Properties

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+)

• all[] Collection of elements enclosed by the object. (IE4+)

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". This property is defined only for display elements such as b, big, cite, and so on. (IE4+)

• attributes[] Collection of read-only attributes for the element. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• begin Sets or retrieves delay before timeline begins playing the element. See MSDN. (IE5.5+, SMIL)

• behaviorUrns[] Collection of DHTML Behaviors attached to the node. (IE5+)

• canHaveChildren Read-only Boolean value indicating whether the element can have child nodes. (IE5+)

• canHaveHTML Read-only Boolean indicating whether the element can enclose HTML markup. (IE5.5+)

• childNodes[] Read-only collection of child nodes of the object. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• children[] Read-only collection of child nodes. This is IE’s pre-DOM equivalent of childNodes[]. (IE4+)

• className String holding value of the CSS class(es) the element belongs to. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• clientHeight Read-only numeric value indicating the height of the element’s content area in pixels. (IE4+)

• clientLeft Read-only numeric value indicating the difference between the offsetLeft property and the beginning of the element’s content area, in pixels. (IE4+)

• clientTop Read-only numeric value indicating the difference between the offsetTop property and the beginning of the element’s content area, in pixels. (IE4+)

• clientWidth Read-only numeric value indicating the width of the element’s content area in pixels. (IE4+)

• contentEditable String determining whether the element’s content is editable. Values are "inherit", "true", or "false". A value of "inherit" means that it will inherit the contentEditable property of its parent (this value is the default). This property is useful for making table data cells editable. Elements with disabled set to true are not editable, no matter what value this property has. Corresponds to the contenteditable attribute. (IE5.5+)

• currentStyle Read-only reference to the Style object reflecting all styles applied to the element, including global (default) style. (IE5+)

• dir String holding the text direction of text enclosed by the element. If set, its value is either "ltr" (left to right) or "rtl" (right to left). (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+)

• document An undocumented reference to the Document in which the element is contained. (IE4+)

• filters[] Collection of Microsoft CSS Filters applied to the element. (IE4+)

• firstChild Read-only reference to the first child node of the element, if one exists (null otherwise). (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• hasMedia Read-only Boolean indicating whether the element is an HTML+TIME media element. (IE5.5+)

• hideFocus Boolean indicating whether the object gives a visible cue when it receives focus. (IE5.5+)

• id String holding the unique alphanumeric identifier for the element. Commonly assigned using the id HTML attribute and used as the target for getElementById(). This unique identifier is not only important for scripting, but also for binding of CSS. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• innerHTML String holding the HTML content enclosed within the element’s tags. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• innerText String holding the text enclosed by the element’s tags. This text is not interpreted as HTML, so setting it to a value like “<b>Important</b>” will result in “<b>Important</b>” being displayed, rather than “Important” with boldfaced font. (IE4+)

• isContentEditable Read-only Boolean indicating if the user can edit the element’s contents. (IE5.5+)

• isDisabled Read-only Boolean indicating if the user can interact with the object. (IE5.5+)

• isTextEdit Read-only Boolean indicating if a TextRange object can be created using the object. (IE4+)

• lang String holding language code for the content the element encloses. Corresponds to the lang HTML attribute. For a full list of valid values, see RFC 1766 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1766.txt?number=1766), which describes language codes and their formats. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• language String indicating the scripting language in use. (IE4+)

• lastChild Read-only reference to the last child node of the element, if one exists (null otherwise). (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• localName Read-only string indicating the "local" XML name for the object. (MOZ/N6+)

• namespaceURI Read-only string indicating the XML Namespace URI for the object. (MOZ/N6+)

• nextSibling Read-only reference to next sibling of the node, for example, if its parent has multiple children. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• nodeName Read-only string containing name of the node, the name of the tag to which the object corresponds, for example, "H1". (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• nodeType Read-only number holding the DOM defined node type. For example, element nodes have node type 1. A list of the common node types can be found in the following table. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

  Node Type Number	Type	Description	Example
  1	Element	An HTML or XML element	<p>…</p>
  2	Attribute	An attribute for an HTML or XML element	align="center"
  3	Text	A fragment of text that would be enclosed by an HTML or XML element	This is a text fragment!
  8	Comment	An HTML comment	<!-- This is a comment -->
  9	Document	The root document object, namely the top element in the parse tree	<html>
  10	DocumentType	A document type definition	<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C //DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

• nodeValue String containing value within the node (or null if no value). (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• offsetHeight Read-only numeric value indicating the height of the element in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• offsetLeft Read-only numeric value indicating the pixel offset of the left edge of the element, relative to its offsetParent. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• offsetParent Read-only reference to the object relative to which the offsetHeight/Width/Left/Top is calculated. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• offsetTop Read-only numeric value indicating the pixel offset of the top edge of the element, relative to its offsetParent. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• offsetWidth Read-only numeric value indicating the width of the element in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• outerHTML String holding the HTML content enclosed within (and including) the element’s tags. (IE4+)

• outerText String holding the text enclosed by (and including) the element’s tags. (IE4+)

• ownerDocument Read-only reference to the Document in which the element is contained. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• parentElement Reference to the node’s parent. This is IE’s pre-DOM equivalent of parentNode. (IE4+)

• parentNode Read-only reference to the parent of the object (or null if none exists). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• parentTextEditvRead-only reference to the innermost container element outside of the current object that is capable of creating a TextRange containing the current element. (IE4+)

• prefixvRead-only string containing the "prefix" XML name for the object. (MOZ/N6+)

• previousSibling Read-only reference to previous sibling of the node, for example, if its parent node has multiple children. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• readyState Read-only string containing the current state of the object. Values include "uninitialized", "loading", "loaded", "interactive" (not finished loading but able to respond to user actions), and "complete". Objects progress through each of these states until they have completed loading, though some objects may skip some intermediate steps (for example, pass from "uninitialized" directly to "complete"). This property is very useful in determining whether an element has completed loading. However, you should always make sure the object exists in the Document before attempting to read this property (otherwise, a runtime error will be thrown because you would be attempting to read a property of an object not yet defined). Note that an <object>s readyState is given by the integers 0 through 4 (with the same meaning). (IE4+)

• recordNumber Read-only numeric value indicating the record number of the data set from which the element was generated. (IE4+)

• runtimeStyle Reference to the Style object that reflects the current (runtime) style characteristics of the element. (IE5+)

• scopeName Read-only string containing the XML scope for the object. (IE5+)

• scrollHeight Numeric read-only value indicating the total height in pixels of the element’s content area, no matter how much is displayed on screen. (IE4+)

• scrollLeft Numeric value indicating the distance in pixels from the left edge of the object to the leftmost edge of the object that is currently displayed. (IE4+)

• scrollTop Numeric value indicating the distance in pixels from the top edge of the object to the topmost edge that is currently displayed. (IE4+)

• scrollWidth Numeric read-only value indicating the total width in pixels of the object’s content area, no matter how much is displayed on screen. (IE4+)

• sourceIndex Read-only number indicating the index of the element in the document.all[] collection. (IE4+)

• style Reference to the inline Style object for the element. (IE4+, N4+, DOM2)

• syncMaster Specifies whether time container must synchronize with the element. See MSDN. (IE5.5+, SMIL)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. Elements with positive values for this property are tabbed to in order of increasing tabIndex (before any others). Elements with zero for this property (the default) are tabbed to in the order they occur in the document source. Elements with negative values are not tabbed to at all. (IE4+)

• tagName String containing the name of the tag to which the object corresponds, for example, "H1." (IE5.5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tagUrn String containing the URN of the XML Namespace for the object. (IE5+)

• timeContainer Sets or retrieves the type of timeline associated with the element. (IE5.5+, SMIL)

• title String containing advisory text for the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• uniqueID An auto-generated read-only unique id for this element. (IE5+)

Methods

• addBehavior(url) Attaches the DHTML Behavior referenced by string url to the element. (IE5+)

• addEventListener(whichEvent, handler, direction) Instructs the object to execute the function handler whenever an event of type given in the string whichEvent (for example, "click") occurs. The direction is a Boolean specifying the phase in which to fire, true for capture or false for bubbling. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• appendChild(newChild) Appends newChild to end of the node’s childNodes[] list. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• applyElement(newElement [, where]) “Applies” one element to another by enclosing one within the other. If where is omitted or has value "outside", the object referenced by newElement becomes the parent of the current element. Otherwise, newElement becomes the only child of the current element, enclosing all of the current element’s children. (IE5+)

• attachEvent(whichHandler, theFunction) Attaches the function theFunction as a handler specified by the string whichHandler, for example, "onclick". (IE5+)

• blur() Removes focus from the element. (IE5+ for most elements. For form fields N2+ or N3+ and IE3+ or IE4+ and DOM1, listed specifically for each object)

• clearAttributes() Clears all nonessential HTML attributes from the element (leaves id, dir, etc.). (IE5+)

• click() Simulates a mouse click at the object. (IE4+)

• cloneNode(cloneChildren) Clones the node and returns the new clone. If cloneChildren is true, the returned node includes the recursively constructed subtree of clones of the node’s children. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• componentFromPoint(x, y) Returns a string that gives information about the pixel coordinate (x,y) in the client window with respect to the current element. The string returned may have one of the values in the following table. The return value specifies whether the coordinate is inside of the element (""), outside of the element ("outside"), or a part of the various scrolling mechanisms that may be displayed for the element.

  Return Value	Component at the Given Coordinate
  ""	Component is inside the client area of the object.
  "outside"	Component is outside the bounds of the object.
  "scrollbarDown"	Down scroll arrow is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarHThumb"	Horizontal scroll thumb or box is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarLeft"	Left scroll arrow is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarPageDown"	Page-down scroll bar shaft is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarPageLeft"	Page-left scroll bar shaft is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarPageRight"	Page-right scroll bar shaft is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarPageUp"	Page-up scroll bar shaft is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarRight"	Right scroll arrow is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarUp"	Up scroll arrow is at the specified location.
  "scrollbarVThumb"	Vertical scroll thumb or box is at the specified location.
  "handleBottom"	Bottom sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleBottomLeft"	Lower-left sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleBottomRight"	Lower-right sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleLeft"	Left sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleRight"	Right sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleTop"	Top sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleTopLeft"	Upper-left sizing handle is at the specified location.
  "handleTopRight"	Upper-right sizing handle is at the specified location.

This method is often used with events to determine where user activity is taking place with respect to a particular element and to take special actions based on scroll bar manipulation. (IE5+)

• contains(element) Returns a Boolean indicating if the object given in element is contained within the element. (IE4+)

• detachEvent(whichHandler, theFunction) Instructs the object to cease executing the function theFunction as a handler given the string whichHandler, for example, "onclick". (IE5+)

• dispatchEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the object’s appropriate handler. Used to redirect events. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• dragDrop() Initiates a drag event at the element. (IE5.5+)

• fireEvent(handler [, event]) Causes the event handler given by the string handler to fire. If an Event instance was passed as event, the new event created reflects the properties of event. (IE5.5+)

• focus() Gives focus to the element.

• getAdjacentText(where) Returns the string of text corresponding to the text string at position where, with respect to the current node. The where parameter is a string with the following values:

  Value of where	String Returned
  "beforeBegin"	Text immediately preceding element’s opening tag (back to but not including first element encountered).
  "afterBegin"	Text immediately following the element’s opening tag (up to but not including the first nested element).
  "beforeEnd"	Text immediately preceding the element’s closing tag (back to but not including the closing tag of the last enclosed element).
  "afterEnd"	Text immediately following element’s closing tag (up to but not including the first following tag).

There is no standard DOM method that mimics this behavior. Instead, you must examine the previousSibling, firstChild, lastChild, or nextSibling (in order corresponding to the values of where in the preceding table) and extract the string manually from their text node(s). (IE5+)

• getAttribute(name) Returns a string containing the value of the attribute specified in the string name or null if it does not exist. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• getAttributeNode(name) Returns the attribute node corresponding to the attribute in the string name. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• getBoundingClientRect() Retrieves a TextRectangle with properties top, bottom, left, right indicating the pixel values of the rectangle in which the element’s content is enclosed. (IE5+)

• getClientRects() Retrieves a collection of TextRectangle objects, which give the pixel coordinates of all bounding rectangles contained in the element. (IE5+)

• getElementsByTagName(tagname) Retrieves a collection of elements corresponding to the tag given in string tagname. A value of "*" retrieves all tags. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• getExpression(propertyName) Retrieves the string giving the dynamic property expression for the property/attribute named propertyName. (IE5+)

• hasAttribute(name) Returns a Boolean indicating if the attribute given in string name is defined for the node (explicitly or by default). (MOZ/N6+, DOM2 Core)

• hasAttributes() Returns a Boolean indicating if any attributes are defined for the node. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2 Core)

• hasChildNodes() Returns a Boolean indicating if the node has children. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• insertAdjacentElement(where, element) Inserts the element object given in element adjacent to the current element in the position given by the string where (IE5+).The possible values for where include these:

  Value of where	Effect
  "beforeBegin"	Inserts immediately before the object.
  "afterBegin"	Inserts after the start of the object but before all other content.
  "beforeEnd"	Inserts immediately before the end of the object, after all other content.
  "afterEnd"	Inserts immediately after the end of the object.

