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Is it possible instruct a page to open in a child window?

Posted on 2012-12-27

1 solution

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Last Modified: 2013-02-25

Hello all,

I have some html code that I need to open in a child window.

This is easy to accomplish if I am calling this html code through other html.

Example:

<script type="text/javascript">    
window.open("page_to_open_in_child_window.html","","location=0,toolbar=0,status=0,resizable=1,width=800,height=600");</script>
<body>

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But in my situation, I have no access or control over what is calling my "page_to_open_in_child_window.htm". I have tried renaming this file and using the above code in a redirector and it worked... except unfortunately (this is an LMS), using the redirector idea causes the LMS session data to not be retained.

Question is, can I embed the same instructions inside of my "page_to_open_in_child_window.htm"? Can this be done through HTML and/or javascript and/or CSS?

Thanks

Comment

Question by:sconnell

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6 Comments

LVL 10

Expert Comment

by:tdlewis

ID: 387258182012-12-27

If you want to fully load the content from your script then leave the first argument to window.open blank, e.g.,

myWin = window.open("","", "location=0,toolbar=0,status=0,resizable=1,width=800,height=600");

Then you can do something like this:
myWin.document.writeln("<html><body>Hello, world!</body></html>")

In that way, you don't need a pre-existing webpage.

On the other hand, if you need for something to be loaded by the LMS so that you have its session data then create a super simple page. It can be as simple as:
<html><body></body></html>

Then you can do something like this:
myWin.document.body.innerHTML += "Hello, world!<p>"

LVL 4

Author Comment

by:sconnell

ID: 387389932013-01-02

Hello tdlewis,

Thanks for your response but not even close. LOL Though, I suspect my description wasn't nearly good enough.

The problem is that in opening a child window, I must also carry a two-way communications with the parent window API. This is where it is slightly more complicated than simply opening a child window.

LVL 10

Expert Comment

by:tdlewis

ID: 387390192013-01-02

OK. Can you give a brief description of what you need the parent and child windows to do?

LVL 4

Author Comment

by:sconnell

ID: 387390532013-01-02

Hello tdlewis,

This might be beyond the scope of a EE question but here goes... I have attached two files.

First is the index.html - this file is the first to load and it establishes the API and then
opens...

Test-sample.htm - there is more variables (part of the API) and this file then opens the FLASH file (not included).

Throughout this process, the API calls establish a 2 way comm link from the LMS to the FLASH file (lesson actually).

What I am trying to accomplish is to open that Flash lesson in a child window and maintain the 2 way comm link to/from the LMS.

What do you think?
Test.zip

LVL 10

Accepted Solution

by:tdlewis

tdlewis earned 500 total points

ID: 387427812013-01-03

In a prior life I wrote some code for a different LMS where the page loaded by the LMS opened a child window that communicated back to the parent window about its progress. I no longer have access to any LMS nor the code for that prior project, but it worked by having the parent set a variable in the child that then gave the child access to routines in the parent. It worked something like this:

theChild = window.open("page_to_open_in_child_window.html","","location=0,toolbar=0,status=0,resizable=1,width=800,height=600");
theChild.theParent = this;

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This allows the child to do things like this:

theParent.customCode();

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As I look at the sample pages you uploaded, it looks like your child window has a lot of LMS code embedded in it. That might work if the data needed by the script to communicate with the LMS is present. If it's not, then you might need to substitute the code you've got with stubs that pass the processing back to the parent. For example in the child:

window.ProcessLMSResult = function(requestType, responseStr)
{
	theParent.ProcessLMSResult(requestType, responseStr);	
};

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I hope that helps!

LVL 4

Author Closing Comment

by:sconnell

ID: 389276592013-02-25

tdlewis: For all your effort, thank you.

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