Re: table.rows vs. table.getElementsByTagName (+ a regex question)- additional info from OP

[trimmed attribution novel]

eBob.com wrote:

"eBob.com" <eBob.com (AT) totallybogus (DOT) com> wrote:
var parentwin = external.menuArguments;
[...]
for (iv in x)
{
var tablerows = x[iv].rows
//alert(tablerows.length + " rows") // results in "'tablerows.length'
is
//var tablerows2 = x[iv].getElementsByTagName("tr") // results in
"Object doesn't
// support this
property or method ??????

As you can see by now at last, pre-commenting is much better than
post-commenting. Your Question Mark key is borken, BTW.

for (triv in tablerows)
{
alert("triv is \""+ triv + "\"; outerHTML:" +
tablerows[triv].outerHTML)

This can be written less error-prone and easier legible:

window.alert('triv is "' + triv + '";'
+ ' outerHTML: ' + tablerows[triv].outerHTML);

var marray = re.exec(tablerows[triv].outerHTML)

Why not String.prototype.match() instead?

//var marray = re.exec("<td align='center'
class='class_18'>Name</td>")
[...]

Sorry, I forgot to specify that I run the script under IE 6.0.

I suppose one can guess that from your using the `external' property.

However, Martin's correct explanation still stands. Iteration over the
enumerable properties of a NodeList object for which the reference is
returned by document.getElementsByTagName("table") yields the `length'
property as well in IE 6. And a number value if implicitly converted
into a Number object does not have a getElementsByTagName() method.

Same with the NodeList object reference that tableRows evaluates to.
tableRows["length"] yields a number, and the Number object it is being
converted to does not have an outerHTML property. The result of the
expression therefore is `undefined', and literally "undefined" when
implicitly converted to string by RegExp.prototype.exec(). So your
Regular Expression can't find a match.

Please trim your quotes as recommended e.g. in the FAQ Notes.


PointedEars
--
Anyone who slaps a 'this page is best viewed with Browser X' label on
a Web page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web,
when you had very little chance of reading a document written on another
computer, another word processor, or another network. -- Tim Berners-Lee

Thank you very, VERY much Thomas and Martin! I would have struggled with
this problem for a long, long time without your help.

One loose end ... I have done some more research and learned about
Enumerators. I tried an Enumerator to step through the table rows and it
seems to work. Is there any practical difference between ...

for (var triv = 0, l = tablerows.length; triv < l; triv++)

and ...

var enumTableRows = new Enumerator(tablerows)
for (;!enumTableRows.atEnd();enumTableRows.moveNext())

?

Also, I discovered the problem with my regular expression. After an eyeball
tuneup I saw that document does quite a bit of massaging of the HTML. So my
regular expression, based on the original HTML, didn't have a chance of
working.

Thanks again for your very prompt and thorough help. Bob

eBob.com wrote:

One loose end ... I have done some more research and learned about
Enumerators. I tried an Enumerator to step through the table rows and it
seems to work. Is there any practical difference between ...

for (var triv = 0, l = tablerows.length; triv < l; triv++)

and ...

var enumTableRows = new Enumerator(tablerows)
for (;!enumTableRows.atEnd();enumTableRows.moveNext())

?

Enumerator is specific to Microsoft JScript, don't expect that to work
with other browsers or script engines.

--

Martin Honnen
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/