• insertAdjacentHTML(where, text) Inserts the HTML given in string text adjacent to the current element according to the string where. See table under insertAdjacentElement() for the meaning of this parameter. The text is parsed and added to the document tree. (IE5+)

• insertAdjacentText(where, text) Inserts the text given in string text adjacent to the current element according to the string where. See table under insertAdjacentElement() for the meaning of this parameter. The text is not parsed as HTML. (IE5+)

• insertBefore(newChild, refChild) Inserts node newChild in front of refChild in the childNodes[] list of refChild's parent node. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• isSupported(feature [, version]) Returns a Boolean indicating whether feature and version given in the argument strings are supported. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2 Core)

• mergeAttributes(source [, preserve]) Merges all attributes, styles, and event handlers from the element node source into the current element. (IE5+)

• normalize() Recursively merges adjacent text nodes in the sub-tree rooted at this element. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• releaseCapture() Disables universal mouse event capturing at that object. (IE5+)

• removeAttribute(name) Removes attribute corresponding to string name from the node. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• removeAttributeNode(attribute) Removes the attribute node given by node attribute and returns the removed node. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• removeBehavior(id) Removes the DHTML Behavior associated with id (previously returned by attachBehavior()) from the element. (IE4+)

• removeChild(oldChild) Removes oldChild from the node’s children and returns a reference to the removed node. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• removeEventListener(whichEvent, handler, direction) Removes function handler as a handler for the event given in the string whichEvent (for example, "click") for the phase given by the Boolean direction. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• removeExpression(propertyName) Removes dynamic property expression for the property given in the string propertyName. (IE5+)

• replaceAdjacentText(where, text) Replaces the text at position where relative to the current node with the text (non-HTML) string text (IE5+). Possible values for where include

  Value of where	Effect
  "beforeBegin"	Replaces text immediately before the object (back to but not including first tag or end tag encountered).
  "afterBegin"	Replaces text at the start of the object but before all other enclosed content (up to but not including first opening tag).
  "beforeEnd"	Replaces text immediately before the end of the object, after all other content (back to but not including last tag or closing tag).
  "afterEnd"	Replaces text immediately after the element’s closing tag (up to but not including the next tag).

• replaceChild(newChild, oldChild) Replaces the node’s child node oldChild with node newChild. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• replaceNode(newNode) Replaces the current node with newNode. (IE5+)

• scrollIntoView([alignToTop]) Causes the object to be immediately scrolled into the viewable area of the window. If alignToTop is true or omitted, the top of the object is aligned with the top of the window (if possible). Otherwise, if alignToTop is false, the object is scrolled so that the bottom of the object is aligned with the bottom of the viewable window. (IE4+)

• setActive() Sets the object as the active object without giving it focus. (IE5.5+)

• setAttribute(name, value) Sets a new attribute for the node with name and value given by the string arguments. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• setAttributeNode(newAttr) Adds the attribute node newAttr (replacing and returning any attribute node with the same name). (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• setCapture([containerCapture]) Causes all mouse events occurring in the document to be sent to this object. (IE5+)

• setExpression(property, expression [, language]) Sets the expression given in string expression as the dynamic expression for the property given in string property. The optional language parameter specifies which scripting language the expression is written in, for example, "VBscript" (JScript is the default). Commonly used as a method of element nodes and Style objects. Used for setting dynamic expressions. (IE5+)

• swapNode(node) Exchanges the location of the object with node in the object hierarchy. (IE5+)

• unwatch(property) Removes the watchpoint on the property given in the string property. (N4+)

• watch(property, handler) “Watches” the property given in string property and invokes the function handler whenever its value changes. The handler is passed the name of the property, the old value, and the value to which it is being set. Any value the function returns is interpreted as the new value for the property. (N4+)

Notes

• With the exception of the object scriptable under traditional models (Form, Image, and so on), most elements become scriptable in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, and DOM1.

• HTML elements are referred to both in uppercase and lowercase under the DOM, so <p> and <P> are both equivalent to an HTMLParagraph object.

Properties

This object has the following properties in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object listed at the beginning of this appendix:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• charset String indicating the character set of the linked document. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• coords String (comma-separated list) defining the coordinates of the object, used with the shape attribute. However, there is no default functionality. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAsv String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+)

• hash String holding the portion of the URL in the href following the hash mark (#). Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• host String holding the domain name and port portion of the URL in the href. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• hostname String holding the domain name portion of the URL in the href. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• href String holding the value of the href attribute, the document to load when the link is activated. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ, DOM1)

• hreflang String indicating the language code of the linked resource. (MOZ/N6+, IE6+, DOM1)

• media String indicating the media of the link. Currently unsupported. (DOM1)

• name String containing the value of the name attribute. Defined for Anchor in traditional models. In some browsers this is a read-only value. (IE3+, N4+, MOZ, DOM1)

• nameProp String holding the filename portion of the URL in the href. (IE5+)

• pathname String holding the path and filename portion of the URL in the href (including the leading slash). Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• port String holding the port number portion of the URL in the href. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• protocol String holding the protocol portion of the URL in the href. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• protocolLong A read-only string holding the full name of the protocol used in the URL in the href. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE4+)

• rel String holding the value of the rel property of the element. Used to specify the relationship between documents, but currently ignored by most browsers. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• rev String holding the value of the rel property of the element. Used to specify the relationship between documents. The use of this attribute is currently ignored by most browsers. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• search String holding the portion of the URL in the href following the question mark (a.k.a. the search string). Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ/N6+)

• shape String defining the shape of the object. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• target Specifies the target window for a hypertext source link referencing frames. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ, DOM1)

• text A read-only string specifying the text enclosed by the <a></a> tags. Defined for Anchor in traditional models. More appropriately accessed via DOM methods. (N4+)

• type Specifies the media type in the form of a MIME type for the link target. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• urn Defines a URN for a target document. (IE4+)

• x The read-only x coordinate of an Anchor, in pixels, relative to the left edge of the document. (N4)

• y The read-only y coordinate of an Anchor, in pixels, relative to the top edge of the document. (N4)

Methods

This object has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this appendix, in addition to the following:

• blur() Removes focus from the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object. (N4)

• focus() Gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Netscape 2+, Mozilla, DOM1.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Constructor

var instanceName = new ActiveXObject("servername.typename");

The servername is the name of the Automation server that implements the COM object typename.

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+).

Notes

This is not an ECMAScript object. It is a proprietary Microsoft built-in object.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the properties listed here, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section. It will also have any public properties exposed by the class.

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• alt String specifying alternative text for the applet. (IE6, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• altHtml String specifying alternative markup for the applet if the applet doesn’t load. (IE4+)

• archive String containing a comma-separated list of URLs giving classes required by the applet that should be preloaded. (IE6, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• code String containing the URL of the Java applet’s class file. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• codeBase String containing the base URL for the applet (for relative links). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• height String specifying the height in pixels of the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• hspace String specifying the horizontal margin to the left and right of the applet. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the applet. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• src String specifying the URL of the applet. Non-standard and should be avoided. (IE4+)

• object String containing the name of the resource that contains a serialized representation of the applet. Either code or object is used, but not both. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• vspace String specifying the vertical margin above and below the applet. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• width Specifies the width of the object in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section. It will also have any public methods exposed by the applet. See Chapter 18 for an example of this.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Netscape 3+, Mozilla, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• alt String defining text alternative to the graphic. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• coords String defining the (comma-separated) coordinates of the object, used with the shape attribute. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• hash String holding the portion of the URL in the href following the hash mark (#). (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• host String holding the domain name and port portion of the URL in the href. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• hostname String holding the domain name portion of the URL in the href. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• href String holding the value of the href attribute, the document to load when the link is activated. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• noHref Boolean indicating that the links for this area are disabled. (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• pathname String holding the path and file name portion of the URL in the href (including the leading slash). Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• port String holding the port number portion of the URL in the href. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• protocol String holding the protocol portion of the URL in the href. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• search String holding the portion of the URL in the href following the question mark (also called the search string). (IE3+, N3+, MOZ)

• shape String defining the shape of the object, usually "default" (entire region), "rect" (rectangular), "circle" (circular), or "poly" (polygon). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• target Specifies the target window for a hypertext source link referencing frames. (IE3+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• x This Netscape 4–specific property, which is read-only, contains the x coordinate of the link in pixels, relative to the left edge of the document. (N4)

• y This Netscape 4–specific property, which is read-only, contains the y coordinate of the link in pixels, relative to the top edge of the document. (N4)

Methods

This object has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section, in addition to the following:

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object. (N4 only)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Netscape 3+, Mozilla, DOM1.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Array([ val1 [, val2 [, val3 ... ] ] ]);

where the comma-separated values are treated as initial values for array indices 0, 1, 2, and so on. The exception is if a single numeric parameter is supplied, in which case the array’s length property is set to this value.

Properties

• constructor Reference to the constructor object, which created the object. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• length Numeric value indicating the next empty index at the end of the array (not the number of elements in the array). Setting this property to a value less than its current value will undefine any elements with index >= length. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• prototype Reference to the object’s prototype. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• concat([item1 [, item2 [, ...]]]) Appends the comma-separated list of items to the end of the array and returns the new array (it does not operate on the array in place). If any item is an array, its first level is flattened (that is, the item’s elements are appended each as a separate element). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 1)

• join([separator]) Returns the string obtained by concatenating all the array’s elements. If the string separator is supplied, separator will be placed between adjacent elements. The separator defaults to a comma. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• pop() Removes the last element of the array and returns it. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 3)

• push([item1 [, item2 [, ...]]]) Appends the parameters (in order) to the end of the array and returns the new length. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 3)

• reverse() Reverses the order of the elements (in place). (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• shift() Removes the first element from the array, returns it, and shifts all other elements down one index. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 3)

• slice(begin [, end]) Returns a new array containing the elements from index begin up to but not including index end. If end is omitted, all elements to the end of the array are extracted. If end is negative, it is treated as an offset from the end of the array. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2), ECMA Edition 3)

• sort([compareFunc]) Sorts the array in place in lexicographic order. The optional argument compareFunc is a function that can change the behavior of the sort. It will be passed two elements and should return a negative value if the first element is less than the second, a positive value if the second is less than the first, or zero if they are equal. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• splice(start, howMany [, item1 [, item2 [, ...]]]) Removes howMany elements from the array beginning at index start and replaces the removed elements with the itemN arguments (if passed). An array containing the deleted elements is returned. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 3)

• toString() Returns a string containing the comma-separated list of elements. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• unshift([item1 [, item2 [, ...]]]) Inserts the items (in order) at the front of the array, shifting existing values up to higher indices. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ, N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+), ECMA Edition 3)

• valueOf() Same as toString(). (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Support

Supported in IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), Mozilla, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMAScript Edition 1.

Notes

In Netscape 4.0–4.05 (JavaScript 1.2) a single numeric parameter to the constructor is added to the single array element—it is not treated as an initial value for length.

See Chapter 7 for numerous examples of the Array object.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• href String holding the URL relative to which all relative URLs on the page are fetched. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• target String holding the name of the target window or frame for all links on the page. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has those methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla, Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• color String holding the default text color for the page. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• face String holding a comma-separated list of one or more default font names. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• size String holding the default font size (HTML 1–7 or relative +n/–n syntax). (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This element only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Deprecated in HTML 4 and XHTML, but supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 5+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+ DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

For supporting browsers like Internet Explorer, this object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• balance Numeric value from 10,000 to –10,000 indicating the proportion of sound that should come from the left speaker versus the right. (IE4+)

• loop Numeric value with –1 indicating the sound should loop forever, 0 indicating it should play once, and positive values indicating the number of times the sound should play. (IE4+)

• src String indicating the URL of the sound. (IE4+)

• volume Numeric value from –10,000 (softest) to 0 (loudest). (IE4+)

Methods

This object has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section, despite being a proprietary object.

Support

Internet Explorer 4+.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

• cite String containing the URL of a reference for the quote. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

The DOM defines HTMLQuoteElement to cover objects related to <q> and <blockquote>. Some browsers also recognize <bq> as well to instantiate this type of object.

Mozilla and Opera 7.5+ correctly identify this object as HTMLQuoteElement while Internet Explorer reports it as a generic object. Opera 7.5+ also recognizes the ad hoc <bq> syntax as HTMLQuoteElement.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• aLink String specifying the color of active links. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• background String specifying the URL of an image to use as a background for the document. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• bgColor String specifying the background color of the document. The browser will generally turn set color values to #RRGGBB hex regardless of being entered that way or not. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• bgProperties String specifying other background properties for the document. When it has the value "fixed", the background image is fixed and will not scroll. (IE4+)

• bottomMargin, leftMargin, rightMargin, topMargin Sets the margins for the entire body of the page (in pixels) and overrides the default margins. (IE4+)

• link String specifying the color of unvisited links. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• noWrap Boolean indicating whether the browser automatically performs word wrapping. (IE4+)

• scroll String specifying whether scrollbars are visible. Values are "yes", "no", and "auto". (IE4+)

• text String specifying the text color for the document. (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• timeStartRule String specifying HTML+TIME timing functionality. (IE5+)

• vLink String specifying the color of visited links. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object has the following methods, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• createControlRange() Creates a controlRange object for the document and returns a reference to it. (IE5+)

• createTextRange() Creates a TextRange object for the document and returns a reference to it. (IE5+)

• doScroll([action]) Scrolls the top of the body of the document into view. If action is specified it must be one of several predetermined strings, such as "left" or "right", that give fine-grained control over scroll bar actions. See MSDN for complete details. (IE5+)

• pause() Pauses the timeline on the document (related to HTML+TIME). See MSDN. (IE5+)

• resume() Resumes the timeline on the document (related to HTML+TIME). See MSDN. (IE5+)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

Traditionally, many of the document-level features like colors were modified via the propreties of the Document object so developers may often favor them over changing the values directly via the HTMLBodyElement.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Boolean(initialValue);

where initialValue is data that will be converted into a Boolean—for example, a string, primitive Boolean value, or number. If initialValue is false, null, NaN, undefined, 0, the empty string, or if initialValue is omitted, the newly created object has value false. Otherwise, the initial value is true.

