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Since Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer 3.0, JavaScript has gained a quite a bit of recognition. The reason being? Well, now JavaScript is supported by the most popular browsers on the web: Netscape Navigator 2.0+ and Microsoft Explorer 3.0 (aka IE3.0). If you have some knowledge on this easy to learn but powerful scripting language, I would like to encourage you to try some of the simple JavaScript snippets from this article.
In the article, I will show you some neat little scripts that you can use in your homepages and really surprise others who are not familiar with this language. Some of the examples presented here will be useful as well. For example, Now that we have different versions of the Netscape browser and only the
latest can handle certain plug-ins or JavaScript syntax, you might want to
know which version of the browser your visitor is using. If your visitor is
using Navigator 2.0 and you have JavaScript 1.1 on your page, the client's
browser surely will crash. Detecting a browser is a great example for
making sure that you can offer your page to all of your clients, not just
the ones who have the latest browser.
Another example would be displaying the latest update date of your Web page.
If your visitor knows when your page was updated, they can choose
whether or not to surf the page. Who likes to browse through month-old
information?
The same concept will apply to some of the other scripts that are presented
here. Just by cutting and pasting some of this code, you can make your site
a better looking and more enjoyable place to visit.
Your first JavaScript script
In any language, the programmer needs to find out how to output text into a
document. In order to output text in JavaScript you must use write() or
writeln(). Here's an example:
Writing text on a document
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Writing text on a document</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT">
<!-- Hiding the code
document.write("Welcome to Applications in JavaScript!");
// done hiding -->
</SCRIPT>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
If you're familiar with JavaScript
syntax, this script should be easy for you to understand. You will
notice that we have included the code in between <SCRIPT> and
</SCRIPT> tags. We made sure the document object
write is in lowercase as JavaScript is case sensitive.
Now, you might be wondering what the difference is between
write and writeln. Well, while
write just outputs a text, writeln outputs a
line feed after the text output.
Date and time
You probably have seen many Web sites that incorporate a clock. Before
JavaScript, you had to use CGI to have the current date and time on a page.
Now, creating clocks and the date is easy and can make your site look cool.
Using this example, you also can create custom greetings for your visitor,
depending on the time of day. For example, you can have a message saying,
"It's 12:00 a.m.. Go to bed!"
If you look at the Netscape's JavaScript documentation, you will know that
there are two built-in functions in JavaScript that let you display date
and time. The following example will display the current time and date in a
text box with an option to stop the time.
Showing date and time on a document
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Showing date and time on a document</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT">
<!--Hiding the code
var show_time=false;
var timerID=null;
function stop(){
if (show_time){
clearTimeout(timerID);
document.clock.date_time.value=" ";
}
show_time=false;
}
function start(form){
var today=new Date();
var display_value =" Time= " + today.getHours()
if(today.getMinutes() < 10){
display_value+=":0" + today.getMinutes();
}
else{
display_value+=":" + today.getMinutes();
}
if (today.getSeconds() < 10){
display_value+=":0" + today.getSeconds();
}
else{
display_value+=":" + today.getSeconds();
}
if(today.getHours()>=12){
display_value+=" P.M."
/* Here we have a variable called mygreeting where
you can store somthing like this:
mygreeting ="Good Morning!"; */
}
else{
display_value+=" A.M."
/* Now set mygreeting to:
mygreeting ="Good Afternoon!"; */
}
display_value += " Date= " + (today.getMonth()+1) + "/" +
today.getDate() + "/" + today.getYear();
document.clock.date_time.value=display_value;
timerID=setTimeout("start()",100);
show_time=true;
/* Here have an alert() method do the following:
alert(mygreeting); */
}
//done hiding-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=white Text=Red Link=Green onLoad=stop()>
<center>
<H2>Displaying Date and Time</H2>
<FORM name=clock>
<INPUT type="text" name="date_time" size=35 value=" "><br>
<INPUT type="button" name="show_now" value="Display" onClick=start()>
<INPUT type="button" name="clear_now" value=" Clear " onClick=stop()>
</center>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
In this script, we have two functions (stop() and
start()) for our two buttons Display and Clear. When the
button Display is pressed, the start() function is called,
and when the button Clear is pressed, the stop() function
is called. Both of these functions are called using the
onClick event handler.
