window.onLoad question

When the onLoad event occurs, do all of the forms objects exist? I think that references to objects in the form are causing the code to terminate. Could it be that the objects don't exist at this time? I get no error message and the page displays without some lists being populated.

I am trying to use some javascript code that I found at The JavascriptSource and I think there is a problem with the code that is executed by the window.onLoad statement. But then, I am very new to java & javascript, so I could be missing something.

Here is the code in question. There are 2 alerts in the first for loop that I used for debugging. I'll refer to them later.

Code:

function getYears() { // build the year list - we only need to see last year & the current year timeC = new Date(); currYear = timeC.getFullYear() - 1; for (var i = 0; i < document.frmSelect.year.length; i++) { alert("i = " + i); document.frmSelect.year.options[0] = null; alert("i = " + i); } for (var i = 0; i < document.frmSelect.year.length; i++) { document.frmSelect.selYear.options[i] = new Option(currYear++); } document.frmSelect.selYear.options[1].selected=true; } // end select_init window.onLoad = getYears(); // End --> </SCRIPT> </HEAD> <FORM NAME="frmSelect"> <FONT FACE="arial"> <CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+2">Incident Information</FONT></B></CENTER><HR> <FONT SIZE="-1">Select from the following to access the desired data. Then press <b>Display Graph</B>.<BR> Device/station:&nbsp <SELECT NAME="selLocale"> <OPTION VALUE="M1">Mumbai - station A <OPTION VALUE="M2">Mumbai - station B </SELECT><BR> Incident Date: &nbsp</FONT> <SELECT NAME="selYear" ONCHANGE="populate(this.form,this.form.selMonth.selectedIndex);"> <OPTION> </OPTION> <OPTION> </OPTION> </SELECT>&nbsp

Leaving the option text blank, nothing is populated in the year list and I never see an alert. I also get no error, which I find curious.

If I change the first for statement to

Code:

for (var i = 0; i < 2; i++) { alert("i = " + i); document.frmSelect.year.options[0] = null; alert("i = " + i); }

then I see the first alert, but not the second. The reference to document.frmSelect.year.length has been replaced with the hardcoded value 2, making document.frmSelect.year.options[0] the first reference to frmSelect. This is the basis for my belief that the reference to the form/object is terminating code execution.

One other question. What's up with the statement in the above for loop? Why is the subscript set to 0 (zero) and not i? There is another function that updates the day list whenever the onChange event occurs for the year or month. It uses the same algorithm and works, but I have no idea why.

Try commenting this out:

//window.onLoad = getYears();

and add this to the BODY tag:

<body ONLOAD = "getYears();">

See if that makes a difference.

Quote:

Originally posted by Psyrus
Try commenting this out:

//window.onLoad = getYears();

and add this to the BODY tag:

<body ONLOAD = "getYears();">

See if that makes a difference.

I had already tried that with the same result.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm using frames and this is one of 3 forms on the page.

I got tired of beating myself over the head with this one so I started calling around the company for some guidence. Someone suggested I put script inside the <select> </select> tags and that worked for me.

I got rid of the window.onLoad statement and the getYears function. The rest of the code that I originally posted now looks like this:

Code:

</HEAD> <FORM NAME="frmSelect"> <FONT FACE="arial"> <CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+2">Incident Information</FONT></B></CENTER><HR> <FONT SIZE="-1">Select from the following to access the desired data. Then press <b>Display Graph</B>.<BR> Device/station:&nbsp <SELECT NAME="selLocal"> <OPTION VALUE="M1">Mumbai - station A <OPTION VALUE="M2">Mumbai - station B </SELECT><BR> Incident Date: &nbsp</FONT> <SELECT NAME="selYear" ONCHANGE="populate(this.form,this.form.selMonth.selectedIndex);"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> // build the year list - we only need to see last year & the current year timeC = new Date(); currYear = timeC.getFullYear() - 1; for (var i = 0; i < 2; i++) { document.frmSelect.selYear.options[i] = new Option(currYear++); } document.frmSelect.selYear.options[1].selected=true; </SCRIPT> </SELECT>&nbsp