Properties

• constructor Reference to the constructor object, which created the object. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• prototype Reference to the object’s prototype. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• toString() Returns the string version of the value, either "true" or "false". (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• valueOf() Returns the primitive Boolean value of the object. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), Mozilla, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMAScript Edition 1.

Notes

Versions of Netscape prior to 4.06 (and language versions prior to JavaScript 1.3) convert Boolean objects with value false to the primitive false in conditionals. Modern implementations convert such objects to true.

See Chapters 3 and 7 for examples using Boolean.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• clear String specifying how the element flows with surrounding text. Typical values are "left", "right", or "all". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• form A read-only reference to the Form in which the button is contained, if one exists. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• type String indicating the type of the button, either "button", "reset", or "submit". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• value String containing the text of the value attribute of the button. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+ (<button> tags are not supported in Netscape 4), DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• defaultValue String holding the original value of the value attribute. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• form Read-only reference to the Form in which the button is contained. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• size String indicating the width of the button in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• type Read-only string indicating the type of the field which should be "button". (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• value String containing the text of the value attribute of the button. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

Methods

This object has the following methods, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• blur() Causes the button to lose focus. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• click() Simulates a click on the button. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• focus() Gives the button focus. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object. (N4 only)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Mozilla, Netscape 2+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example "top" or "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• vAlign String specifying the vertical alignment of the element ("bottom" or "top"). (IE4+)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• checked Boolean indicating whether the checkbox is checked. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• defaultChecked Boolean indicating if the checkbox was checked by default. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• defaultValue String containing the original value of the checkbox’s value attribute. (IE3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• form Read-only reference to the Form in which the button is contained, if one exists. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• height The height in pixels of the checkbox. (IE5+)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• size String indicating the width in pixels. (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• status Boolean indicating whether the checkbox is currently selected. (IE4+)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• type A read-only string indicating the type of the field, which should be "checkbox". (IE3+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• value String containing the text of the value attribute. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• width The width in pixels of the checkbox. (IE5+)

Methods

This object has the following methods, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• blur() Causes the checkbox to lose focus. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• click() Simulates a click on the checkbox. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• focus() Gives the checkbox focus. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object. (N4 only)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Mozilla, Netscape 2+, DOM1.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

None.

Methods

• clearData([dataFormat]) Removes all data from the clipboard unless the string dataFormat is specified as "Text", "URL", "File", "HTML", or "Image", in which case only data of that kind is cleared. (IE5+ Windows)

• getData(dataFormat) Gets data of the specified format from the clipboard and returns it as a string (of text, HTML, or a URL). (IE5+ Windows)

• setData(dataFormat, data) Attempts to place the data given in string data (either text, HTML, or a URL) into the clipboard according to the data type specified in the string dataType (either Text, URL, File, HTML, or Image). Returns a Boolean indicating whether it was successful. (IE5+ Windows)

Support

Internet Explorer 5+ for Windows.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the horizontal alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• ch String specifying the alignment character for the column. This property/attribute is generally not supported by browsers, but is provided in case programmers wish to implement the functionality themselves. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• chOff String specifying the offset of the first occurrence of the alignment character for the column. This property/attribute is generally not supported by browsers but is provided in case programmers wish to implement the functionality themselves. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• span Integer indicating the number of columns in the group or spanned by the column. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• vAlign String specifying the vertical alignment of the column data (for example, "top"). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• width Specifies the width of the column in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Support

Internet Explorer 5+.

Properties

• dropEffect Holds the type of drag-and-drop operation and the type of cursor to display. Allowed values are "copy", "link", "move", and "none", with the default value being none. (IE5+)

• effectAllowed Holds the definition of the data transfer operations, which are allowed for the source element in the drag-and-drop. Allowed values include "copy," "link," "move", "copyLink", "copyMove", "linkMove", "all", "none", and "unitialized". The default value is uninitialized, which allows the drag-and-drop effect to work though its type is not queriable via the property. (IE5+)

Methods

• clearData([sDataFormat]) Clears the data in the dataTransfer object. The optional sDataFormat parameter can be set to "Text", "URL", "File", "HTML", or "Image" to indicate the type of data to remove. (IE 5+)

• getData(sDataFormat) Returns the data in the defined sDataFormat (either "Text" or "URL") from the dataTransfer or clipboardData object. (IE 5+)

• setData(sDataFormat,sData) Assigns string data defined by sData in the specified format defined by sDataFormat (either "Text" or "URL") to the dataTransfer or clipboardData object (IE5+)

Support

IE 5+

Constructor

var instanceName = new Date();

var instanceName = new Date(milliseconds);

var instanceName = new Date(stringDate);

var instanceName = new Date(year, month, day [, hrs [, mins [, secs [, ms]]]]);

The first constructor syntax creates a new Date instance holding the current date and time. The second syntax creates an instance holding the date given by the number of milliseconds given in the numeric milliseconds argument. The third syntax attempts to create an instance by converting the string stringDate into a valid date using the parse() method (see under the “Methods” section). The fourth syntax creates an instance according to its numeric arguments. If the optional parameters are omitted, they are filled with zero.

Properties

• constructor Reference to the constructor object, which created the object. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• prototype Reference to the object’s prototype. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• getDate() Returns a numeric value indicating the day of the month (1-based). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getDay() Returns a numeric value indicating the day of the week (0 for Sunday, 1 for Monday, and so on). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getFullYear() Returns a numeric value indicating the four-digit year. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getHours() Returns a numeric value indicating the hours since midnight (0-based). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getMilliseconds() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of milliseconds (0-999). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getMinutes() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of minutes (0–59). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getMonth() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of months since the beginning of the year (0–11; 0 is January). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getSeconds() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of seconds (0–59). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getTime() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of milliseconds since the epoch. Dates before the epoch return a negative value indicating the number of milliseconds before the epoch. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getTimezoneOffset() Returns a numeric value indicating the difference in minutes between the local time and the UTC. Positive values indicate the local time is behind UTC (for example, in the United States) and negative values indicate the local time is ahead of UTC (for example, in India). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCDate() Returns a numeric value indicating the day of the month (1-based) using UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCDay() Returns a numeric value indicating the day of the week (0 for Sunday, 1 for Monday, and so on) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCFullYear() Returns a numeric value indicating the four-digit year according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCHours() Returns a numeric value indicating the hours since midnight (0-based) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCMilliseconds() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of milliseconds (0–999) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCMinutes() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of minutes (0–59) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCMonth() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of months since the beginning of the year (0–11; 0 is January) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getUTCSeconds() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of seconds (0–59) according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getYear() Returns the current year minus 1900 or in some cases a four-digit year if the year is greater than 1999. This method is deprecated; use getFullYear() instead. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• getVarYear() Returns the VT_DATE corresponding to the object. For use with interaction with COM or VBScript, but in general should be avoided. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+))

• parse(stringDate) Attempts to parse the date given in the string stringDate and if successful returns the number of milliseconds of the date relative to the epoch. Valid strings are given in Chapter 7 but in general can be any common representation of a date, for example "month/day/year", "month day, year", or "month day, year hh:mm:ss". Unambiguous shorthand (for example, "Dec" for December) is permitted. If the date cannot be parsed, NaN is returned. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1, Static)

• setDate(dayOfMonth) Sets the day of the month (1-based) in local time as given by the numeric parameter dayOfMonth. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setFullYear(year [, month [, day]]) Sets the date to the year given in the numeric argument year in local time. If the numeric parameters month and day are passed, the month (0-based) and day of the month (1-based) are set as well. If month is greater than 11, the year is incremented accordingly. If day is greater than the number of days in the month, the month is incremented accordingly. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setHours(hours [, mins [, secs [, ms]]]) Sets the hours (0-based) to the numeric argument given in hours in local time. If the optional parameters are passed, the minutes, seconds, and milliseconds are set accordingly. If any of the parameters is greater than the normal range of values, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, 60 seconds increments the minutes by one and sets the seconds to zero). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setMilliseconds(ms) Sets the milliseconds (0-based) to the numeric argument ms in local time. If ms is greater than 999, the seconds are adjusted accordingly. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setMinutes(minutes [, secs [, ms]]) Sets the minutes (0-based) to the numeric argument minutes in local time. If numeric arguments secs and ms are supplied, the seconds and milliseconds are set to these values. If any argument is greater than the normal range, appropriate values are incremented accordingly (for example, if secs is 60, the minute is incremented by one and the seconds set to zero). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setMonth(month [, day]) Sets the month (0-based) to the numeric argument month in local time. If the numeric argument day is supplied, the day of the month (1-based) is set accordingly. If either value is outside of the expected range, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, if month is 12 the year is incremented and the month is set to zero). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setSeconds(seconds [, ms]) Sets the seconds (0-based) to the numeric argument seconds in local time. If numeric argument ms is supplied, the milliseconds (0-based) are set accordingly. If either value is outside the expected range, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, if ms is 1000, then the seconds are incremented and milliseconds set to 0). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setTime(ms) Sets the date to the date given by the number of milliseconds since the epoch given in ms. Negative values of ms specify dates before the epoch. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCDate(dayOfMonth) Sets the day of the month (1-based) in UTC as given by the numeric parameter dayOfMonth. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCFullYear(year [, month [, day]]) Sets the date to the year given in the numeric argument year in UTC. If the numeric parameters month and day are passed, the month (0-based) and day of the month (1-based) are set as well. If month is greater than 11, the year is incremented accordingly. If day is greater than the number of days in the month, the month is incremented accordingly. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCHours(hours [, mins [, secs [, ms]]]) Sets the hours (0-based) to the numeric argument given in hours in UTC. If the optional parameters are passed, the minutes, seconds, and milliseconds are set accordingly. If any of the parameters is greater than the normal range of values, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, a value of 60 seconds increments the minutes by one and sets the seconds to zero). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCMilliseconds(ms) Sets the milliseconds (0-based) to the numeric argument ms in UTC. If ms is greater than 999, the seconds are adjusted accordingly. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCMinutes(minutes [, secs [, ms]]) Sets the minutes (0-based) to the numeric argument minutes in UTC. If numeric arguments secs and ms are supplied, the seconds and milliseconds are set to these values. If any argument is greater than the normal range, appropriate values are incremented accordingly (for example, if secs is 60, the minute is incremented by one and the seconds set to zero). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCMonth(month [, day]) Sets the month (0 based) to the numeric argument month in UTC. If the numeric argument day is supplied, the day of the month (1-based) is set accordingly. If either value is outside of the expected range, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, if month is 12, the year is incremented and the month is set to zero). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setUTCSeconds(seconds [, ms]) Sets the seconds (0-based) to the numeric argument seconds in UTC. If numeric argument ms is supplied, the milliseconds (0-based) are set accordingly. If either value is outside the expected range, the date is adjusted accordingly (for example, if ms is 1000, then the seconds are incremented and milliseconds set to 0). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• setYear(year) This method is deprecated; use setFullYear() instead. Sets the year to the numeric value year in local time. The year parameter must be the desired year minus 1900. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• toGMTString() This method is deprecated; use toUTCString() instead. Returns the string representation of the date relative to GMT. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• toLocaleString() Returns the date converted to a string formatted according to local conventions as defined by the operating system. For example, the U.S. uses month/day/year whereas Europe uses day/month/year. The return value is not to be used for computation, but rather for display to the user. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• toString() Returns the date as a string. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• toUTCString() Returns the date formatted as a string according to UTC. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), MOZ, N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), ECMA Edition 1)

• UTC(year, month, day [, hours [, mins [, secs [, ms]]]]) This static method returns a numeric value indicating the number of milliseconds between the epoch and the date given by the numeric parameters. Any parameters outside of their expected range cause the date to be adjusted accordingly. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• valueOf() Returns a numeric value indicating the number of milliseconds difference between the date and the epoch. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), Mozilla, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMAScript Edition 1.

Notes

The Date object is seriously broken in older browsers. The authors suggest avoiding its use except in the most basic tasks in browsers earlier than IE4 and Netscape 4.

