Alternatives for accessing elements?

@CurtMApr 06.2005

This is app is for PIE on PocketPC 2002.

It does not (at least ours don’t) support the DOM getElementByID() function. Nor does it support the document.all() function. I have tested both to verify this. I need to access elements by their IDs. These elements are not necessarily always form elements. (They are always in a form, however, they aren’t typical form input elements.) Example, a simple span element might have an ID that I want to access it by.

Are there any alternatives for doing this for those of us who are stuck with developing for browsers that are still in the dark ages?

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JavaScript

15 Comments(s) _↴

@phpnoviceApr 06.2005 — #It it is in the dark ages, I'd be interested to know if it supports the [b]document.layers[/b] collection. ?

@JPnycApr 06.2005 — #I don't suppose then that it supports the elements array either?

@phpnoviceApr 06.2005 — #It does not (at least ours don't) support the DOM getElementByID() function. Nor does it support the document.all() function.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps you could walk down the DOM starting with [b]document.body.childNodes[/b] -- which is a collection. ...or, starting with [b]document.forms[0].childNodes[/b] ([b]document.forms[/b] being another "standard" collection).

@VladdyApr 06.2005 — #What is wrong with plain HTML, you site does work with JS disabled, right?

@UltimaterApr 06.2005 — #Check the document.getElementById link in my sig.

If that doesn't work.

define it like so:

[code=html]
 <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" TYPE="text/javascript"><!--
 if(!document.getElementById){
 document.getElementById=function(){
 if(typeof window[arguments[0]] !="undefined")
 return window[arguments[0]] 
 else
 return null
 }
 }
 //--></SCRIPT>
 [/code]

@CurtMauthorApr 07.2005 — #Check the document.getElementById link in my sig.

If that doesn't work.

define it like so:

[code=html]
 <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" TYPE="text/javascript"><!--
 if(!document.getElementById){
 document.getElementById=function(){
 if(typeof window[arguments[0]] !="undefined")
 return window[arguments[0]] 
 else
 return null
 }
 }
 //--></SCRIPT>
 [/code]

[/QUOTE]

This and the code in your signature does not work on PPC. After debugging I have found it doesn't work for various reasons. Document.all and Document.layers are not supported. Even if they were, the PPC crashes when trying this:

document.getElementById=function(){ . . .

A normal IE browser will do that statement, but the PPC doesn't support it.

@KorApr 07.2005 — #but if does not use:

document.all

nor

document.layers

nor

document.getElementById

[b]what[/b] kinda ECMA script do you think it may accept? None, upon my oppinion. It is like it would have javascript disabled, isn't it?

@crh3675Apr 07.2005 — #How about checking the SDK for info

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2dbee84a-bd94-4167-b817-2b2e548b2e92&displaylang=en

@crh3675Apr 07.2005 — #It looks as if it supports some XML functions like:

var root = document.documentElement;

root.selectNodes("//span[@id='foo']")

So, couple that with a function

<i>
 </i>
 if(!document.getElementById){
 document.getElementById=function(id){
 var root=document.documentElement;
 var coll=root.selectNodes("//*[@id='"+id+"'");
 if(coll.length&gt;0){
 return coll[0];
 }else{
 return null;
 }
 }
 }

I haven't tried the code but I think it will work

@crh3675Apr 07.2005 — #Ok, I tested this in regular IE

<i>
 </i>&lt;html&gt;
 
 &lt;script&gt;
 //&lt;![CDATA[
 
 
 if(!document.getElementByMyId){
 document.getElementByMyId=function(id){
 var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
 var objNodeList;
 xmlDoc.async = false;
 xmlDoc.load(String(window.location).substring(String(window.location).lastIndexOf("/")+1));
 var root=xmlDoc.documentElement;
 objNodeList = root.selectNodes("//*[@id='"+id+"']");
 if(objNodeList.length&gt;0){
 return objNodeList[0];
 }else{
 return null;
 }
 }
 }
 
 alert(document.getElementByMyId("fart").tagName);
 //]]&gt;
 &lt;/script&gt;
 
 &lt;body&gt;
 &lt;div id="fart" style="height:200px"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 &lt;/body&gt;
 &lt;/html&gt;

Note that I changed the function call to "getElementByMyId" so I could test it.

@CurtMauthorApr 07.2005 — #Ok, I tested this in regular IE

Note that I changed the function call to "getElementByMyId" so I could test it.[/QUOTE]

I couldn't get that to work in neither IE or PIE. Even after correcting the typo in the code for STRING. I'm guessing that it's an activeX thing that I may not have enabled in IE, and I'm guessing is not supported in PIE.

Also to answer a question of the other poster, I do have javascript enabled. Our app currently uses some javascript successfully in our version of PIE.

@crh3675Apr 07.2005 — #The forum does strange things with code when it wraps, it was no typo and it works fine for me in IE 6

@phpnoviceApr 07.2005 — #I couldn't get that to work in neither IE or PIE.[/QUOTE]
Did you consider/try this prior suggestion?
Perhaps you could walk down the DOM starting with [b]document.body.childNodes[/b] -- which is a collection. ...or, starting with [b]document.forms[0].childNodes[/b] ([b]document.forms[/b] being another "standard" collection).[/QUOTE]

@CurtMauthorApr 07.2005 — #Did you consider/try this prior suggestion?[/QUOTE]

No, simply because that requires more knowledge about the DOM and JS than I currently have. :o

@UltimaterApr 07.2005 — #Can you access an element via their ID by any of the following?

<i>
 </i>&lt;SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="JavaScript"&gt;&lt;!--
 onload=function(){
 var myId="blah";
 alert(document[myId])
 alert(window[myId])
 alert(document.layers[myId])
 alert(eval(myId))
 alert(document.all(myId))
 alert(document.all[myId])
 }
 //--&gt;&lt;/SCRIPT&gt;

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