I've got an HTA application (IE 6) that I've been trying, as an experiment,
to convert to run under FireFox. The application would now be called "AJAX"
although it wasn't when I started.
It's essentially a client-side app done completely in DHTML - all source
code is requested via internal HTTP calls, all presentation is done via
script.
I ultimately failed, but learned a lot and thought some of it might be
interesting:
1) FireFox does indeed the "onresize" event. However were IE calls the
event continuously as the frame is being resized FireFox calls it only at
the end of the motion. Not a big deal but IE's implementation makes
resizing seem smoother.
2) FireFox does not allow simple values to be applied to style declarations.
For example the following works in IE:
App.Layout.Body.style.height = App.Layout.App.clientHeight - (
App.Layout.Menubar.offsetHeight + App.Layout.Statusbar.offsetHeight) + "px";
But will return blank in FireFox. Adding "px" to the declaration appeases
FireFox but kills IE:
App.Layout.Body.style.height = App.Layout.App.clientHeight - (
App.Layout.Menubar.offsetHeight + App.Layout.Statusbar.offsetHeight) + "px";
I've yet to find a simple solution that works in both (but I'd love to hear
one!)
3) FireFox will not allow the direct assignment of a function to an object.
This will work in IE, but not FF:
Function App.SetLayout { ... };
However it will allow a function literal to be assigned - and this works in
BOTH:
App.SetLayout = function() { ... };
(I use such contructs similar to the way scopes are used in CF - there's an
"App" scope and a "Page" scope, for example.)
4) The thing that killed me dead was the inability for FireFox to
dynamically load script. This may get a little confusing...
My application loads "pages" by calling a XMLHTTP request and loading the
content into a DIV. Multiple pages can be loaded via a rudimentary
windowing manager (for example the "log in page" could appear over a search
page allowing the user to log in without losing context).
The new content is loaded like so (simplified):
// "null" the old element to unload all script
document.getElementById(ElementID).innerHTML = null;
// Load the content
document.getElementById(ElementID).innerHTML = NewContent;
// Call the PageInit function of the new page (if one exists)
if ( Page.Init ) {
Page.Init();
};
This does work in FireFox - however any script in that new content does not
get initialized (as far as I can tell). In IE the new script will get
init'd IF the old script is unloaded first by nulling the container.
This is INSANELY useful to my app - each displayable page defines a
"Page.Init()" function which sets up the page. Using the code above (and
the sorta-scopes like "Page") I can easily create a single page manager that
loads a page and then calls a page-specific init function with no fear of
stepping on other toes.
In FireFox any script in the included content is just ignored - I can't even
get an "alert()" to fire.
This is disappointing - but not wholly unexpected - I don't believe any of
this stuff is covered by any specs so it's not unlikely that different
browsers will handle things differently.
Still, it's a shame that such a nicely elegant technique isn't portable to
FireFox. ;^)
Jim Davis
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