = targetDiv.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0; i < anchorList.length;i++)
{
//Making sure that end-user identifies(sees) that the link is disabled
anchorList[i].disabled=false;

//Storing anchor's original value for onclick functionality
anchorList[i].onclick = setOfLinksOnclickAction[i]
}
}
</script>
////////////////////// JS code ends //////////////////////////////

And please see the attached your HTML file with the integration. (Remove txt extenstion)

EnableDisable.html.txt
- 3 KB
Enable - Disable - JS integration

by: jb1devPosted on 2009-11-04 at 17:30:30ID: 25745988

If you opt for the div approach you can try this example which I modified from:
http://www.hunlock.com/blogs/Snippets:_Howto_Grey-Out_The_Screen

There's some cruft in there for example purposes, such as padding, you can remove that of course, and the links to call enable() / disable() as you will know when to call those yourself.

<html> 
 <body> 
 
    <script language="javascript">
        function enable() {
            var dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');
            dark.style.display='none'; 
            // var div = document.getElementById('divPayDateHider');
            // div.style.display='block';
            // div.style.visibility='hidden';
        }
        function disable() { 
            var div = document.getElementById('divPayDate');
            var dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');
            if (!dark) {
                var tbody = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
                var tnode = document.createElement('div');           
                tnode.style.position='absolute';                 
                tnode.style.top = div.offsetTop+'px';                           
                tnode.style.left = div.offsetLeft+'px';
                tnode.style.overflow='hidden';                   
                tnode.style.display='none';                      
                tnode.id='darkenScreenObject';                   
                tbody.appendChild(tnode);                            
                dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');  
            }
            dark.style.display = 'block';
            // dark.style.visibility = 'visible';
            dark.style.zIndex = 100;
            dark.style.opacity=.7;
            dark.style.MozOpacity=.7;     
            dark.style.filter='alpha(opacity=70)';
            dark.style.backgroundColor='#000000';
            dark.style.width = div.offsetWidth+'px';
            dark.style.height = div.offsetHeight+'px';
        }
    </script>
    <a href="#" onclick="enable()">enable</a>
    <a href="#" onclick="disable()">disable</a> 
<br /> 
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br /> 
<div id="divPayDate" class="right">
<a onclick="SetCalendars('Z');" href="#">Yesterday</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('D');" href="#">Today</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('W');" href="#">Week To Date</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('M');" href="#">Month To Date</a>
<input id="PaymentStartDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="StartDate" disabled=""/> 
<script language="JavaScript">
    function SetCalendars(foo) {
        alert('called');
    }
</script> 
<img id="tcalico_0" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['0'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif" title="Open Calendar"/>
<input id="PaymentEndDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="PaymentEndDate" disabled=""/>
<script language="JavaScript">
</script>
<img id="tcalico_1" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['1'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif"/>
<input id="ProcPay_sort_field" type="hidden" value="" name="sSort" disabled=""/>
<input id="iLimit" type="hidden" value="25" name="iLimit" disabled=""/>
</div> 
  </body> 
</html>

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29:
30:
31:
32:
33:
34:
35:
36:
37:
38:
39:
40:
41:
42:
43:
44:
45:
46:
47:
48:
49:
50:
51:
52:
53:
54:
55:
56:
57:
58:
59:
60:
61:
62:
63:
64:
65:
66:
67:
68:
69:
70:
71:
72:
73:
74:
75:
76:
77:
78:
79:
80:
81:

Select all Open in new window

by: jb1devPosted on 2009-11-04 at 17:40:47ID: 25746040

My above solution doesn't handle nesting very well. Here's a better version which handles more complex page layouts with a better example.

<html> 
 <body> 
 
    <script language="javascript">
        function enable() {
            var dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');
            dark.style.display='none'; 
            // var div = document.getElementById('divPayDateHider');
            // div.style.display='block';
            // div.style.visibility='hidden';
        }
        function disable() { 
            var div = document.getElementById('divPayDate');
            var dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');
            if (!dark) {
                var tbody = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
                var tnode = document.createElement('div');           
                tnode.style.position='absolute';                  
                // Calculate absolute position.
                var top = div.offsetTop;
                var left = div.offsetLeft;
                var eParElement = div.offsetParent; 
                while (eParElement != null)
                {
                    top += eParElement.offsetTop;
                    left += eParElement.offsetLeft;
                    eParElement = eParElement.offsetParent;
                }
                tnode.style.top = top+'px';                           
                tnode.style.left = left+'px';
                tnode.style.overflow='hidden';                   
                tnode.style.display='none';                      
                tnode.id='darkenScreenObject';                   
                tbody.appendChild(tnode);                            
                dark = document.getElementById('darkenScreenObject');  
            }
            dark.style.display = 'block';
            // dark.style.visibility = 'visible';
            dark.style.zIndex = 100;
            dark.style.opacity=.7;
            dark.style.MozOpacity=.7;     
            dark.style.filter='alpha(opacity=70)';
            dark.style.backgroundColor='#000000';
            dark.style.width = div.offsetWidth+'px';
            dark.style.height = div.offsetHeight+'px';
        }
    </script>
    <a href="#" onclick="enable()">enable</a>
    <a href="#" onclick="disable()">disable</a> 
<br /> 
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br />
top Padding ... <br /> 
<table width=100%">
<tr>
<td width="50%">
    <br />
    <br />
    large table data..
    <br />
    <br />
</td>
<td width="50%"> 
<div id="divPayDate" class="right">
<a onclick="SetCalendars('Z');" href="#">Yesterday</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('D');" href="#">Today</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('W');" href="#">Week To Date</a>
 | 
<a onclick="SetCalendars('M');" href="#">Month To Date</a>
<input id="PaymentStartDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="StartDate" disabled=""/> 
<script language="JavaScript">
    function SetCalendars(foo) {
        alert('called');
    }
</script> 
<img id="tcalico_0" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['0'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif" title="Open Calendar"/>
<input id="PaymentEndDate" class="input_field" type="text" value="11/04/2009" style="width: 70px;" name="PaymentEndDate" disabled=""/>
<script language="JavaScript">
</script>
<img id="tcalico_1" class="tcalIcon" alt="Open Calendar" onclick="A_TCALS['1'].f_toggle()" src="img/cal.gif"/>
<input id="ProcPay_sort_field" type="hidden" value="" name="sSort" disabled=""/>
<input id="iLimit" type="hidden" value="25" name="iLimit" disabled=""/>
</div> 
</td>
</tr>
</table> 
  </body> 
</html>