Now the stop() function simply clears the
setTimeout method that is used in the start()
function. This function also clears the text box that displays the
time and date. Finally, the function puts a false value to the Boolean
variable show_time.
In start() function, a new instance of date using the
statement new is created. Then a variable
display_value was defined so that we can export the date
and time value in the text box later. Remember that we are using the
display_value as a string variable. Now we have to make
sure that if the seconds and minutes are less than 10, they are both
displayed as single digits. The if...else statement is
used for that purpose.
In order to display a.m. or p.m., another if...else
statement is used to check for a value more than or equal to 12. So,
if the time value is more than 12, display_value would
then hold "p.m.," otherwise it would hold "a.m." Lastly, the value of
the day, month, and the year is added in the variable. Now it's time to
display the data into the text box. This is done with the following
code:
document.clock.date_time.value=display_value;
The above code takes the value of display_value and puts
it in the property called value of the text box named
date_time. The word document is used to insure that we
are indicating the current document. Lastly, the variable
timerID is set and show_time is set to true.
Notice that timeID uses the setTimeOut()
function with the parameters start() and 100. The reason
why 100 is passed in is because the function start() is
within one tenth of the second.
Displaying automatic page
update information
Let's say you have a homepage
and you update it frequently. Wouldn't it be nice to include the last
update date on your page? Well, here is how you can do that:
Displaying automatic page update information
<HTML>
<HEAD></HEAD>
<TITLE> Displaying Update Info</TITLE>
<BODY bgcolor=ffffff>
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--hide script from old browsers
document.write("<h2>This page has been updated: " +
document.lastModified + "</h2>");
// end hiding -->
</script>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
All you needed to do here is use the lastModified
property of the document. That's all!
Measuring users' time
on a page
This script can tell the visitors of your homepage how much time they
have spent on your page. To do that, first we create a function called
person_in(). This function creates a new date instance
which is called via the onLoad() event handler. We then
create another function called person_out() which is
called via onUnload() event handler. This function also
creates a new date instance. We then take the difference of the two
date instances, divide the result by 1000, and round the result. The
reason to divide the result by 1000 is to convert the visited time into
seconds. The result is then displayed via an alert() method.
Measuring a user's time on a page
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Detecting User's Time on a Page</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function person_in() {
enter=new Date();
}
function person_out() {
exit=new Date();
time_dif=(exit.getTime()-enter.getTime())/1000;
time_dif=Math.round(time_dif);
alert ("You've only been here for: " + time_dif + " seconds!!")
}
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor=ffffff onLoad='person_in()' onUnLoad='person_out()'>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
Detecting a particular browser
Our next example shows you how to detect a particular browser.
As mentioned earlier, this is useful because you could have a
page that supports JavaScript for only Netscape 3.0, therefore,
you don't want a visitor to visit the page without that browser.
Detecting the appropriate browser
<HTML>
<TITLE>Detecting User's Browser</TITLE>
<HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=ffffff>
<SCRIPT Language="JavaScript">
if (navigator.appName == "Netscape"){
if (navigator.appVersion.substring(0, 3) == "3.0"){
if (navigator.appVersion.substring(3, 4) == "b"){
alert('You are using :' + navigator.appName + ' (' +
navigator.appCodeName + ') ' + navigator.appVersion +
'\nSorry! You are not using Netscape 3.0+');
history.back();
}
}
}
else {
alert('Sorry! You are not using Netscape 3.0+');
}
</SCRIPT>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
Here we use the some of the properties of the Navigator object. First we
find out if the browser is a Netscape browser. If so, we detect if the
version is 3.0. If the version is a beta version, we display the whole
browser information with its platform, and alert the user that he or she is
not using a Netscape 3.0 browser.
Notice that before we closed the if statement, we used
the history.back()
statement. It is used so that when the user presses OK on the alert message
box, the document automatically takes the user to the previous page. This is
useful because sometimes if you run JavaScript 1.1 on Netscape browser 2.0
or earlier, the browser might crash; this will prevent users from crashing
their browsers.
Here's another useful tip: You could also send the user to a different
page if the browser is not Version 3.0. Instead of the
history.back() statement, you need to type the following
statement: window.location="myotherpage.html".
This script can also alert visitors that if they want to view this page,
they need to acquire the appropriate browser.
