asked on

re-use same child window in multiple hyperlinks

I'm writing a HELP system. I want hyperlinks on my website to open individual help pages. But, I do NOT want to "Open New Window" and "Open New Window" and "Open New Window" ... arrrrgh I personally dislike all those stupid windows!

How do I tell a dozen different hyperlinks to REUSE the exact same "child" window which may (or may not) have already been opened by an earlier hyperlink?

so I get one "new" window used over-and-over again.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

frin

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SOLUTION

frin

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James Rodgers

both above will work, however once teh window is open and the user returns to teh parent, when a new link is clicked the child window will remain in the background
try adding this to the second option

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>
<head>
      <title>Untitled</title>
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
var newWin='';
function setWindow(url){
      if(!newWin || newWin.closed){
            newWin=window.open(url,'','true');
      }
      newWin.focus();

}

</script>
</head>

<body>
<a href="#" onclick="setWindow('somePage.html');">Help</a>

</body>
</html>

SOLUTION

James Rodgers

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volking

ASKER

So these lines would open different help pages but all into the exact SAME browser window? Right?

<a href="login.htm" target="helpWindow">AboutLogin</a>
<a href="signup.aspx" target="helpWindow">SignupHelp</a>
<a href="contact.html" target="helpWindow">TalkBack?</a>

So the key is ..... target="WhatEverName"

volking

ASKER

The javascript option is good too, but can bookmarks be passed in the urls?

<a href="#" onclick="setWindow('SignupHelp.htm#bookmarkAAA');">Help</a>
<a href="#" onclick="setWindow('SignupHelp.htm#bookmarkBBB');">Help</a>
<a href="#" onclick="setWindow('SignupHelp.htm#bookmarkCCC');">Help</a>

SOLUTION

James Rodgers

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James Rodgers

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James Rodgers

glad i could help

thanks for the points