The Date object cannot be enumerated directly using for/in.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• cite String containing the URL of the reference for the modification. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dateTime String containing the date the modification was made. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

This object is the same as the one associated with the <ins> tag as under the DOM both are HTMLModElement objects. We break them out separately as developers familiar with (X)HTML will consider them to have different meanings.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• compact Boolean indicating whether the listing should be rendered compactly. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• noWrap Boolean indicating whether the browser should not carry out word wrapping. (IE4+)

Methods

This object has the following method, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• doScroll([action]) Scrolls the top of the <div> block into view. If action is specified it must be one of several predetermined strings, such as "left" or "right", which give fine-grained control over scroll bar actions. See MSDN for complete details. (IE5+)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• compact Boolean value indicating whether the list should be compacted by removing extra space between list objects. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

• activeElement Reference to the object related to the element that currently has focus. This property is read-only. (IE4+)

• alinkColor String containing the color of activated links. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• anchors[] Collection of Anchor objects in the page (corresponds to <a name="...">...</a>). The collection is read-only, though the individual anchors can be modified and the DOM can be used to directly add or remove anchors that will ultimately affect the array’s contents. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• applets[] Collection of Applet objects in the page (corresponds to <applet> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• bgColor String containing the background color of the document. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• body Reference to the <body> or <frameset> element object of the document. (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• charset String containing the character set of the document. (IE4+)

• characterSet String containing the character set of the document. (MOZ/N6+)

• classes[] A Netscape 4–specific collection to access the style properties for CSS classes. (NS4 only)

• compatMode Boolean indicating whether standards-compliant mode is on for the document. (IE6+)

• cookie String holding the cookies the browser has for the domain of the document. Values set into this property are automatically parsed as cookies by the browser. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• defaultCharset Read-only string containing the client’s default character set. (IE4+)

• designMode String specifying whether design mode is on or off. When on, the user can double-click or otherwise activate an object and edit its HTML. (IE5+, MOZ/N7+)

• dir String holding the text direction of text enclosed in the document. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM0)

• doctype Reference to the DocumentType object for the document. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• documentElement Reference to the root node of the document object hierarchy. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• domain String containing the domain name from which the document was fetched. Can be set to a more general domain (e.g., www.javascriptref.com to javascriptref.com) in order to work around the same origin policy, but otherwise is not generally modifiable. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• embeds[] Collection of all Embed objects in the document (corresponds to <embed> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+)

• expando Boolean dictating whether instance properties can be added to the object. (IE4+)

• fgColor String containing the font color for the document. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• fileCreatedDate Read-only string containing the date the document was created. (IE4+)

• fileModifiedDate Read-only string containing the date the document was modified. (IE4+)

• fileSize Read-only number (always an integer value) indicating the file size of the document in bytes. (IE4+)

• forms[] Collection of Forms in the document (<form> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• frames[] Collection of Frames in the document (<frame> and <iframe> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE4+)

• height Read-only property that holds the height in pixels of the document’s content, including the parts that might be scrolled offscreen. (MOZ, N4+)

• ids[] A Netscape 4–specific collection that is used to access style properties set by an element’s id attribute. (NS4 only)

• images[] Collection of Images in the document (<img> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• implementation Object with method hasFeature(feature, level) that returns a Boolean indicating if the browser supports the feature given in the string feature at the DOM level passed in the string level. Valid values for feature are CSS, Events, HTML, HTMLEvents, MouseEvents, Range, StyleSheets, Views, and XML. Valid values for level are DOM levels, for example, "1.0" or "2.0". The values returned by the method are often inaccurate because of spotty browser support for DOM functionality. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• lastModified A read-only string containing the date the document was last modified. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• layers[] A Netscape 4–specific collection of Layers in the document (<layer> elements). Note that Netscape also places <div>s having CSS positioning in this array as well. (NS4 only)

• linkColor String containing the color of links in the document. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• links[] Collection of Links in the document (<a href="...">...</a> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• location A Location object containing the URL of the document. Should not be set. Use window.location instead. (IE2+, N3-4)

• media String containing the media for which the document is intended. (IE5.5+)

• mimeType A read-only string containing information about the type of the document (not usually a real MIME type!). (IE5+)

• namespaces[] A read-only collection of XML namespace objects for the document. (IE5.5+)

• parentWindow A read-only reference to the Window that contains the document. (IE4+)

• plugins[] Collection of Plugin objects installed in the browser. In Internet Explorer, this is a synonym for the embeds[] collection. (IE4+, N4+)

• protocol String containing the protocol used to retrieve the document (its full name, not "http"). (IE4+)

• referrer A read-only string containing the URL of the referring document. If the page is directly loaded or not run off the server, referrer will not be set. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• scripts[] A read-only collection of script objects in the document (<script> elements). Note you may be able to modify scripts and their contents but self-referencing script is generally not appropriate and should be used with caution. (IE4+)

• security A read-only string containing information about the document’s certificate. (IE5.5+)

• selection A read-only reference to the selection object representing the currently selected text. (IE4+)

• styleSheets[] Collection of styleSheets in the document (<style> elements). Like other document collections the individual objects can be manipulated, though the array itself is read-only. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• tags[] A Netscape 4–specific collection to access style properties for particular HTML tags. (NS4 only)

• title String containing the title of the object (the <title> content). (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• URL String containing the URL of the document; traditionally, an alias for location.href. (IE4+, MOZ, N2+)

• URLUnencoded A read-only string holding the URL-unencoded version of the URL property. (IE5.5+)

• vlinkColor String holding the color of visited links. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM0)

• width A read-only property that holds the width of all the document’s content in pixels (including any parts that might be scrolled offscreen). (MOZ, N4+)

• XMLDocument Reference to the top-level node of the XML Document Object Model exposed by the document. (IE5+)

• XSLDocument A read-only reference to the XSL document object for the document. (IE5+)

Methods

• captureEvents(eventMask) Instructs object to capture the events given in the bitmask eventMask. (MOZ, N4+)

• clear() Supposedly clears the document of content but in reality crashes the browser or does nothing. This method should not be used. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+)

• close() Closes output stream to the document and displays written content. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• contextual(context1 [, context2, ...] style) A Netscape 4–specific method to select tags for style setting by concept. Rarely used and now deprecated. (N4 only)

• createAttribute(name) Returns a new attribute node of a name given by string name. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• createCDATASection(data) Creates a CDATA section with value data. (MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• createComment(data) Returns a new comment node with text content given by string data. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• createDocumentFragment() Creates a new, empty DocumentFragment. (MOZ/N6+, IE5+, DOM1 Core)

• createElement(tagName) Returns a new element object corresponding to the string tagName (for example, "P"). In the case of HTML most implementations do not care about casing but developers should be aware of the case "p" versus "P" passed to the method. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• createEntityReference(name) Creates an XML entity with the given name. (MOZ/N7+, DOM1 Core)

• createEventObject([eventObj]) Creates and returns a new Event instance to pass to fireEvent(). If the Event instance eventObj is supplied, its properties are cloned into the new event. Otherwise, they must be manually filled. (IE5.5+)

• createProcessingInstruction(target, data) Creates an XML processor–specific instruction with the given target and data. (MOZ/N7+, DOM1 Core)

• createStyleSheet([url [, index]]) Creates a new styleSheet object from the style sheet at the URL found in string url and inserts it into the document at index index. If url is omitted, an empty style sheet is added. If index is omitted, the new style sheet is placed at the end. (IE4+)

• createTextNode(data) Returns a new text node with value given by the string data. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• elementFromPoint(x, y) Returns the element object found at the pixel location (x,y) in the document. (IE4+)

• execCommand(command [, UIFlag][, parameter]) Permits all sorts of operations on the document related to the MSHTML editor. This could allow the creation of a browser-based HTML editor. See Microsoft documentation for details on this very proprietary technology. (IE4+)

• focus() Gives focus to the document and causes its onfocus handler to fire. (IE5.5+)

• getElementById(id) Returns the element with id equal to the string id or null if it does not exist. Some implementations may also find objects related to tags with the name attribute set, but this should not be assumed. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• getElementsByName(name) Retrieves a collection of elements with name attributes equal to string name. In some browsers you will also find tags with id values set to name, however, given that tags should not share id values, this result should not be assumed. The method is meant to support form fields and other HTML elements that could share name attribute values under older HTML versions. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1 Core)

• getElementsByTagName(tagname) Retrieves a collection of elements corresponding to the tag given in string tagname. A value of "*" retrieves all tags. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• getSelection() Returns any text currently selected by the user. (N4+)

• isSupported(feature [, version]) Returns a Boolean indicating whether feature and version given in the argument strings are supported. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• open() Opens the document for writing, clearing it first if the document has content. Using this method is typically unnecessary. Internet Explorer implements a more complicated version of this method. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• open([mimeType [,name] [, features] [, replace]]) Opens the document for writing. Using this method is usually unnecessary and when used it generally does not have parameters. However, when used the mimeType parameter is a string that specifies the type of data that will be written, name indicates the new name for the document (e.g., for link targets), features is a string indicating the window-like features the document should have, and replace is an optional Boolean that when true replaces the document in the browser’s history rather than creating a new entry. See MSDN for complete details. (IE3+)

• queryCommandEnabled, queryCommandIndeterm, queryCommandState, queryCommandSupported, queryCommandValue These methods are related to the execCommand() method in Internet Explorer, which manipulates the MSHTML editor control. These methods indicate whether a command is allowed, enabled, and what its currents status is. See Microsoft documentation at MSDN for details on this very proprietary technology. (IE4+)

• recalc([forceAll]) Forces reevaluation of dynamic properties in the document. If forceAll is true, then all dynamic properties are reevaluated (not just those that have changed). (IE5+)

• releaseEvents(eventMask) Instructs object to stop capturing the events given in the bitmask eventMask. Only for the Netscape style of event capture. (N4+)

• routeEvent(event) Passes the Event instance event along normally down the hierarchy. Used to decline to handle an event. Only for the Netscape style of event capture. (N4+)

• selection Reference to the selection object containing information about the currently selected objects in the document. (IE4+)

• write(str1 [, str2, ...]) Writes the text arguments to the document. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• writeln(str1 [, str2, ...]) Writes the text arguments to the document followed by a newline at the end of the output. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

Support

Supported in all major browsers: IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), DOM.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• noWrap Boolean indicating whether the browser should not word wrap the item. (IE4+)

Methods

This object has only the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object only has the properties defined by the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the properties listed here, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section. It will also have any properties exposed by the plug-in used to handle the data (see plug-in vendor documentation).

• height Integer specifying the height of the embedded object (default is in pixels). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• hidden Boolean indicating whether the object is hidden (invisible). (IE4+)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• palette Read-only string specifying the color palette to use for the object (for example, "foreground"). (IE4+ Windows)

• pluginspage Read-only string specifying the URL of the page that contains information about the required plug-in, in case it is not installed. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• src String specifying the URL of the embedded object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• type String specifying the MIME type of the object. (MOZ/N6+)

• units String specifying the units ("em" or "px") for the height and width of the object. (IE4+)

• width Specifies the width of the object (default is in pixels). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

Methods

This element has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section. It also has any methods exposed by the plug-in used to handle the data (consult plug-in vendor documentation).

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla, Netscape 3 (primitive support—only for those properties and methods exposed by the plug-in handling the data), Netscape 4+.

Notes

Despite being more common in public Web sites than Java applets, the <embed> tag and associated embed object are not part of a W3C standard at the time of this edition’s writing.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Enumerator(collection);

The constructor returns a new Enumerator instance that can be used to iterate over all the items in the collection given by collection. Typical values for collection are document.all and collections returned by methods like getElementsByTagName().

Properties

None.

Methods

• atEnd() Returns a Boolean indicating if the current item is the last one in the collection. (IE4+)

• item() Returns the current item or undefined if the collection is empty. (IE4+)

• moveFirst() Resets the current item in the collection to the first item. (IE4+)

• moveNext() Moves the current item to the next item in the collection. (IE4+)

Support

Supported in IE4+ (JScript 3.0+).

Notes

This is not an ECMAScript object. It is a proprietary Microsoft built-in object.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Error(message);

The message string defines the text associated with the error and is often displayed to the user. Note that creating an Error does not cause it to be thrown; you need to use the throw statement explicitly.

Properties

• constructor Reference to the constructor object that created the object. (IE5+ (JScript 5.0+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• description String describing the nature of the exception or error. (IE5+ (JScript 5.0+))

• fileName String indicating the URL of the document that threw the exception. (MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+))

• lineNumber The number of the line that generated the exception. (MOZ/N6+, (JavaScript 1.5+))

• message String describing the nature of the exception or error. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• name String containing the type of the error, for example, "Error", "URIError", or "SyntaxError." (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5), ECMA Edition 3)

• number Numeric value indicating the Microsoft-specific error number of the exception. Experimentation shows that this value very often deviates from Microsoft’s documentation, so it should be used with great caution. (IE5+ (JScript 5.0+))

• stack String containing a stack trace. The trace gives execution information about the context in which the error was created. (MOZ/N6+)

• prototype Reference to the object’s prototype. (IE5+ (JScript 5.0+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

Methods

• toString() Returns the error string corresponding to the error. (IE5+ (JScript 5.0+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

Support

Supported in IE5+ (JScript 5.0+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMAScript Edition 3.

Notes

Support for this object is spotty under Internet Explorer 5.0. For this reason the authors suggest restricting its use to ECMAScript Edition 3–compliant browsers, such as Internet Explorer 5.5+, Mozilla, and Netscape 6+.

