how difficult is this?

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sanjuT

i have a page that has a list of comments that the user made (along with a lot of other info). this page is for a specific projectID (in the URL).

i want to make the comments (that are in a table) links, where if the user clicks on one, a pop up appears with that comment (and the date and user, which are displayed in the parent already). The comment is in a textbox, so that the user can modify the comment as they like. Right now, the user can only add a new comment, not modify an existing one.

then the user clicks submit (in the child) and it closes the popup, and refreshes the parent so that the modified comment is now displayed.

Is this hard? worried about the parent/child interaction, like how i can close the popup and refresh the parent. I want a basic popup (no URL bar, etc), can i still pass info through the URL?

any help is greatly appreciated!
THANKS!

phpnovice

The whole scenario is not that difficult (split things up into separate questions for answering) -- though you'll have to take pains to get everything set up just right. Yes, you can still pass info on the URL to a window that has no window dressings.

sanjuT

thanks.

ok, how can this be done:

I will pass the edited comment into the database w/ a stored proc.

then i close the window w/ a document.window.close(), or something like that?

How can i refresh the parent page from the child page? would i refresh first, then close the child?

THANKS!

phpnovice

First caveat: Opening a child window without window dressings will require JavaScript.
Second caveat: Refreshing the parent window will require JavaScript.
Third caveat: Automatically closing the child window will require JavaScript.

Techniques for the parent window:

Your parent window will need to name itself so that the child window may target the parent window by name -- for refresh purposes. Place the following JavaScript in the head section of your parent document to accomplish this:

top.name = "myParentWindow";

You will set up the links on your comments in the parent document so that they use the target="blank" specification to open a new window. To alter the window dressings on this new window, you'll use the following JavaScript:

<a href="edit_comments.asp" target="_blank" onclick="javascript&#58;
 window.open(this.href, this.target,
             'width=300,height=200,scrollbars,resizable');
 return false;">(your commnets)</a>

This code could also easily be implemented into a function call:

<a href="edit_comments.asp" target="_blank"
 onclick="return OpenCommentWindow(this);">(your comments)</a>

Techniques for the child window:

The only thing the child window needs is a specially coded FORM tag:

<form method="post" action="parent_page.asp" target="myParentWindow" onsubmit="javascript&#58;
 window.setTimeout('top.close()',3000); return true;">

sanjuT

THANKS A LOT!!!!!

i have this problem now, where the popup returns a 'page cannot be found' error. in the status bar when i hover over the link the link appears right. why would that page not load in the popup?

phpnovice

Originally posted by sanjuT
why would that page not load in the popup?

Sounds like you may have used the function method and got your function coding wrong. The function would look like this:

function OpenCommentWindow(lnk) {
 window.open(lnk.href, lnk.target,
             'width=300,height=200,scrollbars,resizable');
 return false;
}

sanjuT

wow, thanks! that worked!

now i am working on saving the changes. got an error about operation not allowed when the object is closed...i'll look into it.

thanks again!!

phpnovice

Originally posted by sanjuT
got an error about operation not allowed when the object is closed...i'll look into it.

If this is occurring when the child window form is submitted, you may need to increase the timeout part of the script in the FORM tag:

window.setTimeout('top.close()',4000);

1000 = 1 second, etc.

sanjuT

yes, it happens when submitting from the child.

i tried making the timeout longer, same prob.

i have to code the action of the form tag as:

EditTicket.asp?IncidentID=(a number)

i will try to add the incident id in, can i do that? or should i make a variable and use the variable in the form tag (instead of all the code)?

phpnovice

Your ASP code can build the action attribute to include the incident number itself.

<form method="post" action="EditTicket.asp?IncidentID=<?=id?>"
 target="myParentWindow" onsubmit="javascript&#58;
 window.setTimeout('top.close()',3000); return true;">

sanjuT

u have been a great help to me, thank you.

i have one more question.

i hardcoded an incident id to test. it refreshed the page, and closed the child window. but the modified comment wasn't saved. i guess i have to code in the parent to see if the comment was modified?

i usually check a button like this:

if request("btnSave") = "Save" then.....

but since the action of the child is the parent, i put this type of code in the parent?

does this make sense?

phpnovice

Yes, the only ASP code that goes in the child document is for building the content of the child document. The parent document will receive any changes made when POSTing the child document. The parent document must process these changes before building the HTTP Response to send back to the parent window.

sanjuT

how can i let the parent know that it is receiving info from the child?

phpnovice

The same way you normally would:

if request("btnChild") = "Save" then.....

sanjuT

thanks, i'll post on monday how things went.

AGAIN, thank you, u have been extremely helpful to me

phpnovice

Cheers.

sanjuT

this is my button in the popup window:

the onclick refers to a function in an nclude on the page.

I can't seem to pass the value of this button to the parent.

phpnovice

Does the child FORM tag have the correct TARGET specified? Also, this:

onclick="PostAndValidateForm(this);"

should be done in the FORM tag as follows:

onsubmit="return ValidateForm(this);"

and return a false value for validation errors to automatically prevent form submission. Return a true value when you're ready for the form to actually submit.

sanjuT

is this correct (u wrote):

onsubmit="return ValidateForm(this);

for the form tag? should be:

onsubmit="return PostAndValidateForm(this);"

because that's my function name?

EDIT
the target must be wrong actually. working on it

also, the target is fine, the target page is updated w/ the modified info. BUT...

it adds an additional comment to the table, it doesn't overwrite the original (which it should). i want to gte at this problem by calling a stored proc. from the parent when a value is returned for the button. but no value is being passed.

make sense?

sanjuT

i am actually making a mess of the form tag. can't get it to work:

 response.write ("<form method=""POST"" action=""EditTicket.asp?IncidentID=" + cstr(IncidentID) + "" " target="myParentWindow" onsubmit="javascript:
 window.setTimeout('top.close()',5000); return true;"">")

i am messing up the quotes i guess. also, the single quotes in the Timeout part comment out the rest of the line.

how do i write this form tag properly?

THANKS again for your effort, i really can't thank u enough!