Basic html and javascript tutorial - Free Essay Example

HTML Basic Document html head titleDocument name goes here/title /head body Visible text goes here /body /html Heading Elements h1Largest Heading/h1 h2 . . . /h2 h3 . . . /h3 h4 . . . /h4 h5 . . . /h5 h6Smallest Heading/h6 Text Elements pThis is a paragraph/p br (line break) hr (horizontal rule) preThis text is preformatted/pre Logical Styles emThis text is emphasized/em strongThis text is strong/strong codeThis is some computer code/code Physical Styles bThis text is bold/b iThis text is italic/i Links, Anchors, and Image Elements a href=https://www.example.com/This is a Link/a a href=https://www.example.com/img src=URL alt=Alternate Text/a a href=mailto:[emailprotected]/* */Send e-mail/a A named anchor: a name=tipsUseful Tips Section/a a href=#tipsJump to the Useful Tips Section/a Unordered list ul liFirst item/li liNext item/li /ul Ordered list ol liFirst item/li liNext item/li /ol Definition list dl dtFirst term/dt ddDefinition/dd dtNext term/dt ddDefinition/dd /dl Tables table border=1 tr thsomeheader/th thsomeheader/th /tr tr tdsometext/td tdsometext/td /tr /table Frames frameset cols=25%,75% frame src=page1.htm frame src=page2.htm /frameset Forms form action=https://www.example.com/test.asp method=post/get input type=text name=lastname value=Nixon size=30 maxlength=50 input type=password input type=checkbox checked=checked input type=radio checked=checked input type=submit input type=reset input type=hidden select optionApples option selectedBananas optionCherries /select textarea name=Comment rows=60 cols=20/textarea /form Entities lt; is the same as gt; is the same as #169; is the same as Other Elements ! This is a comment blockquote Text quoted from some source. /blockquote address Address 1br Address 2br Citybr /address Commonly Used Character Entities Note Entity names are case sensitive! Result Description Entity Name Entity Number non-breaking space nbsp; #160; less than lt; #60; greater than gt; #62; ampersand amp; #38; cent cent; #162; pound pound; #163; yen yen; #165; euro euro; #8364; section sect; #167; copyright copy; #169; registered trademark reg; #174; The Meta Element As we explained in the previous chapter, the head element contains general information (meta-information) about a document. HTML also includes a meta element that goes inside the head element. The purpose of the meta element is to provide meta-information about the document. Most often the meta element is used to provide information that is relevant to browsers or search engines like describing the content of your document. Keywords for Search Engines Some search engines on the WWW will use the name and content attributes of the meta tag to index your pages. This meta element defines a description of your page: meta name=description content=Free Web tutorials on HTML, CSS, XML, and XHTML This meta element defines keywords for your page: meta name=keywords content=HTML, DHTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, JavaScript, VBScript The intention of the name and content attributes is to describe the content of a page. However, since too many webmasters have used meta tags for spamming, like repeating keywords to give pages a higher ranking, some search engines have stopped using them entirely. Uniform Resource Locators Something called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is used to address a document (or other data) on the World Wide Web. A full Web address like this: https://www.w3schools.com/html/lastpage.htm follows these syntax rules: scheme://host.domain:port/path/filename The scheme is defining the type of Internet service. The most common type is http. The domain is defining the Internet domain name like w3schools.com. The host is defining the domain host. If omitted, the default host for http is www. The :port is defining the port number at the host. The port number is normally omitted. The default port number for http is 80. The path is defining a path (a sub directory) at the server. If the path is omitted, the resource (the document) must be located at the root directory of the Web site. The filename is defining the name of a document. The default filename might be default.asp, or index.html or something else depending on the settings of the Web server. URL Schemes Some examples of the most common schemes can be found below: Schemes Access file a file on your local PC ftp a file on an FTP server http a file on a World Wide Web Server gopher a file on a Gopher server news a Usenet newsgroup telnet a Telnet connection WAIS a file on a WAIS server Accessing a Newsgroup The following HTML code: a href=news:alt.htmlHTML Newsgroup/a creates a link to a newsgroup like this HTML Newsgroup Downloading with FTP The following HTML code: a href=ftp://www.w3schools.com/ftp/winzip.exeDownload WinZip/a creates a link to download a file like this: Download WinZip. (The link doesnt work. Dont try it. It is just an example. W3Schools doesnt really have an ftp directory.) Link to your Mail system The following HTML code: a href=mailto:[emailprotected]/* */[emailprotected]/* *//a creates a link to your own mail system like this: Insert a Script into HTML Page A script in HTML is defined with the script tag. Note that you will have to use the type attribute to specify the scripting language. html head /head body script type=text/javascript document.write(Hello World!) /script /body /html How to Handle Older Browsers A browser that does not recognize the script tag at all, will display the script tags content as text on the page. To prevent the browser from doing this, you should hide the script in comment tags. An old browser (that does not recognize the script tag) will ignore the comment and it will not write the tags content on the page, while a new browser will understand that the script should be executed, even if it is surrounded by comment tags. Example JavaScript: script type=text/javascript ! document.write(Hello World!) // /script VBScript: script type=text/vbscript ! document.write(Hello World!) /script New to HTML 4.0 is the ability to let HTML events trigger actions in the browser, like starting a JavaScript when a user clicks on an HTML element. Below is a list of attributes that can be inserted into HTML tags to define event actions. Window Events Only valid in body and frameset elements. Attribute Value Description onload script Script to be run when a document loads onunload script Script to be run when a document unloads Only valid in form elements. Attribute Value Description onchange script Script to be run when the element changes onsubmit script Script to be run when the form is submitted onreset script Script to be run when the form is reset onselect script Script to be run when the element is selected onblur script Script to be run when the element loses focus onfocus script Script to be run when the element gets focus Keyboard Events Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title elements. Attribute Value Description onkeydown script What to do when key is pressed onkeypress script What to do when key is pressed and released onkeyup script What to do when key is released Mouse Events Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, title elements. Attribute Value Description onclick script What to do on a mouse click ondblclick script What to do on a mouse double-click