April 6, 2000 - Controlling Frames | WebReference

April 6, 2000 - Controlling Frames

Yehuda Shiran April 6, 2000
Controlling Frames
Tips: April 2000

Yehuda Shiran, Ph.D.
Doc JavaScript

One of the capabilities of frame sets is the ability to control multiple frames from a single frame. There are two basic ways to do it. The first one is a combination of an HREF and an event handler assignment:

<A HREF="frame4new.html" TARGET="bottomrow" 
onClick="parent.frames[1].location.href = 'frame4new.html'; 
return true;">Multiple Load #1</A>

In this example, we first load frame4new.html (HREF="frame4new.html") at the bottom row frame (TARGET="bottomrow"). Then, we use the onClick event handler to load the file frame4new.html in frame no. 1:

onClick="parent.frames[1].location.href = 'frame4new.html'; return true";

The second approach is to include all operations in the HREF's javascript: URL:

<A HREF="javascript:void(parent.frames[1].location.href='frame4new.html');
void(parent.frames[2].location.href='frame4new.html');">Multiple Load #2</A>

Here we assign frame4new.html to both frame 1 and frame 2. Although this technique doesn't degrade as well as the first for non-javascript enabled browsers, it is more straightforward. Familiarize yourself with the javascript: URL and its usage. We have covered this subject in Column 34, for example. Remember to return void from your JavaScript statements, as explained in Column34.

Learn more about frames in Column 36, JavaScript and Frames, Part I .