How Does JavaScript Call Forth CSS??

[Prisoner at War]

Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one: just
how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

Right now, my newbie self only knows JavaScript and CSS to *co-
exist*...but I'm beginning to get the sense that they actually
interact -- or, perhaps more precisely, JavaScript acts upon CSS...but
how, exactly??

I see how JavaScript acts upon HTML, but I'm not so sure where
JavaScript acts upon CSS...moreover, I want to see where they could
create whole new browsing experiences, beyond simply new text and new
images (though I'm only just beginning at the level of new ways of
presenting text and images)....

How do I go about all this?? Ugh, I hope all those $$$ worth of books
will help...so far, I'm learning very basic things which I actually
wouldn't use (though the learning itself is fun), while the things I
would like to do, I either don't have the technical know-how for it or
I don't have the creative imagination to bring together what little I
do know -- sigh!!

[Nik Coughlin]

"Prisoner at War" <pr************ *@yahoo.comwrot e in message
news:c8******** *************** ***********@m44 g2000hsc.google groups.com...

>
Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one: just
how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

Right now, my newbie self only knows JavaScript and CSS to *co-
exist*...but I'm beginning to get the sense that they actually
interact -- or, perhaps more precisely, JavaScript acts upon CSS...but
how, exactly??

I see how JavaScript acts upon HTML, but I'm not so sure where
JavaScript acts upon CSS...moreover, I want to see where they could
create whole new browsing experiences, beyond simply new text and new
images (though I'm only just beginning at the level of new ways of
presenting text and images)....

How do I go about all this?? Ugh, I hope all those $$$ worth of books
will help...so far, I'm learning very basic things which I actually
wouldn't use (though the learning itself is fun), while the things I
would like to do, I either don't have the technical know-how for it or
I don't have the creative imagination to bring together what little I
do know -- sigh!!

Basically, you get the element in Javascript, and set its style property.

<div id="content">bl ah</div>

javascript:

var contentDiv = document.getEle mentById( "content" );
contentDiv.styl e.marginLeft = "1em";

Generally (there may be exceptions but I'm not aware of any) the property of
the object corresponds to the name of the CSS property but camel cased.

[Jeremy J Starcher]

[Cross-posting snipped.]

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:53:33 -0700, Prisoner at War wrote:

Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one: just
how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

Right now, my newbie self only knows JavaScript and CSS to *co-
exist*...but I'm beginning to get the sense that they actually interact
-- or, perhaps more precisely, JavaScript acts upon CSS...but how,
exactly??

I see how JavaScript acts upon HTML, but I'm not so sure where
JavaScript acts upon CSS...moreover, I want to see where they could
create whole new browsing experiences, beyond simply new text and new
images (though I'm only just beginning at the level of new ways of
presenting text and images)....

Javascript is a programming language. A simple but useful one.
Javascript, *BY ITS SELF* can not interact with anything.

Style sheets are a set of hints that direct a user agent over how
information should be displayed.

Both Javascript and CSS co-exist in the user agent, typically a web
browser.

(In addition there is a third important player to this game called the
DOM [Document Object Model]. The DOM gives Javascript a way to interact
with the host environment.)

How do I go about all this?? Ugh, I hope all those $$$ worth of books
will help...so far, I'm learning very basic things which I actually
wouldn't use (though the learning itself is fun), while the things I
would like to do, I either don't have the technical know-how for it or I
don't have the creative imagination to bring together what little I do
know -- sigh!!

I don't know any of the Javascript books, but I don't hear any of them
mentioned highly around here. I've learned a lot by lurking the
newsgroup here and the FAQ's.

Javascript may call DOM functions. Those functions, in turn, may update
the 'page' by replacing elements, adding elements, moving or unhiding.
In short, making a site interactive.
Start off reading the group's FAQ. That will give you a good solid
background in some of the more important aspects of Javascript.
When Googling for example code, keep in mind that 90% of everything is
crap. I got bit pretty heavily by learning from some bad examples and
put together a guide to help others avoid my mistake. Might help you.

http://www.mopedepot.com/jjs/HowToRe...criptCode.html

(Hmmm.. I still haven't uploaded the final version of that. That one is
fairly good though.)