onmousedown script What to do when mouse button is pressed onmousemove script What to do when mouse pointer moves onmouseout script What to do when mouse pointer moves out of an element onmouseover script What to do when mouse pointer moves over an element onmouseup script What to do when mouse button is released Your Windows PC as a Web Server If you want other people to view your pages, you must publish them. To publish your work, you must save your pages on a web server. Your own PC can act as a web server if you install IIS or PWS. IIS or PWS turns your computer into a web server. Microsoft IIS and PWS are free web server components. IIS Internet Information Server IIS is for Windows system like Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. It is also available for Windows NT. IIS is easy to install and ideal for developing and testing web applications. IIS includes Active Server Pages (ASP), a server-side scripting standard that can be used to create dynamic and interactive web applications. PWS Personal Web Server PWS is for older Windows system like Windows 95, 98, and NT. PWS is easy to install and can be used for developing and testing web applications including ASP. We dont recommend running PWS for anything else than training. It is outdated and have security issues. Windows Web Server Versions Windows Vista Professional comes with IIS 6. Windows Vista Home Edition does not support PWS or IIS. Windows XP Professional comes with IIS 5. Windows XP Home Edition does not support IIS or PWS. Windows 2000 Professional comes with IIS 4. Windows NT Professional comes with IIS 3 and also supports IIS 4. Windows NT Workstation supports PWS and IIS 3. Windows ME does not support PWS or IIS. Windows 98 comes with PWS. Windows 95 supports PWS. HTML Summary This tutorial has taught you how to use HTML to create your own web site. HTML is the universal markup language for the Web. HTML lets you format text, add graphics, create links, input forms, frames and tables, etc., and save it all in a text file that any browser can read and display. The key to HTML is the tags, which indicates what content is coming up. XHTML XHTML reformulates HTML 4.01 in XML. CSS CSS is used to control the style and layout of multiple Web pages all at once. With CSS, all formatting can be removed from the HTML document and stored in a separate file. CSS gives you total control of the layout, without messing up the document content. JavaScript Tutorial What is JavaScript? JavaScript was designed to add interactivity to HTML pages JavaScript is a scripting language A scripting language is a lightweight programming language JavaScript is usually embedded directly into HTML pages JavaScript is an interpreted language (means that scripts execute without preliminary compilation) Everyone can use JavaScript without purchasing a license What can a JavaScript Do? JavaScript gives HTML designers a programming tool HTML authors are normally not programmers, but JavaScript is a scripting language with a very simple syntax! Almost anyone can put small snippets of code into their HTML pages JavaScript can put dynamic text into an HTML page A JavaScript statement like this: document.write(h1 + name + /h1) can write a variable text into an HTML page JavaScript can react to events A JavaScript can be set to execute when something happens, like when a page has finished loading or when a user clicks on an HTML element JavaScript can read and write HTML elements A JavaScript can read and change the content of an HTML element JavaScript can be used to validate data A JavaScript can be used to validate form data before it is submitted to a server. This saves the server from extra processing JavaScript can be used to detect the visitors browser A JavaScript can be used to detect the visitors browser, and depending on the browser load another page specifically designed for that browser JavaScript can be used to create cookies A JavaScript can be used to store and retrieve information on the visitors computer How to Put a JavaScript Into an HTML Page html body script type=text/javascript document.write(Hello World!); /script /body /html Where to Put the JavaScript JavaScripts in a page will be executed immediately while the page loads into the browser. This is not always what we want. Sometimes we want to execute a script when a page loads, other times when a user triggers an event. Scripts in the head section: Scripts to be executed when they are called, or when an event is triggered, go in the head section. When you place a script in the head section, you will ensure that the script is loaded before anyone uses it. html head script type=text/javascript . /script /head Scripts in the body section: Scripts to be executed when the page loads go in the body section. When you place a script in the body section it generates the content of the page. html head /head body script type=text/javascript . /script /body Scripts in both the body and the head section: You can place an unlimited number of scripts in your document, so you can have scripts in both the body and the head section. html head script type=text/javascript . /script /head body script type=text/javascript . /script /body Using an External JavaScript Sometimes you might want to run the same JavaScript on several pages, without having to write the same script on every page. To simplify this, you can write a JavaScript in an external file. Save the external JavaScript file with a .js file extension. Note: The external script cannot contain the script tag! To use the external script, point to the .js file in the src attribute of the script tag: html head script type=text/javascript src=xxx.js/script /head body /body /html JavaScript is Case Sensitive Unlike HTML, JavaScript is case sensitive therefore watch your capitalization closely when you write JavaScript statements, create or call variables, objects and functions. JavaScript Statements A JavaScript statement is a command to the browser. The purpose of the command is to tell the browser what to do. This JavaScript statement tells the browser to write Hello Dolly to the web page: document.write(Hello Dolly); It is normal to add a semicolon at the end of each executable statement. Most people think this is a good programming practice, and most often you will see this in JavaScript examples on the web. The semicolon is optional (according to the JavaScript standard), and the browser is supposed to interpret the end of the line as the end of the statement. Because of this you will often see examples without the semicolon at the end. Note: Using semicolons makes it possible to write multiple statements on one line. JavaScript Code JavaScript code (or just JavaScript) is a sequence of JavaScript statements. Each statement is executed by the browser in the sequence they are written. This example will write a header and two paragraphs to a web page: script type=text/javascript document.write(h1This is a header/h1); document.write(pThis is a paragraph/p); document.write(pThis is another paragraph/p); JavaScript Blocks JavaScript statements can be grouped together in blocks. Blocks start with a left curly bracket {, and ends with a right curly bracket }. The purpose of a block is to make the sequence of statements execute together. This example will write a header and two paragraphs to a web page: script type=text/javascript { document.write(h1This is a header/h1); document.write(pThis is a paragraph/p); document.write(pThis is another paragraph/p); } /script JavaScript comments can be used to make the code more readable. JavaScript Comments Comments can be added to explain the JavaScript, or to make it more readable. Single line comments start with //. This example uses single line comments to explain the code: script type=text/javascript // This will write a header: document.write(h1This is a header/h1); // This will write two paragraphs: document.write(pThis is a paragraph/p); document.write(pThis is another paragraph/p); /script Using Comments to Prevent Execution In this example the comment is used to prevent the execution of a single code line: script type=text/javascript document.write(h1This is a header/h1); document.write(pThis is a paragraph/p); //document.write(pThis is another paragraph/p); /script In this example the comments is used to prevent the execution of multiple code lines: script type=text/javascript /* document.write(h1This is a header/h1); document.write(pThis is a paragraph/p); document.write(pThis is another paragraph/p); */ /script Using Comments at the End of a Line In this example the comment is placed at the end of a line: script type=text/javascript document.write(Hello); // This will write Hello document.write(Dolly); // This will write Dolly /script Variables are containers for storing information. Declaring (Creating) JavaScript Variables Creating variables in JavaScript is most often referred to as declaring variables. You can declare JavaScript variables with the var statement: var x; var carname; After the declaration shown above, the variables are empty (they have no values yet). However, you can also assign values to the variables when you declare them: var x=5; var carname=Volvo; After the execution of the statements above, the variable x will hold the value 5, and carname will hold the value Volvo. Note: When you assign a text value to a variable, use quotes around the value. Assigning Values to Undeclared JavaScript Variables If you assign values to variables that have not yet been declared, the variables will automatically be declared. These statements: x=5; carname=Volvo; have the same effect as: var x=5; var carname=Volvo; Redeclaring JavaScript Variables If you redeclare a JavaScript variable, it will not lose its original value. var x=5; var x; After the execution of the statements above, the variable x will still have the value of 5. The value of x is not reset (or cleared) when you redeclare it. Conditional Statements Very often when you write code, you want to perform different actions for different decisions. You can use conditional statements in your code to do this. In JavaScript we have the following conditional statements: if statement use this statement if you want to execute some code only if a specified condition is true ifelse statement use this statement if you want to execute some code if the condition is true and another code if the condition is false ifelse if.else statement use this statement if you want to select one of many blocks of code to be executed switch statement use this statement if you want to select one of many blocks of code to be executed script type=text/javascript //If the time is less than 10, //you will get a Good morning greeting. //Otherwise you will get a Good day greeting. var d = new Date(); var time = d.getHours(); if (time 10) { document.write(Good morning!); } else { document.write(Good day!); } /script The JavaScript Switch Statement You should use the switch statement if you want to select one of many blocks of code to be executed. Syntax switch(n) { case 1: execute code block 1 break; case 2: execute code block 2 break; default: code to be executed if n is different from case 1 and 2 } script type=text/javascript //You will receive a different greeting based //on what day it is. Note that Sunday=0, //Monday=1, Tuesday=2, etc. var d=new Date(); theDay=d.getDay(); switch (theDay) { case 5: document.write(Finally Friday); break; case 6: document.write(Super Saturday); break; case 0: document.write(Sleepy Sunday); break; default: document.write(Im looking forward to this weekend!); } /script JavaScript Popup Boxes Alert Box An alert box is often used if you want to make sure information comes through to the user. When an alert box pops up, the user will have to click OK to proceed. Syntax: alert(sometext); Confirm Box A confirm box is often used if you want the user to verify or accept something. When a confirm box pops up, the user will have to click either OK or Cancel to proceed. If the user clicks OK, the box returns true. If the user clicks Cancel, the box returns false. Syntax: confirm(sometext); Prompt Box A prompt box is often used if you want the user to input a value before entering a page. When a prompt box pops up, the user will have to click either OK or Cancel to proceed after entering an input value. If the user clicks OK the box returns the input value. If the user clicks Cancel the box returns null. Syntax: prompt(sometext,defaultvalue); JavaScript Functions JavaScript Functions To keep the browser from executing a script when the page loads, you can put your script into a function. A function contains code that will be executed by an event or by a call to that function. You may call a function from anywhere within the page (or even from other pages if the function is embedded in an external .js file). Functions can be defined both in the head and in the body section of a document. However, to assure that the function is read/loaded by the browser before it is called, it could be wise to put it in the head section. How to Define a Function The syntax for creating a function is: function functionname(var1,var2,,varX) { some code } The return Statement The return statement is used to specify the value that is returned from the function. So, functions that are going to return a value must use the return statement. Example The function below should return the product of two numbers (a and b): function prod(a,b) { x=a*b; return x; } html head script type=text/javascript function displaymessage() { alert(Hello World!); } /script /head body form input type=button value=Click me! onclick=displaymessage() /form /body /html JavaScript Loops Very often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run over and over again in a row. Instead of adding several almost equal lines in a script we can use loops to perform a task like this. In JavaScript there are two different kind of loops: for loops through a block of code a specified number of times while loops through a block of code while a specified condition is true The for Loop The for loop is used when you know in advance how many times the script should run. Syntax for (var=startvalue;var=endvalue;var=var+increment) { code to be executed } Example Explanation: The example below defines a loop that starts with i=0. The loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 10. i will increase by 1 each time the loop runs. Note: The increment parameter could also be negative, and the = could be any comparing statement. html body script type=text/javascript var i=0; for (i=0;i=10;i++) { document.write(The number is + i); document.write(br /); } /script /body /html The while loop The while loop is used when you want the loop to execute and continue