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window.open

window.open()

is called with the name of an existing frame as the second argument, the URL is then

loaded into the frame with that name. For example, to load a page into the frame named

“topFrame”

the following code does the trick:

window.open(“http://www.wrox.com/”, “topFrame”);

This line of code behaves as if a user clicked a link with the

href

set to

http://www.wrox.com/

and

the

target

set to

“topFrame”

. The special frame names

_self

_parent

_top

, and

_blank

are also

valid.

If the name specified isn’t a valid frame name, then

window.open()

opens a new window with features

based on the third argument (feature string) of the method. If the third argument is missing, a new

browser window is opened as if you had clicked a link with

target

set to

_blank

. This means that the

new browser window is displayed with the exact same settings as the default browser window (tool-

bars, location, and statusbar are all visible).

When the third argument is used, it is assumed that a new window should be opened. The feature

string, which is a comma-separated list of settings, defines certain aspects of the newly created window.

The following table displays the various settings:

Setting

Values

Description

left

Number

Indicates the left coordinate of the new window.

This cannot be a negative number.*

top

Number

Indicates the top coordinate of the new window.

This cannot be a negative number.*

height

Number

Sets the height of the new window. This cannot be

a number less than 100.*

width

Number

Sets the width of the new window. This cannot be

a number less than 100.*

resizable

yes,no

Determines if the new window can be resized by

dragging on its border. The default is no.

scrollable

yes,no

Determines if the new window allows scrolling if

the content cannot be fit in the viewport. The

default is no.

toolbar

yes,no

Determines if the new window has its toolbar

showing. The default is no.

status

yes,no

Determines if the new window has its status bar

showing. The default is no.

location

yes,no

Determines if the new window has its location

(Web address) area showing. The default is no.

*These security features of the browser are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 19, “Deployment Issues.”

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JavaScript in the Browser

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