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29:
30:
31:
32:
33:
34:
35:
36:
37:
38:
39:
40:
41:
42:
43:
44:
45:
46:
47:
48:
49:
50:
51:
52:
53:
54:
55:
56:
57:
58:
59:
60:
61:
62:
63:
64:
65:
66:
67:
68:
69:
70:
71:
72:
73:
74:
75:
76:
77:
78:
79:
80:
81:
82:
83:
84:
85:
86:
87:
88:
89:
90:
91:
92:
93:
94:
95:
96:
97:
98:
99:
100:
101:
102:
103:
104:
105:
106:
107:

Select all Open in new window

by: DanielWilsonPosted on 2009-11-04 at 18:02:22ID: 31650295

Aksh, that looks like a winner ... the test works on my site. Still have some work to integrate it ...

jb1dev, I'll have a better look at the DIV gray-out code too.

Thanks to both of you!

by: AkshPosted on 2009-11-04 at 19:52:00ID: 25746622

Thanks for accepting the solution... but wait... the provided solution gets broken if you have multiple-divs and you wanna enable/disable any of the div.

So here comes new JS code... Now, its truly generic..:))) (For your ref. html file is also attached)

You dont have to change your HTML code. As the JS-function name are same as well as input parameters are also same.

You just need to add one additional javascript call on body-onlod..
<body onload="javascript:Set2DArrayOfDivs();">

//////////////////////////////// JS Code Starts //////////////////////////////////////

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

/******************************************************************************
Following ARRAY is the jagged array...
Where,
arr(n) = div
arr(0)(n) = all the onclick method call of href.
*******************************************************************************/
var setOfLinksOnclickAction = new Array();

//This function should be called on body-onload
function Set2DArrayOfDivs()
{
//Getting All the divs
var allDivs = document.getElementsByTagName('div');
for (var i=0; i < allDivs.length;i++)
{
//Getting all the hrefs in the div
var anchorList = allDivs[i].getElementsByTagName('a');

//Setting the array length to the number of hrefs
setOfLinksOnclickAction[i] = new Array(j);
for (var j=0; j < anchorList.length;j++)
{
//Storing the onclick text in the jagged array.
setOfLinksOnclickAction[i][j] = anchorList[j].onclick
}
}
}

function DisableLinks(someDivId)
{
//Getting Target Div to disable all the links inside it.
var targetDiv = document.getElementById(someDivId)

//Getting all the archorList in the div
var anchorList = targetDiv.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0; i < anchorList.length;i++)
{
//Making sure that end-user identifies(sees) that the link is disabled
anchorList[i].disabled=true;

//Real-Disabling
anchorList[i].onclick = '';
}
}

function EnableLinks(someDivId)
{
//Gettin all the divs in the document
var allDivs = document.getElementsByTagName('div');
for (var i=0; i < allDivs.length;i++)
{
//if input div is the one to enable it again
if(allDivs(i).getAttribute('id') == someDivId)
{
//Getting all the hrefs
var anchorList = allDivs(i).getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var j=0; j < anchorList.length;j++)
{
//Enabling link for "Click-Ability"
anchorList[j].disabled=false;

//Storing anchor's original value for onclick functionality from jagged array
anchorList[j].onclick = setOfLinksOnclickAction[i][j];
}
}
}
}

</script>

//////////////////////////////// JS Code Ends //////////////////////////////////////

New-EnableDisable.html.txt
- 5 KB
New HTML File. (Remove the TXT extension)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

For individual users
Instant access to solutions
Ask your tech questions
Start your 30-day Free Trial

Business Accounts

Perfect for organizations
Multiple users
Save over 36%
Create a Business Account

Answer for Membership

Earn free access
Showcase your knowledge
No credit card required
Sign Up to Answer

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...

Question

Disable / enable the JavaScript links inside a DIV using JavaScript

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

JavaScript

Miscellaneous Web Development

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Related Solutions

Free Tech Articles

Cloud Class Webinars

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Answers

3 Ways to Join

The Experts

The Experts

Testimonials

Testimonials

Testimonials

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

In the Press

In the Press