Properties

• ABORT, BLUR, CHANGE, CLICK, DBLCLICK, DRAGDROP, ERROR, FOCUS, KEYDOWN, KEYPRESS, KEYUP, LOAD, MOUSEDOWN, MOUSEMOVE, MOUSEOUT, MOUSEOVER, MOUSEUP, MOVE, RESET, RESIZE, SELECT, SUBMIT, UNLOAD Static bitmasks corresponding to each event for use with Netscape’s event capturing functions. (N4+)

• ALT_MASK, CTRL_MASK, META_MASK, SHIFT_MASK Static bitmasks corresponding to each key. (N4+)

• altKey Boolean indicating whether the ALT key was depressed during the event. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• altLeft Boolean indicating if the left ALT key was depressed during the event. (IE5.5+ Windows only)

• Banner Related Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) functionality. See MSDN for details. (IE6+)

• boundElements[] Provides data binding–related functionality. See MSDN documentation. (IE4+)

• bookmarks[ ] Provides data binding related functionality. See MSDN documentation. (IE4+)

• bubbles Boolean indicating if the event bubbles. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• button Integer indicating which mouse buttons were pressed during the event. In IE the values are 0 (no buttons), 1 (left button), 2 (right button), 3 (left and right), 4 (middle), 5 (left and middle), 6 (right and middle), or 7 (all three). Behavior will vary under IE in MacOS. In Netscape 6 the values are 1 (primary mouse button), 2 (middle button), or 3 (right button). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• cancelable Boolean indicating if the event is cancelable. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• cancelBubble Boolean indicating whether the event should bubble any higher in the object hierarchy once the current handler is done executing. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• charCode ASCII value of the key pressed during keyboard-related events. (MOZ/N6+)

• clientX The x coordinate in pixels of the mouse pointer position relative to the client area of the browser window. Does not factor in user scrolling in IE. Read-only in Netscape. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• clientY The y coordinate in pixels of the mouse pointer position relative to the client area of the browser window. Does not factor in user scrolling in IE. Read-only in Netscape. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• contentOverflow Read-only Boolean value indicating whether the document contains extra content after processing the current LayoutRect object. Only included for onlayoutcomplete events. (IE5.5+)

• ctrlKey Boolean indicating whether the CTRL key was pressed during the event. Read-only in Netscape. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• ctrlLeft Boolean indicating if the left CTRL key was depressed during the event. (IE5.5+ Windows only)

• currentTarget Read-only reference to the element whose handler is currently processing the event. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• data Netscape 4–specific array of strings containing the URLs of objects that were dragged and dropped. (N4 Only)

• dataFld Provides data binding–related functionality. See Microsoft documentation. (IE4+)

• dataTransfer A dataTransfer object providing functionality for drag-and-drop events. (IE5+)

• detail Indicates the number of times the mouse button was clicked (if at all). (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• eventPhase A read-only numeric value indicating the current phase the event is in

• (1 for capture, 2 for at its target, 3 for bubbling). (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• fromElement Reference to the object from which activation or the mouse pointer is exiting. (IE4+)

• keyCode Contains an integer representing the Unicode value of the key (for keyboard events). The value is ASCII in Netscape 6. It is also read-only in Netscape browsers. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• layerX This read-only property holds the horizontal position in pixels of the cursor relative to the layer in which the event occurred. If the event is resize, this value holds the width of the object. In Mozilla/Netscape 6+ this value is relative to the object according to which the target element of the event is positioned (for example, the <body>). (N4+, MOZ/N6+)

• layerY This read-only property holds the vertical position in pixels of the cursor relative to the layer in which the event occurred. If the event is resize, this value holds the height of the object. In Mozilla/Netscape 6+ this value is relative to the object according to which the target element of the event is positioned (for example, the <body>). (N4+, MOZ/N6+)

• metaKey Read-only Boolean value indicating if the meta key was pressed during the event. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• modifiers Netscape 4–specific read-only bitmask indicating which modifier keys were held down during the event. The bitmask is a bitwise combination of the static properties ALT_MASK, CONTROL_MASK, META_MASK, and SHIFT_MASK. (N4 Only)

• nextPage Provides print template–related functionality. See Microsoft documentation. (IE5.5+)

• offsetX The x coordinate in pixels of the mouse with respect to the target object of the event. (IE4+)

• offsetY The y coordinate in pixels of the mouse with respect to the target object of the event. (IE4+)

• originalTarget Reference to the original target of the event. (MOZ/N6+)

• pageX A read-only property containing the horizontal position in pixels where the event occurred with respect to the page. (N4+, MOZ/N6+)

• pageY A read-only property containing the vertical position in pixels where the event occurred with respect to the page. (N4+, MOZ/N6+)

• propertyName String containing the name of the property that fired an onpropertychange event. (IE5+)

• qualifier Provides data binding–related functionality. See Microsoft documentation. (IE4+)

• reason Provides data binding–related functionality. See Microsoft documentation. (IE4+)

• recordset Provides data binding–related functionality. See Microsoft documentation. (IE4+)

• relatedTarget Reference to the node related to the event. For example, on a mouseover it references the node the mouse left; on mouseout it references the node the mouse moved to. The property is read-only. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• repeat Boolean indicating whether the key is continually repeating during onkeydown events. (IE5+)

• returnValue Boolean dictating the return value of the event handler (takes precedence over return statements). (IE4+)

• saveType String holding the clipboard type ("HTML" or "TEXT") during an oncontentsave. (IE5.5+)

• screenX Horizontal position in pixels where the event occurred with respect to the whole screen. The property is read-only under Netscape browsers. (N4+, MOZ, IE4+, DOM2, ReadOnly in Netscape)

• screenY Vertical position in pixels where the event occurred with respect to the whole screen. The property is read-only under Netscape browsers. (N4+, MOZ, IE4+, DOM2)

• shiftKey Boolean indicating whether the SHIFT key was depressed during the event. The property is read-only under Netscape browsers. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• shiftLeft Boolean indicating if the left SHIFT key was depressed during the event. (IE5.5+ Windows only)

• srcElement Reference to the element object that is the target of the event. (IE4+)

• srcFilter String containing the name of the CSS Filter that caused the onfilterevent to fire. (IE4+ but watch out for filter implementation changes in later versions)

• srcUrn String containing the URN of the DHTML Behavior that fired the event. (IE5+)

• target Read-only reference to the object at which the event occurred. (N4+, Moz, DOM2)

• timeStamp A read-only property containing the time the event occurred, in milliseconds since the epoch. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• toElement Reference to the object toward which the user is moving the mouse (for example, during onmouseout). (IE4+)

• type String containing the event type (for example, "click"). The property is read-only in Netscape. (N4+, MOZ, IE4+, DOM2)

• view A read-only reference to the window or frame that encloses the object at which the event occurs. (MOZ/N6+, DOM2)

• wheelDelta A read-only numeric value that is always an integer that is a multiple of 120. This value indicates how far the mouse wheel rotated, causing the event. Positive values indicate rotation away from the user, negative values toward the user. (IE5.5+)

• which A read-only property that is used for mouse events and contains a numeric value indicating which mouse button was used (1 is left, 2 middle, 3 right) or for keyboard events, the Unicode (numeric) value of the key pressed. (N4+, MOZ)

• x Same as layerX in Netscape. In IE, the x coordinate in pixels of the mouse pointer relative to the target element’s parent. This property is read-only in Netscape 4. (N4, IE4+)

• y Same as layerY. In IE, the y coordinate in pixels of the mouse pointer relative to the target element’s parent. This property is read-only in Netscape 4. (N4, IE4+)

Methods

There are a variety of methods related to handling events that vary significantly from browser to browser. Chapter 11 covered this in great detail. We summarize most of the important issues here grouped by browser.

Internet Explorer Event Methods

The following are the event-related methods supported in Internet Explorer. For a description of Internet Explorer’s object model, see Chapter 11.

attachEvent(whichHandler, theFunction) Attaches the function theFunction as a handler specified by the string whichHandler. The whichHandler argument specifies the name of the event handler that is to execute theFunction upon firing. For example, to attach myHandler as an onclick handler for the Document, you would write

document.attachEvent("onclick", myHandler);

Handlers attached using this method are executed after any handler that was set as an HTML attribute or directly into the appropriate on property of the object. Multiple handlers can be attached using this method, but no guarantee is made as to their order of execution. This method returns a Boolean indicating whether the attachment was successful. Supported in IE5+ (JScript 5.0+).

detachEvent(whichHandler, theFunction) Instructs the object to cease executing the function theFunction as a handler for the event given in the string whichHandler. This method is used to detach handlers applied to objects using attachEvent(). For example, to detach the function myHandler that was attached as an onclick handler for the Document (using attachEvent()), you would use

document.detachEvent("onclick", myHandler);

Supported in IE5+ (JScript 5.0+).

fireEvent(handler [, event]) Causes the event handler given by the string handler of the object to fire. If an Event instance is supplied as the event parameter, the Event instance passed to the target object’s handler reflects the properties of event. This method returns true or false depending upon whether the event was eventually canceled. Events created in this manner follow the normal bubbling and cancelation rules for the event created. This method is used to redirect an event to a new target (or to create a brand new event at that target) by invoking it as a method of that target. For example, to fire the onclick handler of the first image on the page, you might write

document.images[0].fireEvent("onclick");

Note that the srcElement of the Event instance created is set to the object of which this method was invoked, whether the event parameter was supplied or not. Supported in IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+).

releaseCapture() Disables universal mouse event capturing that was enabled using setCapture(). If this method is invoked as a method of the Document, whichever element that is currently capturing all mouse events will cease to do so. You can, of course, invoke this function as a method of the object that is capturing to the same effect. However the ability to invoke it on the Document frees the programmer from determining exactly which element is currently capturing. Invoking this method when no element is universally capturing mouse events has no effect. Supported in IE5+ (JScript 5.0+).

setCapture([containerCapture]) Causes all mouse events that occur in the document to be sent to this object. The srcElement of the Event instance will always reflect the original target of the event, but all other handlers and bubbling are bypassed. In Internet Explorer 5.5+ you can specify containerCapture to be false, which causes mouse events contained by the element to function normally. However, mouse events outside the element are still unconditionally captured. This method is used to direct all mouse events to an object when that object could not otherwise capture them. For example, if there are elements whose mouse events need to be captured but those elements are not the children of the object, you need to use this method because bubbling events from the other elements would not reach it. Note that capturing is automatically disabled when the user scrolls the page, gives focus to another window, uses a dialog box, or activates a context menu. For this reason, it is always a good idea to set the Document’s onlosecapture handler to re-enable capture if you wish to keep it on. Supported in IE5+ (JScript 5.0+).

Netscape Event Methods

The following are the event-related methods supported in the Netscape 4 family of browsers. For a description of the Netscape 4 event model, see Chapter 11.

captureEvents(eventMask) Instructs the object of which it was invoked as a method (Layer, Window, or Document) to capture the events given in eventMask. Note that you must still manually set the appropriate handler of the object (for example, document.onunload) to the function that it is to execute when the event occurs. The eventMask argument is a bitmask of static properties of the Event object, and these properties are given in the table that follows. For example, to capture submit and reset events at the Document you might write

document.captureEvents(Event.SUBMIT & Event.RESET);

The following table indicates the possible bitmask values for eventMask. They are accessed as static values of the Event object.

handleEvent(event) Fires the event handler of the object according to the Event instance event that was passed as an argument. This method is invoked in order to redirect the event to the object it was invoked as a method of. For example, an onsubmit handler for a form could pass the submit event to the first form on the page as

<form onsubmit="document.forms[0].handleEvent(event)">…</form>

Supported in N4 (JavaScript 1.2).

releaseEvents(eventMask) Instructs the object of which it was invoked as a method (Layer, Window, or Document) to stop capturing the events given in eventMask. After using this method you do not have to reset the object’s event handlers that were released, because the object will cease to capture the events, even if it has a handler defined. The eventMask is a bitmask of static properties defined in the Event object in the table for captureEvents() given previously in this section. For example, to cease capture of error and click events at the Document level, you would use

document.releaseEvents(Event.ERROR & Event.CLICK);

Supported in N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+).

routeEvent(event) Passes the Event instance event along normally down the object hierarchy for processing. This method is used by a Layer, Window, or Document to elect not to handle the specific event. For example, if the event was captured and after examination determined not to be of interest, this method is invoked to pass the event on down the hierarchy for (possibly) other handlers to process. Supported in N4+ (JavaScript 1.2+).

DOM2 Event Methods

The following methods are common to many (if not all) nodes under the DOM. The full specification can be found at http://www.w3.org/DOM/.

addEventListener(whichEvent, handler, direction) Instructs the object to execute function handler when an event of the type given in the string whichEvent (for example, "click") occurs. The direction parameter is a Boolean indicating whether the handler should be fired in the capture phase (true) or bubbling phase (false). Multiple handlers for the same event can be attached by using this method multiple times. Listeners (event handlers) can be bound to text nodes as well as element nodes. Supported in N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), DOM2.

dispatchEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object that this function was invoked as a method of. This method returns false if any handler that eventually processes the event returns false or invokes preventDefault(). The node at which this method was invoked becomes the new target of event. This method is used to redirect an event to another node in the tree. Supported in N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), DOM2.

preventDefault() When invoked in a handler this method has the effect of canceling the default action associated with the event. Calling this method is the same as returning false from a handler. Note that in DOM2 once a handler has returned false or invoked this method, the default action associated with the event will not occur, no matter what value other handlers that process the event return. Supported in N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), DOM2.

removeEventListener(whichEvent, handler, direction) Removes the function handler as a handler for the event given in the string whichEvent (for example, "click") for the phase given by the Boolean direction. Note that direction must correspond to the value passed as the third parameter to addEventListener() when the handler was originally attached to the object. Supported in N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), DOM2.

stopPropagation() When invoked in an event handler, halts the normal propagation of the event after the current handler completes execution. This method works only for those events that are cancelable. Supported in N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), DOM2.