Warning: The else statement is not effective unless you
use a JavaScript-enabled browser besides Netscape, such as Microsoft's
Explorer 3.0.
Playing on-demand sound
A page with sound can be really nice! This not only gives users
something to listen to when they are visiting, it also makes your site more
multimedia savvy. With JavaScript, you can play sound when the document
is loaded or exited, or when the user pushes a link. The following listing
will show you how we can use an image as a link for playing an on-demand sound.
Playing on-demand sound
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Playing on-demand sound</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function play(){
window.location = "sample.au"
}
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<body bgcolor=ffffff>
<h2>Playing on-demand sound:</h2>
<b>Please click on the image below</b><br>
<a href="ex5_:play()"><img src="sound.jpg" border=0></a>
</body>
</HTML>
Test This Example
First we had an image that calls the function play().
Notice the way we linked the function: javascript:play().
This makes sure that this hyperlink is a JavaScript link that should
call the function play(). The play function uses the
location property of the document object and simply points to the sound
file.
You should note that if you want to play other files such as a
Shockwave file, all you need to do is replace the "sample.au" with a
shock wave file (e.g."sample.dcr").
Scrolling Banner
The next example will show you how to create a scrolling banner that will
display your text on the browser's status bar. This is a useful script as
it can display a scrolling message you might want your visitors to see. A
banner can grab your visitor's attention and thus is a great way to pass on
your information.
The difference between this scrolling banner and others you have
seen is that you can control the banner's speed and pause the
scrolling. Let's see the script:
Scrolling banner
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
var b_speed=8; //defines banner speed
var banner_id=10;
var b_pause=0; //to pause the banner
var b_pos=0;
function stop() {
if(!b_pause) {
clearTimeout(banner_id);
b_pause=1;
}
else {
banner_main();
b_pause=0;
}
}
function banner_main() {
msg="W e l c o m e to J a v a S c r i pt!"
+" JavaScript can do some really"
+" Cool stuff. Check out http://rhoque.com"
+" for more examples..."
var k=(40/msg.length)+1;
for(var j=0;j<==k;j++) msg+=" "+msg;
window.status=msg.substring(b_pos,b_pos+120);
if(b_pos++==msg.length){
b_pos=0;
}
banner_id=setTimeout("banner_main()",1000/b_speed);
}
</script>
</head>
<TITLE>Banner</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="ffffff">
<H2> Example 5.8:</h2>
<P ALIGN=Center>
<FORM name="form1" action="">
<P ALIGN=Center>
<input type="button" value="Start"
onclick='{
clearTimeout(banner_id);
b_pos=0;
banner_main()
}'>
<input type="button" value="Slower" onclick='
{
if (b_speed<3){
alert("Does not get any slower!");
}
else b_speed=b_speed-1;
}'>
<input type="button" value="Faster" onclick='
{
if (b_speed>18){
alert("Does not get any faster!");
}
else b_speed=b_speed+2;
}'>
<input type="button" value="Pause" onclick='stop()'>
<input type="button" value="Reset" onclick='b_speed=8;'>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Test This Example
The script is simple. There are three to four imported parts to the
script. There are two functions: stop() and
banner_main(). The stop() function is used
to pause the scrolling text. First we check if the banner is paused, if
it is not, we use the clearTimeout() method to pause the
banner and make the b_pause variable true. When the user
clicks on the Pause button, the function calls the
banner_main() function. Lastly, we make the
b_pause variable false.
In our banner_main() function, we first assign a value to
the variable msg. Then, we take the length of
msg, divide that by 40, and add one to the result. This
value is assigned to k. Now a loop is used from
j to k to add the blanks to the value of
msg. Next, we display the banner in a window's status bar
by taking the substring of msg from 0 to 120. Later we see
if the b_pos becomes as long as the msg
length and set the b_pos equal to zero again.
To make the banner go faster we just increase the value of
b_speed, and to make the banner go slower we decrease the
value of b_speed.
* * * * *
About the Author:
This article is adapted from a chapter of Reaz Hoque's upcoming
JavaScript book titled "Practical JavaScript Programming" by MIS Press.
Hoque is an author, software developer, and a Web designer. Recently he
worked on one of the world's first online
commerce application development
projects for FGIC Public Sourcing
Services (a division of GE Capital). He can be reached at: rhoque@rhoque.com.
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