executing while the specified condition is true. while (var=endvalue) { code to be executed } Note: The = could be any comparing statement. Example Explanation: The example below defines a loop that starts with i=0. The loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 10. i will increase by 1 each time the loop runs. html body script type=text/javascript var i=0; while (i=10) { document.write(The number is + i); document.write(br /); i=i+1; } /script /body /html The dowhile Loop The dowhile loop is a variant of the while loop. This loop will always execute a block of code ONCE, and then it will repeat the loop as long as the specified condition is true. This loop will always be executed at least once, even if the condition is false, because the code is executed before the condition is tested. do { code to be executed } while (var=endvalue); Example html body script type=text/javascript var i=0; do { document.write(The number is + i); document.write(br /); i=i+1; } while (i0); /script /body /html JavaScript break and continue Statements There are two special statements that can be used inside loops: break and continue. Break The break command will break the loop and continue executing the code that follows after the loop (if any). Example html body script type=text/javascript var i=0; for (i=0;i=10;i++) { if (i==3) { break; } document.write(The number is + i); document.write(br /); } /script /body /html Continue The continue command will break the current loop and continue with the next value. Example html body script type=text/javascript var i=0 for (i=0;i=10;i++) { if (i==3) { continue; } document.write(The number is + i); document.write(br /); } /script /body /html JavaScript ForIn Statement The forin statement is used to loop (iterate) through the elements of an array or through the properties of an object. The code in the body of the for in loop is executed once for each element/property. Syntax for (variable in object) { code to be executed } The variable argument can be a named variable, an array element, or a property of an object. Example Using forin to loop through an array: html body script type=text/javascript var x; var mycars = new Array(); mycars[0] = Saab; mycars[1] = Volvo; mycars[2] = BMW; for (x in mycars) { document.write(mycars[x] + br /); } /script /body /html Events By using JavaScript, we have the ability to create dynamic web pages. Events are actions that can be detected by JavaScript. Every element on a web page has certain events which can trigger JavaScript functions. For example, we can use the onClick event of a button element to indicate that a function will run when a user clicks on the button. We define the events in the HTML tags. Examples of events: A mouse click A web page or an image loading Mousing over a hot spot on the web page Selecting an input box in an HTML form Submitting an HTML form A keystroke Note: Events are normally used in combination with functions, and the function will not be executed before the event occurs! onload and onUnload The onload and onUnload events are triggered when the user enters or leaves the page. The onload event is often used to check the visitors browser type and browser version, and load the proper version of the web page based on the information. Both the onload and onUnload events are also often used to deal with cookies that should be set when a user enters or leaves a page. For example, you could have a popup asking for the users name upon his first arrival to your page. The name is then stored in a cookie. Next time the visitor arrives at your page, you could have another popup saying something like: Welcome John Doe!. onFocus, onBlur and onChange The onFocus, onBlur and onChange events are often used in combination with validation of form fields. Below is an example of how to use the onChange event. The checkEmail() function will be called whenever the user changes the content of the field: input type=text size=30 id=email onchange=checkEmail() onSubmit The onSubmit event is used to validate ALL form fields before submitting it. Below is an example of how to use the onSubmit event. The checkForm() function will be called when the user clicks the submit button in the form. If the field values are not accepted, the submit should be cancelled. The function checkForm() returns either true or false. If it returns true the form will be submitted, otherwise the submit will be cancelled: form method=post action=xxx.htm onsubmit=return checkForm() onMouseOver and onMouseOut onMouseOver and onMouseOut are often used to create animated buttons. Below is an example of an onMouseOver event. An alert box appears when an onMouseOver event is detected: a href=https://www.w3schools.com onmouseover=alert(An onMouseOver event);return false img src=w3schools.gif width=100 height=30 /a JavaScript TryCatch Statement JavaScript Catching Errors When browsing Web pages on the internet, we all have seen a JavaScript alert box telling us there is a runtime error and asking Do you wish to debug?. Error message like this may be useful for developers but not for users. When users see errors, they often leave the Web page. This chapter will teach you how to trap and handle JavaScript error messages, so you dont lose your audience. There are two ways of catching errors in a Web page: By using the trycatch statement (available in IE5+, Mozilla 1.0, and Netscape 6) By using the onerror event. This is the old standard solution to catch errors (available since Netscape 3) TryCatch Statement The trycatch statement allows you to test a block of code for errors. The try block contains the code to be run, and the catch block contains the code to be executed if an error occurs. Syntax try { //Run some code here } catch(err) { //Handle errors here } Note that trycatch is written in lowercase letters. Using uppercase letters will generate a JavaScript error! Example 1 The example below contains a script that is supposed to display the message Welcome guest! when you click on a button. However, theres a typo in the message() function. alert() is misspelled as adddlert(). A JavaScript error occurs: html head script type=text/javascript function message() { adddlert(Welcome guest!); } /script /head body input type=button value=View message onclick=message() / /body /html To take more appropriate action when an error occurs, you can add a trycatch statement. The example below contains the Welcome guest! example rewritten to use the trycatch statement. Since alert() is misspelled, a JavaScript error occurs. However, this time, the catch block catches the error and executes a custom code to handle it. The code displays a custom error message informing the user what happened: html head script type=text/javascript var txt= function message() { try { adddlert(Welcome guest!); } catch(err) { txt=There was an error on this page.nn; txt+=Error description: + err.description + nn; txt+=Click OK to continue.nn; alert(txt); } } /script /head body input type=button value=View message onclick=message() / /body /html Example 2 The next example uses a confirm box to display a custom message telling users they can click OK to continue viewing the page or click Cancel to go to the homepage. If the confirm method returns false, the user clicked Cancel, and the code redirects the user. If the confirm method returns true, the code does nothing: html