yet another 'object has no properties' error

I have a function that receives a form name and field name.

someFunc(formName, fieldName) {
var fieldVal = document.forms[formName].elements[fieldName].value;
[snip]
}

This triggers the 'has no properties error. An alert message shows the
correct values are being passed in. If I hardcode
var fieldVal = document.realFormName.realFieldName.value;
no error is generated and fieldVal has the value of the input field.

An alert(document.forms.length) displays 1, which is what I would
expect. It seems if I try to access some part of the document through
variables in javascript errors are generated. If I hard code document
object names in the javascript then the javascript functions as
expected.

The generated document passes the w3c validator test, although that
doesn't look at all of the sourced javascript files; and the Mozilla
JavaScript console shows no errors until the above function is called.

How can I troubleshoot this problem?

Thanks

Dennis

re: yet another 'object has no properties' error

droesler@comcast.net wrote:
Show us the function call so that we know the actual parameter values,
then show us the corresponding HTML markup for the form and the element.
Or post a URL where the problem occurs. Does the problem only occur
with Mozilla or other browsers too?

--

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

re: yet another 'object has no properties' error

Martin Honnen wrote:The HTML markup with the function call:
<a href="javascript:getEmail('officeInfo', 'officeEmail')"
title="Click here to select email addresses...">eMail</a>
<input type="text" name="officeEmail" value="$officeEmail"
tabindex="9">

The javascript function:
function getEmail(formName, fieldName) {
var email =
window.document.forms[formName].elements[fieldName].value;
if (email.length 0) {
email += ",";
}
var link = "/cgi-bin/ldapEmailPickList.pl?formName=" + formName +
"&fieldName=" + fieldName;
link += "&emailList=" + email;
window.open(link, "", "menubar, scrollbars, resizable, width=650,
height=600");
return;
}

re: yet another 'object has no properties' error

droes...@comcast.net wrote:Meant to add that it occurs in both Mozilla and IE.