Solved: Onload Find/Replace (null) in Text fields

Seems to me that you need to add a call to your other function to your onload statement so that you have:

----------
onLoad="makeonelineineverytextarea(); makemultylineineverytextarea()"
----------

and you should change both for loops from:

----------
for (i= 0; i = ec; i ++)
----------

to

----------
// less than
for (i= 0; i < ec; i ++)
----------

-corey

trailerman

ASKER

Should the both onload fuctions be named the same?... what do you mean should add another call function. How will it know to pullout "(null)" value?

owlsey

name them seperately- just call both function with the onload

pjtt

Are you just trying to search the form elements or the HTML too? Searching the form elements would be easy, just add another reg exp that looks for "null" - searching the HTML would be tricky though. You should check for null values before you send stuff to the client, not after.

If you still want to, well here's an IE/NS6 solution. Make sure you give every element an ID or a name. Load the entire HTML, searching for occurances of <[.\n]*null - that's the "<" character, and number of characters, and then "null". The reason you search for "<" is because you want to access the last tag before the word null. Then back up in the string to find the ID of that tag, and then you can just replace the text there. Otherwise you can do

for (var i=0; document.all[i]; i++) //look for "null" and replace it here

use this code to get document.all in NS6:

function getAllCollection() {
if (typeof(document.getElementsByTagName) == "function" && document.getElementsByTagName("*")) {
document.all = document.getElementsByTagName("*")
}
}
if (!document.all) getAllCollection();

It's probably possible to do it in browsers other than IE4+/NS6, but far more complicated.

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

coreyit

as owlsey stated, what I mean is for you to "call" (run) both functions ( makeonelineineverytextarea() and makemultylineineverytextarea() ) from the same onload event in your body tag.

once that is done, be sure to correct the "for" loops so they run as long as the counter is less-than the number of form elements (will cover every element and then stop).

-corey

trailerman

ASKER

pjtt , I wanted to search all textfields and textareas (hidden or not) to delete all "null" values, and do this onload in cunjunction with other javascript function in above script. here are the area and fields types for example:

input type="text" value=null
input type="textarea" value=null
input type="hidden" value=null

so best to write any function, that searches where value = or includes "null" value, would you agree?

I don't understand javascript formatting so please send me complete modified javascript or better the entire html.
thank you...

pjtt

I wrote a function formFindReplace() that takes a string to search for, a string to replace it with, and a form object. Onload initialize() is called, which does the replaces for new lines and nulls. I noticed you only have text elements and no selects, checkboxes, etc. on your form, so I only coded for those (though I did allow for the possibility of multiple textboxes with the same name). If you add other elements you'll have to check either the name or the type of the element before you try to run the replace method.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
!--

function initialize() {
var f = document.forms[0];
formFindReplace(/\r\n/g, " ", f) // finds occurances of carraige-return line-feed
formFindReplace(/[\r\n]/g, " ", f) // find occurances of either one alone
formFindReplace("null", "", f) // find occurances of either one alone
}

function formFindReplace(Find, sReplace, f) {
for (var i=0; i<f.elements.length; i++) {
if (f.elements[i].length) {
for (var j=0; j<f.elements[i].length; j++) {
f.elements[i][j].value = f.elements[i][j].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
} else {
f.elements[i].value = f.elements[i].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
}
}

// -->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#CC0000" ALINK="#00CC00" VLINK="#CC0000" onLoad="initialize()">

Hope this helps!!

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

trailerman

ASKER

pji and others:

Isimplified(modified) the question, as I need to work with existing script. Please see, I don't know java script so I simply need someone to tell me how to write code properly per revised question.

thanks

pjtt

The code I gave you does exactly what you want.

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

pjtt

here's a modified version that checkes the type of the element before doing the replace:

function formFindReplace(Find, sReplace, f) {
if (f.elements[i].type != "text" && f.elements[i].type != "textarea" && f.elements[i].type != "hidden") continue;
for (var i=0; i<f.elements.length; i++) {
if (f.elements[i].length) {
for (var j=0; j<f.elements[i].length; j++) {
f.elements[i][j].value = f.elements[i][j].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
} else {
f.elements[i].value = f.elements[i].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
}
}

pjtt

Oops:

function formFindReplace(Find, sReplace, f) {
for (var i=0; i<f.elements.length; i++) {
if (f.elements[i].type != "text" && f.elements[i].type != "textarea" && f.elements[i].type != "hidden")
continue;
if (f.elements[i].length) {
for (var j=0; j<f.elements[i].length; j++) {
f.elements[i][j].value = f.elements[i][j].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
} else {
f.elements[i].value = f.elements[i].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
}
}

trailerman

ASKER

I can't yours to work..(not saying it doesn't on your end), I'm just looking for answer to the "(null)" element, can you help? thanks much.

pjtt

Here's the complete HTML for my solution.