head script type=text/javascript var txt= function message() { try { adddlert(Welcome guest!); } catch(err) { txt=There was an error on this page.nn; txt+=Click OK to continue viewing this page,n; txt+=or Cancel to return to the home page.nn; if(!confirm(txt)) { document.location.href=https://www.w3schools.com/; } } } /script /head body input type=button value=View message onclick=message() / /body /html The onerror Event The onerror event will be explained soon, but first you will learn how to use the throw statement to create an exception. The throw statement can be used together with the trycatch statement. JavaScript Throw Statement The throw statement allows you to create an exception. The Throw Statement The throw statement allows you to create an exception. If you use this statement together with the trycatch statement, you can control program flow and generate accurate error messages. Syntax throw(exception) The exception can be a string, integer, Boolean or an object. Note that throw is written in lowercase letters. Using uppercase letters will generate a JavaScript error! Example 1 The example below determines the value of a variable called x. If the value of x is higher than 10 or lower than 0 we are going to throw an error. The error is then caught by the catch argument and the proper error message is displayed: html body script type=text/javascript var x=prompt(Enter a number between 0 and 10:,); try { if(x10) throw Err1; else if(x0) throw Err2; } catch(er) { if(er==Err1) alert(Error! The value is too high); if(er == Err2) alert(Error! The value is too low); } /script /body /html The onerror Event We have just explained how to use the trycatch statement to catch errors in a web page. Now we are going to explain how to use the onerror event for the same purpose. The onerror event is fired whenever there is a script error in the page. To use the onerror event, you must create a function to handle the errors. Then you call the function with the onerror event handler. The event handler is called with three arguments: msg (error message), url (the url of the page that caused the error) and line (the line where the error occurred). Syntax onerror=handleErr function handleErr(msg,url,l) { //Handle the error here return true or false } The value returned by onerror determines whether the browser displays a standard error message. If you return false, the browser displays the standard error message in the JavaScript console. If you return true, the browser does not display the standard error message. Example The following example shows how to catch the error with the onerror event: html head script type=text/javascript onerror=handleErr; var txt=; function handleErr(msg,url,l) { txt=There was an error on this page.nn; txt+=Error: + msg + n; txt+=URL: + url + n; txt+=Line: + l + nn; txt+=Click OK to continue.nn; alert(txt); return true; } function message() { adddlert(Welcome guest!); } /script /head body input type=button value=View message onclick=message() / /body /html JavaScript Special Characters In JavaScript you can add special characters to a text string by using the backslash sign. Insert Special Characters The backslash () is used to insert apostrophes, new lines, quotes, and other special characters into a text string. Look at the following JavaScript code: var txt=We are the so-called Vikings from the north.; document.write(txt); In JavaScript, a string is started and stopped with either single or double quotes. This means that the string above will be chopped to: We are the so-called To solve this problem, you must place a backslash () before each double quote in Viking. This turns each double quote into a string literal: var txt=We are the so-called Vikings from the north.; document.write(txt); JavaScript will now output the proper text string: We are the so-called Vikings from the north. Here is another example: document.write (You I are singing!); The example above will produce the following output: You I are singing! The table below lists other special characters that can be added to a text string with the backslash sign: Code Outputs single quote double quote ampersand backslash n new line r carriage return t tab b backspace f form feed JavaScript Objects Introduction JavaScript is an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) language. An OOP language allows you to define your own objects and make your own variable types. Object Oriented Programming JavaScript is an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) language. An OOP language allows you to define your own objects and make your own variable types. However, creating your own objects will be explained later, in the Advanced JavaScript section. We will start by looking at the built-in JavaScript objects, and how they are used. The next pages will explain each built-in JavaScript object in detail. Note that an object is just a special kind of data. An object has properties and methods. Properties Properties are the values associated with an object. In the following example we are using the length property of the String object to return the number of characters in a string: script type=text/javascript var txt=Hello World!; document.write(txt.length); /script Methods Methods are the actions that can be performed on objects. In the following example we are using the toUpperCase() method of the String object to display a text in uppercase letters: script type=text/javascript var str=Hello world!; document.write(str.toUpperCase()); /script String object The String object is used to manipulate a stored piece of text. Examples of use: The following example uses the length property of the String object to find the length of a string: var txt=Hello world!; document.write(txt.length); The code above will result in the following output: 12 The following example uses the toUpperCase() method of the String object to convert a string to uppercase letters: var txt=Hello world!; document.write(txt.toUpperCase()); Create a Date Object The Date object is used to work with dates and times. The following code create a Date object called myDate: var myDate=new Date() Note: The Date object will automatically hold the current date and time as its initial value! Set Dates We can easily manipulate the date by using the methods available for the Date object. In the example below we set a Date object to a specific date (14th January 2010): var myDate=new Date(); myDate.setFullYear(2010,0,14); And in the following example we set a Date object to be 5 days into the future: var myDate=new Date(); myDate.setDate(myDate.getDate()+5); Note: If adding five days to a date shifts the month or year, the changes are handled automatically by the Date object itself! Compare Two Dates The Date object is also used to compare two dates. The following example compares todays date with the 14th January 2010: var myDate=new Date(); myDate.setFullYear(2010,0,14); var today = new Date(); if (myDatetoday) { alert(Today is before 14th January 2010); } else { alert(Today is after 14th January 2010); } Create an Array The following code creates an Array object called myCars: var myCars=new Array(); There are two ways of adding values to an array (you can add as many values as you need to define as many variables you require). 