HTML Entities

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 04:55 PM

Anybody know any scripts or ways to search all characters like " /\().!@#$%^&*" and replace them with their entity? everytime i try something like str.match("(") or .match ("/50") or so on i get object expected errors saying it needs a ) any ideas?

**felgall** · 07-01-2007, 05:11 PM

Put a \ in front of each of those characters if you want it to represent the character rather than hhave its special meaning.

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 06:18 PM

I have tried that and i still get ) object expected error can you provide me an example for searching a string for all "(" symbols in it and replacing it with something else

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 08:40 PM

Code:

someString.replace(/\&/g, "&amp;"); // the ampersand should be converted first
someString.replace(/\!/g, "!")
someString.replace(/\(/g, "(");
etc.

EDIT: Ug. The forum is being a pain. The last exclamation mark and parenthese are supposed to be character entities.

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 08:51 PM

It is still not working it seems to weork fine for regular characters but i still get an error saying Expected ')' in regular expression

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 08:53 PM

Can we see what you have?

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 09:04 PM

for example paste "hello world(how are you" and then highlight it and select one of the images and you will see the error im getting

Code:


<html>
<head>
<title>Formatter</title>

<script language="JavaScript">
function TrackCount(fieldObj,countFieldName,maxChars)
{
  var countField = eval("fieldObj.form."+countFieldName);
  var diff = maxChars - fieldObj.value.length;

  // Need to check & enforce limit here also in case user pastes data
  if (diff < 0)
  {
    fieldObj.value = fieldObj.value.substring(0,maxChars);
    diff = maxChars - fieldObj.value.length;
  }
  countField.value = diff;
}

function LimitText(fieldObj,maxChars)
{
  var result = true;
  if (fieldObj.value.length >= maxChars)
    result = false;

  if (window.event)
    window.event.returnValue = result;
  return result;
}


</script>



</head>
<body>

<form name="entryForm" action="" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="flash_new">
<table border="0">
<tr>
  <td colspan=2 bgcolor=eeeaeb><b>Add a new Flash Article</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
  <td>Title:</td>
  <td><input type="text" maxlength=100 name="Flash_title"
 value="" onkeyup="PreviewWindow()"><font color=999999 size=-1> (Think of this as your subject line)</font></td>
</tr>
<tr style='display:none;'>
  <td>Author:</b></td>
  <td><input type="text" maxlength=20 name="Flash_author" disabled=true
 value=""></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td>Affected:</b></td>
  <td><select name="Flash_markets" value="" onchange="PreviewWindow()">

	<Option selected>
	<option value="Global">GLOBAL
    	
    </select>

 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td>Potential/Confirmed:</b></td>
  <td><input type=radio name="Flash_potconfirm" value="Potential" checked="yes">Potential Issue&nbsp;&nbsp;<input type=radio name="Flash_potconfirm" value="Confirmed">Confirmed Issue

	</select>

</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td>Description:</b></td>
  <td><textarea onkeypress="LimitText(this,4000);PreviewWindow()" onkeyup="TrackCount(this,'textcount',4000);PreviewWindow()" rows=4 cols=60 name="Flash_descrip"
 value=""></textarea>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<img src='red.bmp' onclick='ChColor("red","","","")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='yellow.bmp' onclick='ChColor("yellow","","","")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='blue.bmp' onclick='ChColor("#66CCFF","","","")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='purple.bmp' onclick='ChColor("purple","","I","U")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='magenta.bmp' onclick='ChColor("magenta","B","","U")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='orange.bmp' onclick='ChColor("orange","B","I","U")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='orange.bmp' onclick='ChColor("orange","B","I","")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<img src='orange.bmp' onclick='ChColor("orange","B","","")' title='Highligt Text and then select a color' style='cursor:pointer'>
<font size="2"><i><br>Characters remaining: </i></font>
          <input value="4000" size="3" name="textcount" type="text" disabled=true><font color=999999 size=-1> (This is the main body of the issue)</font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td>Instructions:</b></td>
  <td><textarea onkeypress="LimitText(this,4000);PreviewWindow()" onkeyup="TrackCount(this,'textcount2',4000);PreviewWindow()" rows=4 cols=60 name="Flash_instr"
 ></textarea><font size="2"><i><br>Characters remaining: </i></font>
          <input value="4000" size="3" name="textcount2" type="text" disabled=true><font color=999999 size=-1> (This is where you ask for examples (via comments), state requirements for s, etc.)</font></td>
</tr>
<tr style='display:none;'>
  <td>Date/Time:</b></td>
  <td><input type="text" maxlength=20 name="Flash_date" disabled=true
 value=""></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td> </td>
  <td><input type="submit" value="Submit">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<input type="button" value="preview" onclick='PreviewWindow()'></td>
</tr>
</table>