If you still can't get it to work... to replace null just copy the reg exp I'm using in there: ((new RegExp("null", "g"))

The problem with your updated page is that you have two functions with the same name, so it's just chosing one to run (either the first or the last, I'm not sure). Try my code first though because it's much cleaner.

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>task.htm</TITLE>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
!--

function initialize() {
var f = document.forms[0];
formFindReplace(/\r\n/g, " ", f) // finds occurances of carraige-return line-feed
formFindReplace(/[\r\n]/g, " ", f) // find occurances of either one alone
formFindReplace((new RegExp("null", "g")), "", f) // find occurances of either one alone
}

function formFindReplace(Find, sReplace, f) {
for (var i=0; i<f.elements.length; i++) {
if (f.elements[i].type != "text" && f.elements[i].type != "textarea" && f.elements[i].type != "hidden") continue;
if (f.elements[i].length) {
for (var j=0; j<f.elements[i].length; j++) {
f.elements[i][j].value = f.elements[i][j].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
} else {
f.elements[i].value = f.elements[i].value.replace(Find, sReplace);
}
}
}

// -->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#CC0000" ALINK="#00CC00" VLINK="#CC0000" onLoad="initialize()">
<FORM ACTION="/cgi-bin/sql/update.cgi" METHOD=POST>
<CENTER><INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=template VALUE="staff/back.htm">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="ID_field" VALUE="tasks.tasks_ID">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="ID_value" VALUE="{{tasks.tasks_ID}}">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="tasks.date_updated" VALUE="system_date">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="tasks.name_updated" VALUE="{{tasks.staff_name}}">
<H3><CENTER>Update Tasks </CENTER></H3>

<table cellspacing=2 cellpadding=0 width="80%">
<tr> <td height="25"> Title: 
</TD><td height="25">
<input type=text name="tasks.tasks_title" size=25 maxlength=100>
</TD>
</TR>
<tr><td height="18">Category: 
</TD>
<td height="18">
<input type=text name="tasks.category" size=25 maxlength=100>

</TD>
</TR>
<tr>
<td>
 Notes

</td><td><textarea rows=3 cols=35 wrap="soft" name="tasks.note">nullnullnull</TEXTAREA>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Submit" onClick="makeonelineineverytextarea()"> 
</CENTER>
</FORM>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

</BODY>
</HTML>

trailerman

ASKER

thanks anyway... I figured it out with the use of' [(null)]'

Your java skills are good, I'm sure, but just needed a quick answer to my modification
question. thanks for the effort anyway.

pjtt

[(null)] is a character set... you're going to get very unexpected results even though it seems to work in your test.

pjtt

...It'll replace any occurance of "n", "u", or "l"

trailerman

ASKER

yes, you're right. the [] takes out the "n" from the Name= value.

So what can I do to constrain it from just pulling out the '(null)' and
not messing with anything else. is there another way to express
the '(' and ')" on both sides of the null.

respectly resumbitting question to you pjit

pjtt

...It'll replace any occurance of "n", "u", or "l"

pjtt

The "(" and ")" characters have meaning in regular expressions, so you have to escape them with "\".

new RegExp("$null$", "g")

will replace any occurance of "(null)".

or if you also want to replace it if it doesn't have the () then:

new RegExp("$?null$?", "g")

will replace any occurance of "(null)" or "null"

I wrote an XML parser in JavaScript based on regular expressions (jsxml.homestead.com) so I'm good with them.

Here's the complete guide (from M$) to JavaScript regular expression syntax.

