ModelessDialog

Ph0eniX

is there such a thing in php?

Weedpacket

No [php-gtk notwithstanding]. Why would you want a modeless dialogue on the server?

Ph0eniX

That didn't make sense ...now, did it? Ok, let me try to explain my problem what my problem is (even though at this point I realize that it has nothing to do with PHP and server side scripting):

I have included an 'About' box on my main page using the following:

<A href="javascript:void(showModelessDialog('about.php',window,'status:no;dialogWidth:280px;dialogHeight:120px'))"><IMG BORDER=0 SRC=/images/sun.gif>&nbsp;</IMG>About</A>
</FONT>

As you can see, it has a certain size, it's centered on the screen regardless of the client's resolution setting and it's a child of the actual browser window. If I navigate to another page the dialog will disappear with the parent document.

The problem is that it only works in IE on Windows (since I guess it calls the Common Dialog Controls or some other Win32 API crap). I would like to create the equivalent of a ModelessDialog that would work in Netscape and IE on other Operating Systems as well (Solaris, Mac).

Thanks in Advance.

Weedpacket

Well, PHP runs on the server and the only control it has over the browser is what gets written in the page it sends. That page can contain HTML or Javascript or whatever.

Thing is, the browser doesn't care where that HTML, Javascript or whatever is coming from. It could have been a PHP script, or it could have been hand-written.

If Netscape's Javascript doesn't offer a modelessdialog object, or if you can't write such a thing by hand, in Javascript, then PHP won't be any help to you.*

Instead of an IE-specific modelessdialog, maybe you'd be better off opening a popup window (presumably turning off as much chrome as you can in the process) containing the about.php page in it?

And welcome to the wonderful world of "Embrace and Extend"...

[*] Well, not quite - PHP can take a stab at what sort of browser is making the request, via $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] &c., and write appropriate Javascript depending on what it finds there. E.g., a modelessdialog for IE users, and a popup window for everyone else.

Ph0eniX

That's exactly what I ended up doing.


function openModeless(sUrl, iWidth, iHeight, iLeft, iTop, sScrollbar, winName, sStatusbar) { 

if (!sUrl) {sUrl = "+";} 
if (!iWidth) {iWidth = "300";}          
if (!iHeight) {iHeight = "120";}    
if (!iLeft) {iLeft = (screen.width - iWidth)/2;}    
if (!iTop) {iTop = (screen.height - iHeight)/2;} 
if (!sScrollbar) {sScrollbar = "no";}  
if (!winName) {winName = "";}      
if (!sStatusbar) {sStatusbar = "no";}   
if (sUrl == "+") { 
    alert ("Url not found!"); 
    return false; 
} 

newwin = window.open(unescape(sUrl), winName, 'width='+iWidth+',height='+iHeight+',top='+iTop+',left='+iLeft+',toolbar=no,location=no,menubar=no,directories=no,status='+sStatusbar+',resizable=no,scrollbars='+sScrollbar);

return true; 
}

Then just called this function from a href.

<A href="about.php" TARGET="_new" ONCLICK="openModeless(this.href); return(false);">