[Ben C]

On 2008-04-27, Nik Coughlin <nr******@gmail .comwrote:

"Prisoner at War" <pr************ *@yahoo.comwrot e in message
news:c8******** *************** ***********@m44 g2000hsc.google groups.com...

>>
Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one: just
how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

[...]

Basically, you get the element in Javascript, and set its style property.

<div id="content">bl ah</div>

javascript:

var contentDiv = document.getEle mentById( "content" );
contentDiv.styl e.marginLeft = "1em";

Generally (there may be exceptions but I'm not aware of any) the property of
the object corresponds to the name of the CSS property but camel cased.

Yes. Another way to do it is to change the class attributes of elements
with setAttribute.

Then you can organize the styles in style sheets rather than packing
them all into the elements' style attributes, and just switch the
elements' classes so they get selected by different selectors.

This kind of thing:

..active
{
border: 2px solid red;
background-color: yellow;
color: black;
etc.
..
}

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

[Nik Coughlin]

Ben C wrote:

On 2008-04-27, Nik Coughlin <nr******@gmail .comwrote:

>"Prisoner at War" <pr************ *@yahoo.comwrot e in message
news:c8******* *************** ************@m4 4g2000hsc.googl egroups.com...

>>>
Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one:
just how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

[...]

>Basically, you get the element in Javascript, and set its style
property.

<div id="content">bl ah</div>

javascript:

var contentDiv = document.getEle mentById( "content" );
contentDiv.sty le.marginLeft = "1em";

Generally (there may be exceptions but I'm not aware of any) the
property of the object corresponds to the name of the CSS property
but camel cased.

Yes. Another way to do it is to change the class attributes of
elements with setAttribute.

Then you can organize the styles in style sheets rather than packing
them all into the elements' style attributes, and just switch the
elements' classes so they get selected by different selectors.

This kind of thing:

.active
{
border: 2px solid red;
background-color: yellow;
color: black;
etc.
..
}

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

Yeah, be careful doing this though. Imagine you've got:
<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 inactive">bhakj fh</div>

You want to switch between active and inactive and you do:

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

and suddenly it's:

<div id="contentDiv " class="active"> bhakjfh</div>

Whereas what you really want is:

<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 active">bhakjfh </div>

So you probably want to use the split method on contentDiv.clas sName instead
to get an array of class names, then replace inactive with active, glue the
strings in the array back together and reassign it

[Garmt de Vries]

On Apr 27, 6:21*am, "Nik Coughlin" <nrkn....@gmail .comwrote:

Yeah, be careful doing this though. *Imagine you've got:
<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 inactive">bhakj fh</div>

You want to switch between active and inactive and you do:

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

and suddenly it's:

<div id="contentDiv " class="active"> bhakjfh</div>

Whereas what you really want is:

<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 active">bhakjfh </div>

So you probably want to use the split method on contentDiv.clas sName instead
to get an array of class names, then replace inactive with active, glue the
strings in the array back together and reassign it

Or do:

function activate_item() {
this.className= this.className. replace(/passive/,'active'); // change
passive to active
}

function passivate_item( ){
this.className= this.className. replace(/active/,'passive'); // change
active to passive
}

[Evertjan.]

Garmt de Vries wrote on 27 apr 2008 in comp.lang.javas cript:

Or do:

function activate_item() {
this.className= this.className. replace(/passive/,'active'); // change
passive to active
}

function passivate_item( ){
this.className= this.className. replace(/active/,'passive'); // change
active to passive
}

Perhaps:

function toggle_item(){
this.className=
(/active/.test(this.clas sName))
? this.className. replace(/active/,'passive')
: this.className. replace(/passive/,'active');
};

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[david.karr]

On Apr 27, 4:21 am, "Nik Coughlin" <nrkn....@gmail .comwrote:

Ben C wrote:

On 2008-04-27, Nik Coughlin <nrkn....@gmail .comwrote:

"Prisoner at War" <prisoner_at_.. [e-mail] e in message
news:c8******* *************** ************@m4 4g2000hsc.googl egroups.com...