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

<TABLE WIDTH=87% BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD">
<TD>Character</TD>
<TD>Description</TD></TR>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\ </td>
<td>Marks the next character as either a special character or a literal. For example, "n" matches the character "n". "\n" matches a newline character. The sequence "\\" matches "\" and "\(" matches "(".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>^ </td>
<td>Matches the beginning of input.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>$ </td>
<td>Matches the end of input.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>* </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character zero or more times. For example, "zo*" matches either "z" or "zoo".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>+ </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character one or more times. For example, "zo+" matches "zoo" but not "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>? </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character zero or one time. For example, "a?ve?" matches the "ve" in "never". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>.</td>
<td>Matches any single character except a newline character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>(pattern) </td>
<td>Matches pattern and remembers the match. The matched substring can be retrieved from the resulting Matches collection, using Item [0]...[n]. To match parentheses characters ( ), use "$" or "$".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>x|y</td>
<td>Matches either x or y. For example, "z|food" matches "z" or "food". "(z|f)ood" matches "zoo" or "food". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n}</td>
<td>n is a nonnegative integer. Matches exactly n times. For example, "o{2}" does not match the "o" in "Bob," but matches the first two o's in "foooood".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n,} </td>
<td>n is a nonnegative integer. Matches at least n times. For example, "o{2,}" does not match the "o" in "Bob" and matches all the o's in "foooood". "o{1,}" is equivalent to "o+". "o{0,}" is equivalent to "o*".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n,m} </td>
<td>m and n are nonnegative integers. Matches at least n and at most m times. For example, "o{1,3}" matches the first three o's in "fooooood". "o{0,1}" is equivalent to "o?".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[xyz] </td>
<td>A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, "[abc]" matches the "a" in "plain". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[^xyz] </td>
<td>A negative character set. Matches any character not enclosed. For example, "[^abc]" matches the "p" in "plain". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[a-z] </td>
<td>A range of characters. Matches any character in the specified range. For example, "[a-z]" matches any lowercase alphabetic character in the range "a" through "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[^m-z] </td>
<td>A negative range characters. Matches any character not in the specified range. For example, "[m-z]" matches any character not in the range "m" through "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\b </td>
<td>Matches a word boundary, that is, the position between a word and a space. For example, "er\b" matches the "er" in "never" but not the "er" in "verb". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\B </td>
<td>Matches a nonword boundary. "ea*r\B" matches the "ear" in "never early". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\d </td>
<td>Matches a digit character. Equivalent to [0-9]. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\D </td>
<td>Matches a nondigit character. Equivalent to [^0-9]. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\f </td>
<td>Matches a form-feed character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\n </td>
<td>Matches a newline character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\r </td>
<td>Matches a carriage return character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\s </td>
<td>Matches any white space including space, tab, form-feed, etc. Equivalent to "[ \f\n\r\t\v]".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\S </td>
<td>Matches any nonwhite space character. Equivalent to "[^ \f\n\r\t\v]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\t </td>
<td>Matches a tab character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\v </td>
<td>Matches a vertical tab character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\w </td>
<td>Matches any word character including underscore. Equivalent to "[A-Za-z0-9_]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\W </td>
<td>Matches any nonword character. Equivalent to "[^A-Za-z0-9_]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\num </td>
<td>Matches num, where num is a positive integer. A reference back to remembered matches. For example, "(.)\1" matches two consecutive identical characters. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\n</td>
<td>Matches n, where n is an octal escape value. Octal escape values must be 1, 2, or 3 digits long. For example, "\11" and "\011" both match a tab character. "\0011" is the equivalent of "\001" & "1". Octal escape values must not exceed 256. If they do, only the first two digits comprise the expression. Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\xn</td>
<td>Matches n, where n is a hexadecimal escape value. Hexadecimal escape values must be exactly two digits long. For example, "\x41" matches "A". "\x041" is equivalent to "\x04" & "1". Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.</td>
</tr>

</TABLE>

trailerman

ASKER

so are you saying that there is no answer to my specific question, and your answer is only possible solution?

pjtt

The "(" and ")" characters have meaning in regular expressions, so you have to escape them with "\".

new RegExp("$null$", "g")

will replace any occurance of "(null)".

or if you also want to replace it if it doesn't have the () then:

new RegExp("$?null$?", "g")

will replace any occurance of "(null)" or "null"

I wrote an XML parser in JavaScript based on regular expressions (jsxml.homestead.com) so I'm good with them.

Here's the complete guide (from M$) to JavaScript regular expression syntax.