1: var myCars=new Array(); myCars[0]=Saab; myCars[1]=Volvo; myCars[2]=BMW; You could also pass an integer argument to control the arrays size: var myCars=new Array(3); myCars[0]=Saab; myCars[1]=Volvo; myCars[2]=BMW; 2: var myCars=new Array(Saab,Volvo,BMW); Note: If you specify numbers or true/false values inside the array then the type of variables will be numeric or Boolean instead of string. Access an Array You can refer to a particular element in an array by referring to the name of the array and the index number. The index number starts at 0. The following code line: document.write(myCars[0]); will result in the following output: Saab Modify Values in an Array To modify a value in an existing array, just add a new value to the array with a specified index number: myCars[0]=Opel; Now, the following code line: document.write(myCars[0]); Create a Boolean Object The Boolean object represents two values: true or false. The following code creates a Boolean object called myBoolean: var myBoolean=new Boolean(); Note: If the Boolean object has no initial value or if it is 0, -0, null, , false, undefined, or NaN, the object is set to false. Otherwise it is true (even with the string false)! All the following lines of code create Boolean objects with an initial value of false: var myBoolean=new Boolean(); var myBoolean=new Boolean(0); var myBoolean=new Boolean(null); var myBoolean=new Boolean(); var myBoolean=new Boolean(false); var myBoolean=new Boolean(NaN); And all the following lines of code create Boolean objects with an initial value of true: var myBoolean=new Boolean(true); var myBoolean=new Boolean(true); var myBoolean=new Boolean(false); var myBoolean=new Boolean(Richard); Math Object The Math object allows you to perform mathematical tasks. The Math object includes several mathematical constants and methods. Syntax for using properties/methods of Math: var pi_value=Math.PI; var sqrt_value=Math.sqrt(16); Note: Math is not a constructor. All properties and methods of Math can be called by using Math as an object without creating it. Mathematical Constants JavaScript provides eight mathematical constants that can be accessed from the Math object. These are: E, PI, square root of 2, square root of 1/2, natural log of 2, natural log of 10, base-2 log of E, and base-10 log of E. You may reference these constants from your JavaScript like this: Math.E Math.PI Math.SQRT2 Math.SQRT1_2 Math.LN2 Math.LN10 Math.LOG2E Math.LOG10E Mathematical Methods In addition to the mathematical constants that can be accessed from the Math object there are also several methods available. The following example uses the round() method of the Math object to round a number to the nearest integer: document.write(Math.round(4.7)); The code above will result in the following output: 5 The following example uses the random() method of the Math object to return a random number between 0 and 1: document.write(Math.random()); The code above can result in the following output: 0.9742574926181294 The following example uses the floor() and random() methods of the Math object to return a random number between 0 and 10: document.write(Math.floor(Math.random()*11)); More JavaScript Objects Follow the links to learn more about the objects and their collections, properties, methods and events. Object Description Window The top level object in the JavaScript hierarchy. The Window object represents a browser window. A Window object is created automatically with every instance of a body or frameset tag Navigator Contains information about the clients browser Screen Contains information about the clients display screen History Contains the visited URLs in the browser window Location Contains information about the current URL The Navigator Object The JavaScript Navigator object contains all information about the visitors browser. We are going to look at two properties of the Navigator object: appName holds the name of the browser appVersion holds, among other things, the version of the browser Example html body script type=text/javascript var browser=navigator.appName; var b_version=navigator.appVersion; var version=parseFloat(b_version); document.write(Browser name: + browser); document.write(br /); document.write(Browser version: + version); /script /body /html The script below displays a different alert, depending on the visitors browser: html head script type=text/javascript function detectBrowser() { var browser=navigator.appName; var b_version=navigator.appVersion; var version=parseFloat(b_version); if ((browser==Netscape||browser==Microsoft Internet Explorer) (version=4)) { alert(Your browser is good enough!); } else { alert(Its time to upgrade your browser!); } } /script /head body onload=detectBrowser() /body /html JavaScript Cookies A cookie is often used to identify a user. What is a Cookie? A cookie is a variable that is stored on the visitors computer. Each time the same computer requests a page with a browser, it will send the cookie too. With JavaScript, you can both create and retrieve cookie values. Examples of cookies: Name cookie The first time a visitor arrives to your web page, he or she must fill in her/his name. The name is then stored in a cookie. Next time the visitor arrives at your page, he or she could get a welcome message like Welcome John Doe! The name is retrieved from the stored cookie Password cookie The first time a visitor arrives to your web page, he or she must fill in a password. The password is then stored in a cookie. Next time the visitor arrives at your page, the password is retrieved from the cookie Date cookie The first time a visitor arrives to your web page, the current date is stored in a cookie. Next time the visitor arrives at your page, he or she could get a message like Your last visit was on Tuesday August 11, 2005! The date is retrieved from the stored cookie Create and Store a Cookie In this example we will create a cookie that stores the name of a visitor. The first time a visitor arrives to the web page, he or she will be asked to fill in her/his name. The name is then stored in a cookie. The next time the visitor arrives at the same page, he or she will get welcome message. First, we create a function that stores the name of the visitor in a cookie variable: function setCookie(c_name,value,expiredays) { var exdate=new Date(); exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate()+expiredays); document.cookie=c_name+ = +escape(value)+ ((expiredays==null) ? : ;expires=+exdate.toGMTString()); } The parameters of the function above hold the name of the cookie, the value of the cookie, and the number of days until the cookie expires. In the function above we first convert the number of days to a valid date, then we add the number of days until the cookie should expire. After that we store the cookie name, cookie value and the expiration date in the document.cookie object. Then, we create another function that checks if the cookie has been set: function getCookie(c_name) { if (document.cookie.length0) { c_start=document.cookie.indexOf(c_name + =); if (c_start!=-1) { c_start=c_start + c_name.length+1; c_end=document.cookie.indexOf(;,c_start); if (c_end==-1) c_end=document.cookie.length; return unescape(document.cookie.substring(c_start,c_end)); } } return ; } The function above first checks if a cookie is stored at all in the document.cookie object. If the document.cookie object holds some cookies, then check to see if our specific cookie is stored. If our cookie is found, then return the value, if not return an empty string. Last, we create the function that displays a welcome message if the cookie is set, and if the cookie is not set it will display a prompt box, asking for the name of the user: function checkCookie() { username=getCookie(username); if (username!