Notes

You can set most properties of Event instances in Netscape if you have the UniversalBrowserWrite privilege (see Chapter 22). Also, most IE properties listed above are read-only in IE4, but mutable in IE5+.

HTML 4 Events

The standard HTML 4 events are listed here. According to the event model of Internet Explorer 4+, some events may be canceled and some events bubble up the hierarchy. The behavior of each of the HTML 4 events under Internet Explorer 4+ is indicated along with its associated handler (for example, the behavior of the blur event is given with the onblur handler).

• onblur Fires when an element loses focus, meaning that the user has moved focus to another element, typically either by clicking or tabbing away. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onchange Fires when a form field loses focus and its value was changed while it had focus. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onclick Fires when an element is clicked. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondblclick Fires when an element is double-clicked. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onfocus Fires when an element receives focus, typically when it has been selected for manipulation or data entry by a click or tab. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onkeydown Fires when the user presses a key and the element has focus. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onkeypress Fires when the user presses or holds down a key (an alphanumeric key in Internet Explorer) and the element has focus. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onkeyup Fires when the user releases a key and the element has focus. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onload Fires when the element has completed loading. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onmousedown Fires when the mouse button is pressed and the element has focus. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onmousemove Fires when the mouse is moved and the cursor is over the element. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onmouseout Fires when the user moves the mouse away from the element. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onmouseover Fires when the user moves the mouse over the element. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onmouseup Fires when the mouse button is released and the element has focus. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onreset Fires when the form is reset, often the result of the user pressing a Reset button. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onselect Fires when text or other content is selected by the user, typically by highlighting text with the mouse. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onsubmit Fires just prior to the submission of the form. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onunload Fires just prior to the unloading of the object (for example, when following a link to another page). In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

DOM Events

DOM2 supports the standard HTML 4 events. Their behavior under the DOM2 event model is given in the following table.

DOM2 also supports document mutation events that occur on portions of the document tree and GUI events that permit arbitrary elements to have an equivalent to the onfocusin/onfocusout handlers defined for form fields. These events should be bound using standard DOM methods, as support for the corresponding event handler properties is nonexistent. The mutation events are listed in the following table.

Netscape Extended Events

The following events are not part of any standard, but are supported by Netscape browsers.

• onabort Fires when the loading of the element is canceled before completion.

• ondragdrop Fires when something has been dragged onto the object and dropped.

• onerror Fires when a runtime error occurs at the element.

• onmove Fires when the user or a script moves the window or frame (Netscape 4 only).

• onpaint The meaning of this handler is unclear. Possibly related to XUL functionality (Netscape 6+/Moz only).

• onresize Fires when the object is about to be resized (for example, just after the user has resized the window).

• onscroll Fires when a scrollable object has been repositioned (Netscape 6 only).

Internet Explorer Extended Events

The following events are not part of any standard, but are supported by Internet Explorer. According to the event model of Internet Explorer 4+, some events may be canceled and some events bubble up the hierarchy. The behavior of each of these extended events under Internet Explorer 4+ is indicated along with its associated handler (for example, the behavior of the abort event is given with the onabort handler).

• onabort Fires when the loading of the object is canceled before completion. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onactivate Fires when the object is set as the active element. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onafterprint Fires immediately after the object is printed (or previewed). In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onafterupdate Fires on a databound object after successfully updating the associated data in the data source object. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onbeforeactivate Fires immediately before the object is set as the active element. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforecopy Fires on the source object just before the selection is copied to the system clipboard. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforecut Fires on the source object before the selection is cut from the document to the clipboard (or deleted from the document). In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforedeactivate Fires immediately before the activeElement is changed from the current object to another object in the parent document. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforeeditfocus Fires before the element receives focus for editing. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforepaste Fires on the target object before the selection is pasted from the system clipboard. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbeforeprint Fires on the object before its associated document prints or previews for printing. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onbeforeunload Fires prior to a page being unloaded (just before the unload handler). In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onbeforeupdate Fires on a databound object just before updating the associated data in the data source object. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onbounce Fires on an alternating <marquee> just prior to the contents reaching one side of the window. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• oncellchange Fires when data changes in the data provider. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• oncontextmenu Fires when the user clicks the right mouse button on the object, opening the context menu. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• oncontrolselect Fires just prior to the object being selected. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• oncopy Fires on the object when the user copies it (or a selection that includes it) to the system clipboard. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• oncut Fires on the object when the user cuts it (or a selection that includes it) to the system clipboard. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondataavailable Fires when data arrives from asynchronous data source objects. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• ondatasetchanged Fires when the data set exposed by a data source object changes. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• ondatasetcomplete Fires to indicate that all data is available from the data source object. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• ondeactivate Fires when the activeElement is changed from the current object to another object in the parent document. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• ondrag Fires on an object continuously as it is being dragged. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondragend Fires on an object being dragged when the object is released at the end of a drag operation. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondragenter Fires on an object that is a valid drop target as the user drags an object into it. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondragleave Fires on an object that is a valid drop target as the user drags an object out of it. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondragover Fires on an object that is a valid drop target continuously as the user drags an object over it. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondragstart Fires on the object about to be dragged when the user begins a drag operation. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• ondrop Fires on an object when something is dropped on it at the end of a drag operation. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onerror Fires when a runtime error occurs in or at the object. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onerrorupdate Fires on a databound object when an error occurs while updating the associated data in the data source object. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onfilterchange Fires when a the object’s CSS Filter changes state or completes a transition. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onfinish Fires on a <marquee> when looping is complete. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onfocusin Fires on an element just prior to it receiving focus (before the focus event). In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onfocusout Fires for the current element with focus, immediately after moving focus to another element. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onhelp Fires when the user presses the F1 key while the browser is the active window. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onlayoutcomplete Fires when the print or print preview layout process finishes filling the current LayoutRect object with content from the source document. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onlosecapture Fires when the object loses universal mouse capture. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onmouseenter Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer into the object. (Different from onmouseover because the mouseenter event does not bubble.) In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onmouseleave Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer outside the boundaries of the object. (Different from onmouseout because the mouseleave event does not bubble.) In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onmousewheel Fires when the mouse wheel button is rotated. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onmove Fires when the object moves. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onmoveend Fires when the object stops moving. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onmovestart Fires just prior to the object starting to move. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onpaste Fires on the object into which the user is pasting data from the clipboard.

• In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onpropertychange Fires when a property of the object changes. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onreadystatechange Fires when the readyState of the object changes. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onresize Fires when the size of the object is about to change (for example, just after the user has resized the window). In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onresizeend Fires when the user finishes changing the dimensions of the object in a selection. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onresizestart Fires when the user begins to change the dimensions of the object in a selection. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onrowenter Fires to indicate that the current row has changed in the data source and new data values are available on the object. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onrowexit Fires just before the data source control changes the current row in the object. In IE4+ does not bubble but is cancelable.

• onrowsdelete Fires when rows are about to be deleted from the recordset. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onrowsinserted Fires just after new rows are inserted in the current recordset. In IE4+ bubbles but is not cancelable.

• onscroll Fires on a scrollable object when the user repositions the scroll box on the scroll bar. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onselectionchange Fires whenever the selection state of a document changes. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onselectstart Fires when the object is being selected. In IE4+ bubbles and is cancelable.

• onstart Fires on <marquee> elements at the beginning of every loop. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

• onstop Fires when the user clicks the Stop button or leaves the Web page. In IE4+ does not bubble and is not cancelable.

Properties

• menuArguments Returns the window object where the context menu item was executed. (IE4+)

Methods

• AddChannel(url) Presents a dialog box to allow a user to add or change a channel. The parameter url references a Channel Definition Format (CDF) file. Internet Explorer’s push channel technology is rarely used now.

• AddDesktopComponent(url, type [, left] [, top] [, width] [, height]) Adds a Web site or image as defined by url to the Active Desktop. The type attribute is set either to "image" or "website" and the optional parameters indicate the position and size of the component to add.

• AddFavorite(url) Prompts user to add a specified URL to their favorites.

• AutoCompleteSaveForm(form) Saves the data in the passed form object to IE’s auto form completion system. (IE5+)

• AutoScan(query, errorURL [, target]) Attempts to load the query value using IE’s standard URL expansion. For example a query of "microsoft" would be translated to www.microsoft.com. If the site cannot be connected the errorURL should be displayed instead; otherwise, the browser uses a default error page. The optional target parameter is used to specify the window or frame to load the page into. (IE5+)

• ImportExportFavorites(importExport,url) Allows the importing and exporting of brower favorites or bookmarks. A value of true for importExport indicates importing while false indicates exporting. The url parameter indicates the path or URL to export from or import to. The user will be prompted to allow this activity.

• IsSubcribed(url) Returns a Boolean value indicating if the user is subscribed to the channel defined by the CDF file referenced by the passed url parameter.

• NavigateAndFind(url,searchText,target) Navigates to the specified url and finds and highlights the passed searchText. The target value should be set if this is to be performed in another frame or window.

• ShowBrowserUI(type,null) Opens a browser-related dialog of a defined type. Allowed values for type include "LanguageDialog", "OrganizeFavorites", "PrivacySettings", and "ProgramAccessAndDefaults". The second null value parameter is strangely required. PrivacySettings is only supported in IE6 or later and ProgramAccessAndDefaults requires Windows XP SP1 or later. (IE5+)

Support

IE4+

Notes

The use of this object is not encouraged as it is not only proprietary, but has significant security implications when misused.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• form Reference to the Form in which the element is contained. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accept String containing a comma-separated list of MIME types the server will accept for this file upload. (MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• accessKey Single-character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• defaultValue String containing the original value of the value attribute. (IE4+)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• form Read-only reference to the Form in which the button is contained. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• size String indicating the width in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• tabIndex Numeric value indicating the tab order for the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• type Read-only string value indicating the type of the field, "file". (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• value Read-only string containing the filename. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• width The width in pixels of the input area. (IE4+)

Methods

This object has the following methods, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• blur() Causes the button to lose focus. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• focus() Gives the button focus. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance event to be processed by the appropriate handler of the object. (N4 only)

• select() Selects the text entered as input (the filename). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla, Netscape 3+, DOM1.

Notes

This is not an ECMAScript object. It is a proprietary Microsoft built-in object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• color String holding the default text color for the page. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• face String holding a comma-separated list of one or more default font names. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• size String holding the default font size (HTML 1–7 or relative +n/–n syntax). (IE3+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This element only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• acceptCharset String specifying a list of character encodings for input data that will be accepted by the server processing the form. (IE5+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• action String containing the URL to which the form will be submitted. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• autocomplete String specifying whether IE’s specific form auto-completion is "on" or "off". (IE5+)

• elements[] A read-only collection, in source order, of all fields (controls) in the form. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• encoding String specifying the MIME type of submitted form data. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+)

• enctype String specifying the MIME type of submitted form data. (MOZ/N6+, IE6+, DOM1)

• length The number of entries in the elements[] collection (the number of fields of the form). The property is read-only, though its value may change if the DOM is used to add or delete elements in the form. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• method String indicating the HTTP method used to submit the form data, either "get" or "post". (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the form. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

• target String indicating the name of the window or frame in which the results of the form submission should be shown. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

Methods

This object has the following methods, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• reset() Resets all form fields to their original values. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+, DOM1)

• submit() Causes form submission to occur. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+, DOM1)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Mozilla, Netscape 2+, and DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• allowTransparency Boolean specifying whether the background of the frame can be transparent (can be set to any color). (IE5.5+)

• borderColor String specifying the color of the border around the frame. (IE4+)

• contentDocument Read-only reference to the Document that corresponds to the content of this frame. (MOZ/N6+)

• contentWindow Read-only reference to the Window that corresponds to this frame. (IE5.5+, MOZ/N6+)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• frameBorder String containing "0" (no border) or "1" (show border). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• height Height of the frame in pixels. (IE5.5+)

• longDesc String containing the URI of a long description for the frame (for nonvisual browsers). (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• marginHeight String specifying the vertical margins, in pixels. Overridden by CSS properties. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• marginWidth String specifying the horizontal margins, in pixels. Overridden by CSS properties. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the frame. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• noResize Boolean indicating whether the user cannot resize the frame. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• scrolling String specifying whether the frame should have scroll bars, either "yes", "no", or "auto". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• src String giving the URL of the frame’s contents. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• width Width of the frame’s content area in pixels. (IE5.5+)

Methods

This object has only the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section. The expected methods for handling the contents of frames are related to the Frame browser object, which acts like Window.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

See Window.

