ATTN: Sridhar Balasubramanian

Anon

THANK YOU!!! I think your Javascript to PHP works! thank you THANK YOU!!!

But... I would like you to doublecheck my syntax, please. I noticed that it works both WITH and WITHOUT the semicolon. That tells me that I might have some syntax incorrect. Could you please look at every one of my punctuations to make sure it's perfect? And is there anything I could do to make it better and more efficient? Here are the pieces of code from my site that causes the popup window, with your suggestions:

//here's my Javascript
function selectWindow() {
v_info = document.form1.visitorinfo.value;
var visitor_info
address = "popup_page.php?visitorinfo=" + escape(nad);
window.open(visitor_info,"","scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,HEIGHT=610,WIDTH=700,")
}

//visitor types in name here
<TEXTAREA NAME='visitorinfo' COLS='30' ROWS='5'></TEXTAREA>

//here's the text link for popup
You may <A HREF="#" onClick="selectWindow()">Click here</A>

....and, of course, in the popup window, everything appears perfectly, and the variable "$visitorinfo" now becomes a php variable.

But I'm not sure if all my punctuation is correct

theslinky

Hi,

JavaScript makes semicolons optional. I highly recommend that you use them because it's just good coding practice and when you split commands into two lines (using the backslash ), the semicolon is a good way to indicate an end of line (to someone looking at your code).

Besides that, very good work on the script!

-sridhar

Anon

I did find one problem with the script. Do you mind if I ask? I'll ask it in this same thread, if you will be around to answer it in the next few minutes (otherwise, the thread will disappear onto the next page)

theslinky

Sure, just post it in this thread, but change the subject to something that is relevant so others can see and answer it too.

-sridhar

Anon

Thank you! In the code (repeated below for your convenience), using the "escape(nad)" command seemed to randomly put in backslashes (I check my work on 5 different browsers; 10% of the time I found backslashes before ' and before # and before ").

My question is: Is there a different command in Javascript, other than, "escape," or, shall I just tack on the PHP command, "stripslashes"??? The "stripslashes" command works fine, but I hate adding code on top of code on top of code, if there is a more efficent way of doing things.

My second question also regards my code below: Only 2 out of the 4 lines end in a semicolon. You said semicolons are good. Should the remaining 2 lines end with a semicolon? Or should I just leave them alone?

Thank you!!

                      //visitor types in name here 
                      <TEXTAREA NAME='visitorinfo' COLS='30' ROWS='5'></TEXTAREA> 

                      //here's the text link for popup 
                      You may <A HREF="#" onClick="selectWindow()">Click here</A>

theslinky

Actually, those backslashes are added by PHP. I just refered to my trusty old JavaScript reference and it says that escape just converts non alphanumeric characters to their hex value counterparts.

Yes, you'll have to use stripslashes to parse out the backslashes.

Regarding the semicolons: it's up to you. All it takes is a couple seconds to put in those two semicolons :-). The reason I suggested putting semicolons at the end of all lines (except unless it ends with a brace { ) is because if you have code spanning multiple lines (meaning the same line split into multiple lines using ), then it is easier to identify the end.

This is also true for conditional statement.

for example:

if(value == true) {
alert('yes');
}

is the same thing as:

if(value == true) alert('yes');

I generally use the second style when I only want to invoke ONE statement within the if clause. But when I'm coding more advanced things (especially working with DHTML stuff), I always put in the braces.

By the way, if you're just starting out w/ JavaScript, a VERY good reference book is "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" published by O'Reilly. I have the 3rd edition from June 1998. I'm sure they have newer editions with new javascript standards and corrections from my version. I like the book because after the chapters, the rest half of the book is a reference guide sorted alphabetically. It's very easy for me to use and find useful functions. The index may not be very helpful unless you know the command name or a similar command, but it doesn't take very long to sift through the chapters or parts of the reference.

-sridhar