>Okay, Folks,

>I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one:
just how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

[...]

Basically, you get the element in Javascript, and set its style
property.

<div id="content">bl ah</div>

javascript:

var contentDiv = document.getEle mentById( "content" );
contentDiv.styl e.marginLeft = "1em";

Generally (there may be exceptions but I'm not aware of any) the
property of the object corresponds to the name of the CSS property
but camel cased.

Yes. Another way to do it is to change the class attributes of
elements with setAttribute.

Then you can organize the styles in style sheets rather than packing
them all into the elements' style attributes, and just switch the
elements' classes so they get selected by different selectors.

This kind of thing:

.active
{
border: 2px solid red;
background-color: yellow;
color: black;
etc.
..
}

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

Yeah, be careful doing this though. Imagine you've got:
<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 inactive">bhakj fh</div>

You want to switch between active and inactive and you do:

contentDiv.setA ttribute("class ", "active")

and suddenly it's:

<div id="contentDiv " class="active"> bhakjfh</div>

Whereas what you really want is:

<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 active">bhakjfh </div>

So you probably want to use the split method on contentDiv.clas sName instead
to get an array of class names, then replace inactive with active, glue the
strings in the array back together and reassign it

It's probably best to use reusable code for operations like this, and
fortunately all of the major JS frameworks include this. The
following URL provides a good summary of this:

http://www.openjs.com/scripts/dom/cl...nipulation.php

[Joshua Cranmer]

Prisoner at War wrote:

Okay, Folks,

I guess my real burning concern all along is a "high-level" one: just
how does JavaScript interact with CSS?

Depends on what level of "interactio n" you're specifying. Direct
manipulation of style rules is handled by something called the `CSS
Object Model' (still a WIP, IIRC); but computed style rules can be
affected by DOM mutations. It is the latter that is more often the case.

Right now, my newbie self only knows JavaScript and CSS to *co-
exist*...but I'm beginning to get the sense that they actually
interact -- or, perhaps more precisely, JavaScript acts upon CSS...but
how, exactly??

I see how JavaScript acts upon HTML, but I'm not so sure where
JavaScript acts upon CSS...moreover, I want to see where they could
create whole new browsing experiences, beyond simply new text and new
images (though I'm only just beginning at the level of new ways of
presenting text and images)....

In short, most JavaScript tends to act on CSS only by proxy through the
HTML. In my code, I generally modify styles by changing the classes of
elements.

P.S. The `DOM', or `Document Object Model', is the precise specification
that most people think of when the think of JavaScript; any time you're
dynamically modify DOM (e.g. through document.getEle mentByID), you're
actually using the DOM. Most literature tends to gloss over this
distinction.

--
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth

[Harlan Messinger]

Garmt de Vries wrote:

On Apr 27, 6:21 am, "Nik Coughlin" <nrkn....@gmail .comwrote:

>Yeah, be careful doing this though. Imagine you've got:
<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 inactive">bhakj fh</div>

You want to switch between active and inactive and you do:

contentDiv.set Attribute("clas s", "active")

and suddenly it's:

<div id="contentDiv " class="active"> bhakjfh</div>

Whereas what you really want is:

<div id="contentDiv " class="class1 class2 active">bhakjfh </div>

So you probably want to use the split method on contentDiv.clas sName instead
to get an array of class names, then replace inactive with active, glue the
strings in the array back together and reassign it

Or do:

function activate_item() {
this.className= this.className. replace(/passive/,'active'); // change
passive to active
}

function passivate_item( ){
this.className= this.className. replace(/active/,'passive'); // change
active to passive
}

While easier to program, the downside to this as a general approach is
that you can wind up changing things you didn't mean to change.

class="one alone"

Replace class "one" with class "two":

class="two altwo"

which is probably not what was intended.