Methods

See Window.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Mozilla, Netscape 2+.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• border String indicating the number of pixels to use for the border between frames. (IE4+)

• borderColor String indicating the color (should be in #RRGGBB hex) of the border. (IE4+)

• cols Comma-separated string of column widths for the frames. This string is composed of pixel values, percentage values, and * values. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• frameBorder String specifying whether to show borders around the frames ("1" for yes, "0" for no). (IE4+)

• frameSpacing String indicating the number of pixels apart to place the frames. (IE4+)

• height Height of the frameset in pixels or as a percentage. (IE4+)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• rows Comma-separated string of row heights for the frames. This string is composed of pixel values, percentage values, and * values. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• width Width of the frameset in pixels or as a percentage. (IE4+)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Function([arg1 [, arg2 [, ...]] ,] body);

The body parameter is a string containing the text that makes up the body of the function. The optional argN’s are the names of the formal parameters the function accepts. For example:

var myAdd = new Function("x", "y", "return x + y");
var sum = myAdd(17, 34);

Properties

• arguments[] An implicitly filled and implicitly available (directly usable as "arguments" from within the function) array of parameters that were passed to the function. This value is null if the function is not currently executing. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• arguments.callee Reference to the current function. This property is deprecated. (N4+, MOZ, IE5.5+)

• arguments.caller Reference to the function that invoked the current function. This property is deprecated. (N3, IE4+)

• arguments.length The number of arguments that were passed to the function. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• arity Numeric value indicating how many arguments the function expects. This property is deprecated. (N4+, MOZ)

• caller Reference to the function that invoked the current function or null if called from the global context. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), MOZ, N3+)

• constructor Reference to the constructor object that created the object. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• length The number of arguments the function expects to be passed. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• prototype Reference to the object’s prototype. (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• apply(thisArg [, argArray]) Invokes the function with the object referenced by thisArg as its context (so references to this in the function reference thisArg). The optional parameter argArray contains the list of parameters to pass to the function as it is invoked. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 3)

• call(thisArg [, arg1 [, arg2 [, ...]]]) Invokes the function with the object referenced by thisArg as its context (so references to this in the function reference thisArg). The optional parameters argN are passed to the function as it is invoked. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 3)

• toString() Returns the string version of the function source. The body of built-in and browser objects will typically be represented by the value "[native code]". (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• valueOf() Returns the string version of the function source. The body of built-in and browser objects will typically be represented by the value "[native code]". (IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

Support

Supported in IE4+ (JScript 2.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), MOZ, ECMAScript Edition 1.

Notes

General examples of functions are found throughout the book, but see Chapter 5 for examples of the advanced aspects of functions and the Function object.

Constructor

This object cannot be instantiated because it defines the global context and thus has no constructor.

Properties

• Infinity Constant holding the numeric value Infinity. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• NaN Constant holding the numeric value NaN (not a number). (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• undefined Constant holding the value undefined. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• decodeURI(encodedURI) URI-decodes the string encodedURI and returns the decoded string. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• decodeURIComponent(encodedURI) URI-decodes the string encodedURI and returns the decoded string. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• encodeURI(uri) URI-encodes the string uri, treating uri as a full URI. Legal URI characters (for example, the :// after the protocol) are not encoded. Returns the encoded string. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• encodeURIComponent(uriComponent) URI-encodes the string uriComponent and returns the encoded string. All potentially problematic characters (for example, / and ?) are encoded. (IE5.5+ (JScript 5.5+), MOZ/N6+ (JavaScript 1.5+), ECMA Edition 3)

• escape(string) URI-encodes string and returns the encoded string. Using the newer encodeURIComponent() is preferable. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ)

• eval(string) Executes string as JavaScript. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• isFinite(value) Returns a Boolean indicating if the numeric argument value is finite. Returns false if value is NaN. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), N4.06+ (JavaScript 1.3+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• isNaN(value) Returns a Boolean indicating if the numeric argument value is NaN. (IE4+ (JScript 3.0+), N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• parseFloat(string) Parses string as a floating-point number and returns its value. If string cannot be converted, NaN is returned. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• parseInt(string) Parses string as an integer and returns its value. If string cannot be converted, NaN is returned. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ, ECMA Edition 1)

• unescape(encodedString) URI-decodes encodedString and returns the decoded string. Using the newer decodeURIComponent() method is preferable. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+))

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), Mozilla, ECMAScript Edition 1.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• profile String containing a whitespace-separated list of URIs giving data properties and legal values. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1

Properties

Same as Text object.

Methods

Same as Text object though it lacks the select() method since the element is not visible on screen.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 3+, Mozilla, Netscape 2+, DOM1.

Properties

• current A read-only property that contains current URL in the history, requires UniversalBrowserRead privilege for access. (N3+, MOZ)

• length A read-only property containing the number of entries in the history list. (IE3+, MOZ, N2+)

• next A read-only property that contains the next URL in the history, requires UniversalBrowserRead privilege for access. (N3+, MOZ)

• previous A read-only property that contains the previous URL in the history, requires UniversalBrowserRead privilege for access. (N3+, MOZ)

Methods

• back() Causes the browser to move one URL back in its history. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• forward() Causes the browser to move one URL forward in its history. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• go(where) If where is an integer, loads the URL at that offset from the current page in the history. For example, go(–2) moves back two steps in the history. If where is a string, the first entry in the history list containing where in its URL or document title is loaded. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ.

Notes

Netscape 2 keeps track of history information on a window-wide level while later versions of Netscape keep an individual history for each frame, so these methods should be employed with caution in Netscape 2 browsers.

Individual entries in the history array can be accessed as history[i] using signed scripts in Netscape but are otherwise unavailable for privacy reasons.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• color String specifying the color of the rule. (IE4+)

• noShade Boolean indicating that the rule is not to be shaded. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• size String specifying the size (height) of the rule in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• width String specifying the width of the rule in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• scroll String indicating whether scroll bars should be present in the document. Valid values are "yes", "no", and "auto". (IE6+)

• version String containing the DTD version for the document. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla, Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object only supports the properties listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• allowTransparency Boolean specifying whether the background of the frame can be transparent (can be set to any color). (IE5.5+)

• border String or integer indicating the width of the border around the frame. (IE4+)

• contentDocument Read-only reference to the Document that corresponds to the content of this frame. (MOZ/N6+)

• contentWindow Read-only reference to the Window that corresponds to this frame. (IE5.5+, MOZ/N6+)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• frameBorder String containing "0" (no border) or "1" (show border). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• height String specifying the height of the frame in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• hspace String indicating the horizontal margin for the frame in pixels. (IE4+)

• longDesc String containing the URL of a long description for the frame similar to "alt text" and used for nonvisual browsers. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• marginHeight String specifying the vertical margins, in pixels. Overridden by CSS properties. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• marginWidth String specifying the horizontal margins, in pixels. Overridden by CSS properties. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the frame. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• scrolling String specifying whether the frame should have scroll bars. Its value is either "yes", "no", or "auto". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• src String giving the URL of the frame’s contents. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• vspace String indicating the vertical margin for the frame in pixels. (IE4+)

• width String specifying the width of the frame in pixels. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Constructor

var instanceName = new Image([width, height]);

A new Image is created and returned with the given width and height, if specified. This constructor is useful for preloading images by instantiating an Image and setting its src earlier in the document than it is needed.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• alt String containing the alternative text for the image. Corresponds to the alt attribute of the <img>. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• border Numeric value indicating the border width in pixels of the image. The property is read-only under early versions of Netscape. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• complete Read-only Boolean indicating whether the image has finished loading. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• dynsrc String indicating the URL of the video clip to display instead of a static image. (IE4+)

• fileCreatedDate Read-only string containing the date the image was created if it can be determined, or the empty string otherwise. (IE4+)

• fileModifiedDate Read-only string containing the date the image was last modified if it can be determined, or the empty string otherwise. (IE4+)

• fileSize Read-only value indicating the size in bytes of the image (if it can be determined). (IE4+)

• fileUpdatedDate Read-only string containing the date the image was last updated if it can be determined, or the empty string otherwise. (IE4+)

• galleryImg String indicating whether IE’s Image Toolbar is visible ("yes") or invisible ("no"). (IE6+)

• height Specifies the height in pixels of the image. Read-only in Netscape 3 and 4. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• hspace Specifies the horizontal margin for the image in pixels. Read-only in Netscape 3 and 4. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• isMap Boolean indicating if the image is a server-side image map. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• longDesc String specifying a URL for a longer description of the image. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• loop Integer indicating the number of times the image is to loop when activated. (IE4+)

• lowSrc String specifying a URL for a lower-resolution image to display. (DOM1, though support may be inconsistent in browsers)

• lowsrc String specifying a URL for a lower-resolution image to display. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. Read-only in Netscape 3 and 4. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• nameProp Read-only string indicating the name of the file given in the src attribute of the <img>. Does not include protocol, domain, directory, or other information. (IE5+)

• protocol Read-only string containing the full name of the protocol portion of the URL of the src attribute of the <img>. (IE4+)

• src String containing the URL of the image. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• start String indicating when the video associated with the image with the dynsrc property/attribute should begin playing. Values are "fileopen", the default, which begins playback when the file loads, or "mouseover", which begins when the user mouses over it. (IE4+)

• useMap String containing URL to use as a client-side image map. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• vspace Specifies the vertical margin for the image in pixels. Read-only in Netscape 3 and 4. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

• width Specifies the width of the object in pixels. Read-only in Netscape 3 and 4. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ, DOM1)

Methods

This object has the following method, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance passed to be processed by the appropriate handler of the layer. (N4 only)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla, Netscape 3+, DOM1.

Properties

None.

Methods

• hasFeature(feature [, version]) Returns a Boolean indicating if the browser supports the feature specified by the string feature at the DOM level given in string level. Valid values for feature are CSS, Events, HTML, HTMLEvents, MouseEvents, Range, StyleSheets, Views, and XML. Valid values for level are DOM levels, for example, "1.0" or "2.0". The values returned by the method are often inaccurate because of spotty browser support for DOM functionality. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 6+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1 Core.

Notes

While primarily a browser object in what it provides, document.implementation is considered a Document object because it is part of the DOM specification.

Properties

See Checkbox, Hidden, Password, Radio, or Text depending on type.

Methods

See Checkbox, Hidden, Password, Radio, or Text depending on type.

Support

The generic <input> element as defined in the DOM as HTMLInputElement is supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, and DOM1. However, support for specific types of <input>s was available in much earlier versions.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• cite String containing the URL of the reference for the modification. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+ DOM1)

• dateTime String containing the date the modification was made. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This element has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

This object is the same as the one associated with the <del> tag as under the DOM both are HTMLModElement objects. We break them out separately as developers familiar with (X)HTML will consider them to have different meanings.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• form A read-only reference to the Form object that contains this tag.

• prompt A string value that holds the prompt message defined by the prompt attribute for that tag.

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

The <isindex> tag is deprecated and rarely used and this object is only presented for completeness since it is documented both in IE’s DHTML syntax and the DOM1 specification.

Properties

This object only supports the properties listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• form Reference to the Form the label is enclosed within. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• htmlFor String containing the identifier of the object the label is for. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

Despite being a tag found within a <form> it will not be represented in the elements[] array of a form object.

Properties

• above Reference to the Layer above the current layer according to the z-index order among all layers in the document (null if the current layer is topmost). (N4)

• background String specifying the URL of the background image for the layer. (N4)

• below Reference to the Layer below the current layer according to the z-index order among all layers in the document (null if the current layer is the bottommost). (N4)

• bgColor String value indicating the named color or hexadecimal triplet of the layer’s background color (e.g., "#FF00FF"). (N4)

• clip.bottom, clip.height, clip.left, clip.right, clip.top, clip.width Numeric (pixel) values defining the rectangular clipping area of the layer. Any content outside of this rectangle is not displayed. (N4)

• document Read-only reference to the Document object of the layer. This is a full-featured Document object, complete with the images[] and related collections. Often used to write() content to a layer. (N4)

• left Pixel value indicating x coordinate of the left edge of the layer. If the layer’s position attribute is "absolute", this placement is relative to the origin of its parent (enclosing) layer. Otherwise, this placement is relative to the content surrounding it. You may use string values with this property to indicate units other than pixels, for example, "25%". (N4)

• name Read-only value containing the name or id attribute for the layer. (N4)

• pageX Value represented in pixels indicating the layer’s horizontal position relative to the visible page. (N4)

• pageY Value represented in pixels indicating the layer’s vertical position relative to the visible page. (N4)

• parentLayer Reference to Layer in which the current layer is contained (or to the Window object if no such layer exists). (N4)

• siblingAbove Reference to the Layer above the current layer according to the z-index order among all layers that share the same parent as the current layer, null if it is the topmost. (N4)

• siblingBelow Reference to the Layer below the current layer according to the z-index order among all layers that share the same parent as the current layer, null if it is the topmost. (N4)

• src String indicating the URL of the layer’s content. (N4)

• top Pixel value indicating y coordinate of the top edge of the layer. If the layer’s position attribute is "absolute", this placement is relative to the origin of its parent (enclosing) layer. Otherwise, this placement is relative to the content surrounding it. You may use string values with this property to indicate units other than pixels, for example, "25%". (N4)

• visibility String indicating whether the layer is visible. A value of "show" makes the layer visible, "hide" makes it invisible, and "inherit" causes it to inherit the visibility property of its parent layer. (N4)

• window Reference to the window or frame containing the layer. (N4, ReadOnly)

• x Synonym for left. (N4)

• y Synonym for top. (N4)

• zIndex The relative z-index of the layer (with respect to its siblings). (N4)

Methods

• captureEvents(eventMask) Instructs layer to capture the events given in the bitmask eventMask. (N4)

• handleEvent(event) Causes the Event instance to be processed by the appropriate handler of the layer. (N4)

• load() Causes the browser to reload the src of the layer. (N4)

• moveAbove(whichLayer) Causes the layer to be placed above the Layer referenced by whichLayer. (N4)

• moveBelow(whichLayer) Causes the layer to be placed below the Layer referenced by whichLayer. (N4)

• moveBy(x, y) Moves the layer x pixels horizontally and y pixels vertically from its current position. (N4)

• moveTo(x, y) Moves the layer to the x and y coordinates relative to its parent layer (if absolutely positioned) or relative to its surrounding content (if relatively positioned). (N4)

• moveToAbsolute(x, y) Moves the layer to the x and y coordinates relative to the visible page. (N4)

• releaseEvents(eventMask) Instructs layer to stop capturing the events given in the bitmask eventMask. (N4)

• resizeBy(width, height) Grows or shrinks the layer by the number of pixels given in the arguments. Negative values cause the layer to shrink. (N4)

• resizeTo(width, height) Resizes the layer to the size in pixels given by the arguments. (N4)

• routeEvent(event) Passes the Event instance event along normally down the hierarchy. Used to decline to handle an event. (N4)

Support

This object is only supported in Netscape 4.