</form>
<script>
function ChColor(color,stylB,stylI,stylU) {
   
    var selectedHtml=(document.selection.createRange()).htmlText;
    var desp=document.entryForm.Flash_descrip;
    var inst=document.entryForm.Flash_instr;
	if (selectedHtml == '') {
	  return;
	}
	else if (desp.value.match(selectedHtml)) {
	  var eme = desp.value;
	  var disp = desp;
	}
	else if (inst.value.match(selectedHtml)) {
	  var eme = inst.value;
	  var disp = inst;
	}
	if (eme == undefined) {
	  return;
	} 
	else {
          selectedHtml=selectedHtml.replace(/\(/g,"999");
	  if (stylB==''){stylL='';stylR='';}
	  if (stylB=='B'){stylL='<b>';stylR='</b>';}
	  if (stylI==''){stylL=stylL+stylL;stylR=stylR+stylR;}
	  if (stylI=='I'){stylL=stylL+'<i>';stylR=stylR+'</i>';}
	  if (stylU==''){stylL=stylL+stylL;stylR=stylR+stylR;}
	  if (stylU=='U'){stylL=stylL+'<u>';stylR=stylR+'</u>';}
	  eme =(eme.split(selectedHtml));
	  disp.value=eme[0]+'<span style=background-color:'+color+'>'+ stylL + selectedHtml + stylR +'</span>'+eme[1]+' ';

	  disp.blur();
	  PreviewWindow()
	}
}
function PreviewWindow()
{
var currentTime = new Date()
var month = currentTime.getMonth() + 1
var day = currentTime.getDate()
var year = currentTime.getFullYear()
var hours = currentTime.getHours()
var minutes = currentTime.getMinutes()
if (minutes < 10){
minutes = "0" + minutes;}
    if(hours > 11){
      APwrite="PM";
	if(hours >= 13) {
	   hours = hours - 12;
        }
    } else {
  	     APwrite="AM";
      }
var TitleA = document.all.Flash_title.value;
var MarketA = document.all.Flash_markets.value;
var PotentialA = document.all.Flash_potconfirm.checked;
var DescriptionA = document.entryForm.Flash_descrip.value;
var instructionsA = document.entryForm.Flash_instr.value;
var TimeA = month + '/' + day + '/' + year +' '+ hours + ':' + minutes + ' '+ APwrite;
var xx1 = '<br><br><h4>Insite Article Preview</h4><table border=1 bordercolor=#cccccc width=55% cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0><tr><td colspan=2><B>';
var xx2 = '</b></td><td><font color=Navy><b>Date:</b></font>';
var xx3 = '</td></tr><tr><td><font color=Navy><b>Market:</b></font>';
var xx4 = '</td><td><font color=Navy><b>Status:</b></font>';
var xx5 = '</td><td><font color=Navy><b>Author:</b></font>Preview</td></tr><tr><td colspan=3><font color=Navy><b>Description:</b></font><br>';
var xx6 = '</td></tr><tr><td colspan=3><font color=Navy><b>Instructions:</b></font><br>';
var xx7 ='</td></tr></table>';

  preview.innerHTML = xx1 +TitleA+ xx2 + TimeA + xx3 + MarketA + xx4 +PotentialA+ xx5 +DescriptionA+ xx6 +instructionsA + xx7;

}

</script>

<div name=preview id=preview>
</div>

</body>
</html>

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 09:35 PM

The only error I get is regarding "document.selection" and that's because it's an IE-only object, as far as I know anyway.

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 09:42 PM

here is a picture

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 09:56 PM

I'm not seeing that. I copied your code into a new page on my computer, but I didn't get that error message. Do you have a copy of the page online?

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 10:10 PM

sorry it is an intranet page if you save it as an html it should work fine.. now it is only designed for ie i only use IE6 here so if your using 7 im not sure if its compatable

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 10:22 PM

I found the line causing your error (on the very line number the error message points you to.)

Code:

else if (desp.value.match(selectedHtml)) {

You're taking this string "selectedHtml" which is the user's input, and you're using it as if it were a regular expression pattern. Possibly "indexOf" is the method you want to use? I'm not sure what you're trying to do, so I can't be sure how to fix it for you. But at least now you know the problem.

**pentace** · 07-01-2007, 10:26 PM

i knew where the problem is i just do not understand why i get it? since it only happens with special characters i try to remove special characters.

the main purpose od this is to be able to select any text in the text field and color it with a click of the button even if it has special characters.. it is for people at my work not able to understand code

**Jeff Mott** · 07-01-2007, 10:31 PM

I did my best to explain. What you're doing is storing the user's input into the variable "selectedHtml". That's fine. But then you use that variable as if it were a regular expression when it's really just an arbitrary string. Using it as if it were a regexp is why special characters are causing problems, because they're being parsed as regexp meta characters.