=null username!=) { alert(Welcome again +username+!); } else { username=prompt(Please enter your name:,); if (username!=null username!=) { setCookie(username,username,365); } } } All together now: html head script type=text/javascript function getCookie(c_name) { if (document.cookie.length0) { c_start=document.cookie.indexOf(c_name + =); if (c_start!=-1) { c_start=c_start + c_name.length+1; c_end=document.cookie.indexOf(;,c_start); if (c_end==-1) c_end=document.cookie.length; return unescape(document.cookie.substring(c_start,c_end)); } } return ; } function setCookie(c_name,value,expiredays) { var exdate=new Date(); exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate()+expiredays); document.cookie=c_name+ = +escape(value)+ ((expiredays==null) ? : ;expires=+exdate.toGMTString()); } function checkCookie() { username=getCookie(username); if (username!=null username!=) { alert(Welcome again +username+!); } else { username=prompt(Please enter your name:,); if (username!=null username!=) { setCookie(username,username,365); } } } /script /head body onLoad=checkCookie() /body /html JavaScript Form Validation JavaScript can be used to validate input data in HTML forms before sending off the content to a server. JavaScript Form Validation JavaScript can be used to validate input data in HTML forms before sending off the content to a server. Form data that typically are checked by a JavaScript could be: has the user left required fields empty? has the user entered a valid e-mail address? has the user entered a valid date? has the user entered text in a numeric field? Required Fields The function below checks if a required field has been left empty. If the required field is blank, an alert box alerts a message and the function returns false. If a value is entered, the function returns true (means that data is OK): function validate_required(field,alerttxt) { with (field) { if (value==null||value==) { alert(alerttxt);return false; } else { return true; } } } The entire script, with the HTML form could look something like this: html head script type=text/javascript function validate_required(field,alerttxt) { with (field) { if (value==null||value==) {alert(alerttxt);return false;} else {return true} } } function validate_form(thisform) { with (thisform) { if (validate_required(email,Email must be filled out!)==false) {email.focus();return false;} } } /script /head body form action=submitpage.htm onsubmit=return validate_form(this) method=post Email: input type=text name=email size=30 input type=submit value=Submit /form /body /html E-mail Validation The function below checks if the content has the general syntax of an email. This means that the input data must contain at least an @ sign and a dot (.). Also, the @ must not be the first character of the email address, and the last dot must at least be one character after the @ sign: function validate_email(field,alerttxt) { with (field) { apos=value.indexOf(@); dotpos=value.lastIndexOf(.); if (apos1||dotpos-apos2) {alert(alerttxt);return false;} else {return true;} } } The entire script, with the HTML form could look something like this: html head script type=text/javascript function validate_email(field,alerttxt) { with (field) { apos=value.indexOf(@); dotpos=value.lastIndexOf(.); if (apos1||dotpos-apos2) {alert(alerttxt);return false;} else {return true;} } } function validate_form(thisform) { with (thisform) { if (validate_email(email,Not a valid e-mail address!)==false) {email.focus();return false;} } } /script /head body form action=submitpage.htm onsubmit=return validate_form(this); method=post Email: input type=text name=email size=30 input type=submit value=Submit /form /body /html The entire script, with the HTML form could look something like this: html head script type=text/javascript function validate_email(field,alerttxt) { with (field) { apos=value.indexOf(@); dotpos=value.lastIndexOf(.); if (apos1||dotpos-apos2) {alert(alerttxt);return false;} else {return true;} } } function validate_form(thisform) { with (thisform) { if (validate_email(email,Not a valid e-mail address!)==false) {email.focus();return false;} } } /script /head body form action=submitpage.htm onsubmit=return validate_form(this); method=post Email: input type=text name=email size=30 input type=submit value=Submit /form /body /html JavaScript Animation With JavaScript we can create animated images. JavaScript Animation It is possible to use JavaScript to create animated images. The trick is to let a JavaScript change between different images on different events. In the following example we will add an image that should act as a link button on a web page. We will then add an onMouseOver event and an onMouseOut event that will run two JavaScript functions that will change between the images. The HTML Code The HTML code looks like this: a href=https://www.w3schools.com target=_blank img border=0 alt=Visit W3Schools! src=b_pink.gif name=b1 onmouseOver=mouseOver() onmouseOut=mouseOut() / /a Note that we have given the image a name to make it possible for JavaScript to address it later. The onMouseOver event tells the browser that once a mouse is rolled over the image, the browser should execute a function that will replace the image with another image. The onMouseOut event tells the browser that once a mouse is rolled away from the image, another JavaScript function should be executed. This function will insert the original image again. The JavaScript Code The changing between the images is done with the following JavaScript: script type=text/javascript function mouseOver() { document.b1.src =b_blue.gif; } function mouseOut() { document.b1.src =b_pink.gif; } /script The function mouseOver() causes the image to shift to b_blue.gif. The function mouseOut() causes the image to shift to b_pink.gif. The Entire Code html head script type=text/javascript function mouseOver() { document.b1.src =b_blue.gif; } function mouseOut() { document.b1.src =b_pink.gif; } /script /head body a href=https://www.w3schools.com target=_blank img border=0 alt=Visit W3Schools! src=b_pink.gif name=b1 onmouseOver=mouseOver() onmouseOut=mouseOut() / /a /body /html HTML Image Maps From our HTML tutorial we have learned that an image-map is an image with clickable regions. Normally, each region has an associated hyperlink. Clicking on one of the regions takes you to the associated link. Example The example below demonstrates how to create an HTML image map, with clickable regions. Each of the regions is a hyperlink: img src =planets.gif width =145 height =126 alt=Planets usemap =#planetmap / map id =planetmap name=planetmap area shape =rect coords =0,0,82,126 href =sun.htm target =_blank alt=Sun / area shape =circle coords =90,58,3 href =mercur.htm target =_blank alt=Mercury / area shape =circle coords =124,58,8 href =venus.htm target =_blank alt=Venus / /map Adding some JavaScript We can add events (that can call a JavaScript) to the area tags inside the image map. The area tag supports the onClick, onDblClick, onMouseDown, onMouseUp, onMouseOver, onMouseMove, onMouseOut, onKeyPress, onKeyDown, onKeyUp, onFocus, and