Notes

Though very proprietary, this object is still occasionally used by developers of DHTML-style navigation systems and other effects to ensure complete backward compatability. See Chapters 15 and 16 for examples of this object’s use.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• accessKey Single character string indicating the hotkey that gives the element focus. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• align String specifying the alignment of the element, for example, "left". (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• form Reference to the Form in which the element is enclosed. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• type String indicating the type of bullet to be used, for example, "disc", "circle", or "square" for unordered lists. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• value Integer indicating the item number for this item. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• charset String indicating the character set of the linked document. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• disabled Boolean indicating whether the element is disabled (grayed out). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• href String holding the value of the href attribute, the document to load when the link is activated. Defined for Link in traditional models. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ, DOM1)

• hreflang String indicating the language code of the linked resource. (MOZ/N6+, IE6+, DOM1)

• media String indicating the media the linked document is intended for. (MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• rel String holding the value of the rel property of the element. Used to specify the relationship between documents. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• rev String holding the value of the rev property of the element. Used to specify the relationship between documents, but currently ignored by most browsers. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• target Specifies the target window for a hypertext source link referencing frames. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• type String specifying the advisory content type . (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

• hash String containing the portion of the URL following the hash mark (#), if it exists. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• host String containing the host name and port of the URL (although some implementations do not include the port). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• hostname String containing the host name (domain name). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• href String containing the entire URL. (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• pathname String containing the path (directory) portion of the URL. Always at least "/". (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• port String containing the port number (if one was specified). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• protocol String containing the protocol and trailing colon (for example, "http:"). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• search String containing the portion of the URL after the filename (including the ? delimiter if it was specified). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

Methods

• assign(url) Assigns the URL in the string url to the object (just like assigning url to the object). (IE3+, N2+, MOZ)

• reload(forceGET) Reloads the URL in the current object. The Boolean forceGET parameter (when true) supposedly forces the browser to bypass cache and refetch the document, but experimentation shows that this feature can hardly ever be relied upon. (IE4+, N3+, MOZ)

• replace(url) Loads the URL given in the string url over the current one found in the object. That is, the new URL replaces the old in the browser’s history (rather than creating a new entry). (IE4+, N3+, MOZ)

Support

Supported in IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), MOZ.

Notes

While most browsers will automatically reflect changes to any property of this object, it is safer to assign the new, complete URL to the href attribute or the object itself to ensure that changes are properly reflected by the browser.

Properties

• areas[] A read-only collection of areas enclosed by the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1, ReadOnly)

• name String holding the name of the image map (for use with usemap). (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those IE-specific properties in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• bgColor Deprecated property that is used to read or define the background color of the marquee. (IE4+)

• dataFld String specifying which field of a data source is bound to the element. (IE4+)

• dataFormatAs String indicating how the element treats data supplied to it. (IE4+)

• dataSrc String containing the source of data for data binding. (IE4+)

• direction String value indicating the direction of the marquee. The allowed values are "left", "right", "down", or "up". (IE 4+)

• loop Numeric value indicating the number of loops the marquee should make. A value of 0 or –1 indicates an endless loop. (IE 4+)

• scrollAmount A numeric value defining the number of pixels the marquee scrolls per “tick.” (IE 4+)

• scrollDelay The number of milliseconds between “ticks” that defines the scroll speed. The default value is 85. (IE 4+)

• trueSpeed A Boolean value that indicates whether the marquee is using the scrollDelay and scrollAmount properties or not. See MSDN for more details. (IE 4+)

Support

This object has the following properties, in addition to those IE-specific properties in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• start() Start the marquee moving. (IE 4+)

• stop() Stop the marquee animation. (IE 4+)

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+.

Notes

Other browsers such as Mozilla or Opera may have limited support for the <marquee> tag but it is incomplete and scripting is generally not defined for the tag in these browsers.

Properties

• E Numeric value containing the base of the natural logarithm (Euler’s constant e). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• LN2 Numeric value containing the natural logarithm of 2. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• LN10 Numeric value containing the natural logarithm of 10. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• LOG2E Numeric value containing the logarithm base 2 of e. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• LOG10E Numeric value containing the logarithm base 10 of e. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• PI Numeric value of pi (p). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• SQRT1_2 Numeric value containing the square root of one-half. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• SQRT2 Numeric value containing the square root of two. (E3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

Methods

• abs(arg) Returns the absolute value of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• acos(arg) Returns the arc cosine of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• asin(arg) Returns the arc sine of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• atan(arg) Returns the arc tangent of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• atan2(y, x) Returns the angle between the X axis and the point (x, y) in the Cartesian coordinate system, measured counterclockwise (like polar coordinates). Note how y is passed as the first argument rather than the second. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• ceil(arg) Returns the ceiling of arg (the smallest integer greater than or equal to arg). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• cos(arg) Returns the cosine of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• exp(arg) Returns e to arg power. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• floor(arg) Returns the floor of arg (the greatest integer less than or equal to arg).

• (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• log(arg) Returns the natural logarithm of arg (log base e of arg). (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• max(arg1, arg2) Returns the greater of arg1 or arg2. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• min(arg1, arg2) Returns the lesser of arg1 or arg2. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• pow(arg1, arg2) Returns arg1 to the arg2 power. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• random() Returns a random number in the interval [0,1]. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N3+ (JavaScript 1.1+), ECMA Edition 1)

• round(arg) Returns the result of rounding arg to the nearest integer. If the decimal portion of arg is greater than or equal to .5, it is rounded up. Otherwise, arg is rounded down. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• sin(arg) Returns the sine of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• sqrt(arg) Returns the square root of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

• tan(arg) Returns the tangent of arg. (IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1)

Support

IE3+ (JScript 1.0+), MOZ, N2+ (JavaScript 1.0+), ECMA Edition 1

Notes

All trigonometric methods of Math treat values as radians, so you need to multiple any degree values by Math.PI/180 before passing them to one of these functions.

If the argument to one of Math’s methods cannot be converted to a number, NaN is generally returned.

All the properties of the Math object are static and read-only.

All the methods of the Math object are static.

Properties

This object has the following property, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• compact Boolean indicating whether the list should be compacted by removing extra space between list objects. Generally does not affect appearance in browsers. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

This object has the following properties, in addition to those in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section:

• charset Sets the character set used to encode the object. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• content Specifies the character set used to encode the document. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• httpEquiv String holding the HTTP header name. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• name String holding the name attribute of the element. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

• scheme String containing the scheme to use to interpret the value of the header. (IE6+, MOZ/N6+, DOM1)

Methods

This object only has the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Properties

• description A read-only string containing a human-friendly description of the MIME type. (N3+, MOZ)

• enabledPlugin A read-only reference to the Plugin object that handles this MIME type. If this MIME type is not associated with a Plugin, this property is null. (N3+, MOZ)

• suffixes A read-only string containing a comma-separated list of filename extensions (for example, "mid, wav, mp3") that are commonly associated with this MIME type. (N3+, MOZ)

• type A read-only string containing the actual MIME type of the object in mediatype/subtype format, for example "image/gif". (N3+, MOZ)

Methods

None.

Support

Netscape 3+ (JavaScript 1.1+).

Notes

Verifying the existence of a particular MIME type in the mimeTypes[] array is not a guarantee that the browser can handle the data; you also need to check the mimeType object’s enabledPlugin property.

Support

Internet Explorer 5.5+ in Windows.

Properties

• appCodeName A read-only string containing the code name of the browser, for example, "Mozilla". (IE3+, MOZ, NS2+)

• appMinorVersion A read-only string containing the browser’s minor version value. (IE4+)

• appName A read-only string containing the name of the browser, for example, "Internet Explorer" or "Netscape". (IE3+, MOZ, NS2+)

• appVersion A read-only string containing the browser’s version information. (IE3+, MOZ, NS2+)

• browserLanguage A read-only string containing the language code of the browser or the operating system. IE4 returns the language of the browser while IE5+ returns the language of the operating system. It does not reflect changes made by the user to the browser's language setting. (IE4+)

• cookieEnabled A read-only Boolean indicating whether persistent cookies are enabled. Does not indicate whether session cookies are enabled. (IE4+, MOZ/N6+)

• cpuClass A read-only string indicating the CPU of the client computer. Typical values include "x86", "68K", "Alpha", "PPC" (PowerPC), or "Other". (IE4+)

• language A read-only string indicating the language code of the browser, for example, "en-US". (NS4+, MOZ)

• mimeTypes[] A read-only array of MimeType objects indicating which MIME types the browser supports. This property is defined in IE5.5, but appears empty. This array can be directly indexed to check for support for a particular MIME type, for example, as “if (navigator.mimeTypes['video/mpeg'] && navigator.mimeTypes['video/mpeg'].pluginEnabled)...“(NS2+, MOZ)

• onLine A read-only Boolean indicating whether the user is in global offline mode. Global offline mode allows IE to browse local (possibly downloaded) pages while not connected to the network. (IE4+)

• oscpu A read-only string containing operating system (and sometimes CPU) information, for example, "Win98". (MOZ/N6+)

• platform A read-only string containing the operating system for which the browser was compiled. Typical values include "Win32", "Win16", "MacPPC", Mac68K", and "SunOS". Under unusual circumstances, could be different from the actual operating system the client is using. (IE4+)

• plugins[] In Netscape, this read-only array of Plugin objects is installed in the browser and indexed by integer or string referring to the name of a plug-in. Each Plugin is itself an array of mimeType objects. The plugins array provides the refresh(reloadDocs) method that causes newly installed plug-ins to be reflected in the array. When invoked with reloadDocs as true, reloads all the <embed>s in the window (in order to take advantage of a newly installed plug-in). In IE this collection is a synonym for document.embeds[], so it cannot be used for plug-in detection. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+)

• product A read-only string containing the name of the “product”; in Netscape 6, the name of its engine, "Gecko". (MOZ/N6+, ReadOnly)

• productSub A read-only string containing the version information about the “product,” apparently the build date string (for example, "20010131"). (MOZ/N6+)

• securityPolicy The functionality of this property is unclear and not well documented online. It is probably related to Mozilla’s configurable security policies. (MOZ/N6+)

• systemLanguage A read-only string containing the language edition of the client’s operating system, for example, "en-us". (IE4+)

• userAgent A read-only string containing the value of the HTTP User-Agent header the browser sends. This property is most commonly used for browser detection and includes much of the information found in other properties of Navigator (for example, language information). (IE3+, MOZ, N2+)

• userLanguage A read-only string containing the language code of the user’s “natural” language as defined in the operating system specific (Windows) setting. (IE4+)

• userProfile A read-only reference to the userProfile object for the browser. (IE3+)

• vendor A read-only string containing browser vendor information, for example, "Netscape6". (MOZ/N6+)

• vendorSub A read-only string containing vendor version information, for example, "6.01". (MOZ/N6+)

Methods

• javaEnabled() Returns a Boolean indicating whether Java is enabled. (IE4+, MOZ, N3+)

• preference(preferenceName [, value]) Invoked by signed scripts with the appropriate privileges to get and set browser preferences. The preferenceName is a string containing the name of the preference to be set or gotten. If value is given, the preference preferenceName is set to value. If value is omitted, the current value of preferenceName is returned. Reading preferences requires the UniversalPreferencesRead privilege. Writing preferences requires UniversalPreferencesWrite. See the Mozilla and Netscape documentation for potential values for preferenceName and value. (N4+, MOZ)

• savePreferences() Invoked by signed scripts to save the current browser preferences. These preferences are saved to the local file prefs.js (or preferences.js in UNIX). Note that the preferences are saved automatically before quitting the browser. This method requires the UniversalPreferencesWrite privilege. (N4+, MOZ)

• taintEnabled() Returns a Boolean indicating whether data tainting is enabled. Data tainting is used to prevent scripts from passing private information to remote servers but is no longer a supported technology. (IE5.5+, MOZ, N3+)

Support

Supported in most major browsers, including IE3+, N2+, MOZ.

Properties

This object only supports the properties listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in IE4+, MOZ.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla or Opera identify this object as an HTMLSpanElement or even HTMLNobrElement though no such object exists in the DOM. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object only supports the properties listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes

You may see browsers like Mozilla identify this object as an HTMLDivElement for some reason. The correct indication is HTMLElement, though Internet Explorer just indicates it as a generic object.

Properties

This object only supports the properties listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Methods

This object only supports the methods listed in the Generic HTML Element object found at the beginning of this section.

Support

Supported in Internet Explorer 4+, Mozilla/Netscape 6+, DOM1.

Notes