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

<TABLE WIDTH=87% BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD">
<TD>Character</TD>
<TD>Description</TD></TR>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\ </td>
<td>Marks the next character as either a special character or a literal. For example, "n" matches the character "n". "\n" matches a newline character. The sequence "\\" matches "\" and "\(" matches "(".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>^ </td>
<td>Matches the beginning of input.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>$ </td>
<td>Matches the end of input.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>* </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character zero or more times. For example, "zo*" matches either "z" or "zoo".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>+ </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character one or more times. For example, "zo+" matches "zoo" but not "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>? </td>
<td>Matches the preceding character zero or one time. For example, "a?ve?" matches the "ve" in "never". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>.</td>
<td>Matches any single character except a newline character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>(pattern) </td>
<td>Matches pattern and remembers the match. The matched substring can be retrieved from the resulting Matches collection, using Item [0]...[n]. To match parentheses characters ( ), use "$" or "$".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>x|y</td>
<td>Matches either x or y. For example, "z|food" matches "z" or "food". "(z|f)ood" matches "zoo" or "food". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n}</td>
<td>n is a nonnegative integer. Matches exactly n times. For example, "o{2}" does not match the "o" in "Bob," but matches the first two o's in "foooood".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n,} </td>
<td>n is a nonnegative integer. Matches at least n times. For example, "o{2,}" does not match the "o" in "Bob" and matches all the o's in "foooood". "o{1,}" is equivalent to "o+". "o{0,}" is equivalent to "o*".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>{n,m} </td>
<td>m and n are nonnegative integers. Matches at least n and at most m times. For example, "o{1,3}" matches the first three o's in "fooooood". "o{0,1}" is equivalent to "o?".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[xyz] </td>
<td>A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, "[abc]" matches the "a" in "plain". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[^xyz] </td>
<td>A negative character set. Matches any character not enclosed. For example, "[^abc]" matches the "p" in "plain". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[a-z] </td>
<td>A range of characters. Matches any character in the specified range. For example, "[a-z]" matches any lowercase alphabetic character in the range "a" through "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>[^m-z] </td>
<td>A negative range characters. Matches any character not in the specified range. For example, "[m-z]" matches any character not in the range "m" through "z". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\b </td>
<td>Matches a word boundary, that is, the position between a word and a space. For example, "er\b" matches the "er" in "never" but not the "er" in "verb". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\B </td>
<td>Matches a nonword boundary. "ea*r\B" matches the "ear" in "never early". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\d </td>
<td>Matches a digit character. Equivalent to [0-9]. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\D </td>
<td>Matches a nondigit character. Equivalent to [^0-9]. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\f </td>
<td>Matches a form-feed character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\n </td>
<td>Matches a newline character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\r </td>
<td>Matches a carriage return character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\s </td>
<td>Matches any white space including space, tab, form-feed, etc. Equivalent to "[ \f\n\r\t\v]".</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\S </td>
<td>Matches any nonwhite space character. Equivalent to "[^ \f\n\r\t\v]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\t </td>
<td>Matches a tab character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\v </td>
<td>Matches a vertical tab character. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\w </td>
<td>Matches any word character including underscore. Equivalent to "[A-Za-z0-9_]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\W </td>
<td>Matches any nonword character. Equivalent to "[^A-Za-z0-9_]". </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\num </td>
<td>Matches num, where num is a positive integer. A reference back to remembered matches. For example, "(.)\1" matches two consecutive identical characters. </td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\n</td>
<td>Matches n, where n is an octal escape value. Octal escape values must be 1, 2, or 3 digits long. For example, "\11" and "\011" both match a tab character. "\0011" is the equivalent of "\001" & "1". Octal escape values must not exceed 256. If they do, only the first two digits comprise the expression. Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>\xn</td>
<td>Matches n, where n is a hexadecimal escape value. Hexadecimal escape values must be exactly two digits long. For example, "\x41" matches "A". "\x041" is equivalent to "\x04" & "1". Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.</td>
</tr>

</TABLE>

pjtt

No, here's the answer:

new RegExp("$null$", "gi")

The code you have will work ok if you rename the third function so that it is unique, call all three functions in the onload event (or call the second from the first and the third from the second..), and fix the regular expression with those escape ("\") characters.

The code I gave you, however, is a cleaner solution, you just have to replace "null" with "$null$"

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

trailerman

ASKER

I use apostrafy not quotes... and can you send me the complete code changes that
you are talking about here is what I have, but still doesn't replace paranthesis, just null portion
of text:

}
}
function makemultylineineverytextarea() {
var regexBR = new RegExp( '$null$', 'gi' )
var ec = document.forms[0].elements.length - 1;
var element = document.forms[0].elements;
for (i= 0; i <= ec; i ++) {
if (element[i].type == 'textarea') element[i].value = element[i].value.replace(regexBR, '')
if (element[i].type == 'text') element[i].value = element[i].value.replace(regexBR, '')
if (element[i].type == 'hidden') element[i].value = element[i].value.replace(regexBR, '')

pjtt

No, here's the answer:

new RegExp("$null$", "gi")

The code you have will work ok if you rename the third function so that it is unique, call all three functions in the onload event (or call the second from the first and the third from the second..), and fix the regular expression with those escape ("\") characters.

The code I gave you, however, is a cleaner solution, you just have to replace "null" with "$null$"

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

pjtt

No, here's the answer:

new RegExp("$null$", "gi")

The code you have will work ok if you rename the third function so that it is unique, call all three functions in the onload event (or call the second from the first and the third from the second..), and fix the regular expression with those escape ("\") characters.

The code I gave you, however, is a cleaner solution, you just have to replace "null" with "$null$"

Peter Tracey
Developer
http://www.25online.com/peter

trailerman

ASKER

impressive range of java knowledge