onBlur events. Heres the above example, with some JavaScript added: html head script type=text/javascript function writeText(txt) { document.getElementById(desc).innerHTML=txt; } /script /head body img src=planets.gif width=145 height=126 alt=Planets usemap=#planetmap / map id =planetmap name=planetmap area shape =rect coords =0,0,82,126 onMouseOver=writeText(The Sun and the gas giant planets like Jupiter are by far the largest objects in our Solar System.) href =sun.htm target =_blank alt=Sun / area shape =circle coords =90,58,3 onMouseOver=writeText(The planet Mercury is very difficult to study from the Earth because it is always so close to the Sun.) href =mercur.htm target =_blank alt=Mercury / area shape =circle coords =124,58,8 onMouseOver=writeText(Until the 1960s, Venus was often considered a twin sister to the Earth because Venus is the nearest planet to us, and because the two planets seem to share many characteristics.) href =venus.htm target =_blank alt=Venus / /map p id=desc/p /body /html JavaScript Timing Events With JavaScript, it is possible to execute some code NOT immediately after a function is called, but after a specified time interval. This is called timing events. JavaScript Timing Events With JavaScript, it is possible to execute some code NOT immediately after a function is called, but after a specified time interval. This is called timing events. Its very easy to time events in JavaScript. The two key methods that are used are: setTimeout() executes a code some time in the future clearTimeout() cancels the setTimeout() Note: The setTimeout() and clearTimeout() are both methods of the HTML DOM Window object. setTimeout() Syntax var t=setTimeout(javascript statement,milliseconds); The setTimeout() method returns a value In the statement above, the value is stored in a variable called t. If you want to cancel this setTimeout(), you can refer to it using the variable name. The first parameter of setTimeout() is a string that contains a JavaScript statement. This statement could be a statement like alert(5 seconds!) or a call to a function, like alertMsg(). The second parameter indicates how many milliseconds from now you want to execute the first parameter. Note: There are 1000 milliseconds in one second. Example When the button is clicked in the example below, an alert box will be displayed after 5 seconds. html head script type=text/javascript function timedMsg() { var t=setTimeout(alert(5 seconds!),5000); } /script /head body form input type=button value=Display timed alertbox! onClick=timedMsg() /form /body /html Example Infinite Loop To get a timer to work in an infinite loop, we must write a function that calls itself. In the example below, when the button is clicked, the input field will start to count (for ever), starting at 0: html head script type=text/javascript var c=0 var t function timedCount() { document.getElementById(txt).value=c; c=c+1; t=setTimeout(timedCount(),1000); } /script /head body form input type=button value=Start count! onClick=timedCount() input type=text id=txt /form /body /html clearTimeout() Syntax clearTimeout(setTimeout_variable) Example The example below is the same as the Infinite Loop example above. The only difference is that we have now added a Stop Count! button that stops the timer: html head script type=text/javascript var c=0 var t function timedCount() { document.getElementById(txt).value=c; c=c+1; t=setTimeout(timedCount(),1000); } function stopCount() { clearTimeout(t); } /script /head body form input type=button value=Start count! onClick=timedCount() input type=text id=txt input type=button value=Stop count! onClick=stopCount() /form /body /html Create Your Own Objects Objects are useful to organize information. JavaScript Objects Earlier in this tutorial we have seen that JavaScript has several built-in objects, like String, Date, Array, and more. In addition to these built-in objects, you can also create your own. An object is just a special kind of data, with a collection of properties and methods. Lets illustrate with an example: A person is an object. Properties are the values associated with the object. The persons properties include name, height, weight, age, skin tone, eye color, etc. All persons have these properties, but the values of those properties will differ from person to person. Objects also have methods. Methods are the actions that can be performed on objects. The persons methods could be eat(), sleep(), work(), play(), etc. Properties The syntax for accessing a property of an object is: objName.propName You can add properties to an object by simply giving it a value. Assume that the personObj already exists you can give it properties named firstname, lastname, age, and eyecolor as follows: personObj.firstname=John; personObj.lastname=Doe; personObj.age=30; personObj.eyecolor=blue; document.write(personObj.firstname); The code above will generate the following output: John Methods An object can also contain methods. You can call a method with the following syntax: objName.methodName() Note: Parameters required for the method can be passed between the parentheses. To call a method called sleep() for the personObj: personObj.sleep(); Creating Your Own Objects There are different ways to create a new object: 1. Create a direct instance of an object The following code creates an instance of an object and adds four properties to it: personObj=new Object(); personObj.firstname=John; personObj.lastname=Doe; personObj.age=50; personObj.eyecolor=blue; Adding a method to the personObj is also simple. The following code adds a method called eat() to the personObj: personObj.eat=eat; 2. Create a template of an object The template defines the structure of an object: function person(firstname,lastname,age,eyecolor) { this.firstname=firstname; this.lastname=lastname; this.age=age; this.eyecolor=eyecolor; } Notice that the template is just a function. Inside the function you need to assign things to this.propertyName. The reason for all the this stuff is that youre going to have more than one person at a time (which person youre dealing with must be clear). Thats what this is: the instance of the object at hand. Once you have the template, you can create new instances of the object, like this: myFather=new person(John,Doe,50,blue); myMother=new person(Sally,Rally,48,green); You can also add some methods to the person object. This is also done inside the template: function person(firstname,lastname,age,eyecolor) { this.firstname=firstname; this.lastname=lastname; this.age=age; this.eyecolor=eyecolor; this.newlastname=newlastname; } Note that methods are just functions attached to objects. Then we will have to write the newlastname() function: function newlastname(new_lastname) { this.lastname=new_lastname; } The newlastname() function defines the persons new last name and assigns that to the person. JavaScript knows which person youre talking about by using this.. So, now you can write: myMother.newlastname(Doe). JavaScript Summary This tutorial has taught you how to add JavaScript to your HTML pages, to make your web site more dynamic and interactive. You have learned how to create responses to events, validate forms and how to make different scripts run in response to different scenarios. You have also learned how to create and use objects, and how to use JavaScripts built-in objects.