getting focus to document element on load

[s_m_b]

I'm trying to get an <a> element to gain the focus onload, but only get
back 'has no properties'.
Reading through this ng, its clear that unless the element is within a
form, this doesn't happen, but according to the w3 TR on html 4.01, the a
element can take onFocus commands, which to me means you can do
document.getElementById(element).focus() ?

I'm trying to get the focus to a specific paragraph, so the page scrolls to
it on loading, but as the page in question is dynamic, i can't feed the #
van the URL

[RobG]

s_m_b wrote:

I'm trying to get an <a> element to gain the focus onload, but only get
back 'has no properties'.
Reading through this ng, its clear that unless the element is within a
form, this doesn't happen, but according to the w3 TR on html 4.01, the a
element can take onFocus commands, which to me means you can do
document.getElementById(element).focus() ?
<a> elements have onfocus intrinsic events, which means you can make
things happen when they gain focus, usually by tabbing to or clicking
on them. It does not mean the element has a focus() method.

I'm trying to get the focus to a specific paragraph, so the page scrolls to
it on loading, but as the page in question is dynamic, i can't feed the #
van the URL

That is what anchors are for. Giving the <a> focus will not
necessarily scroll the page to it, but using it as an anchor will if
there is sufficient depth in the page.

<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.1>

--
Rob

[s_m_b]

RobG <rg***@iinet.net.auau> wrote in
news:42***********************@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

s_m_b wrote:

I'm trying to get an <a> element to gain the focus onload, but only
get back 'has no properties'.
Reading through this ng, its clear that unless the element is within
a form, this doesn't happen, but according to the w3 TR on html 4.01,
the a element can take onFocus commands, which to me means you can do
document.getElementById(element).focus() ?
<a> elements have onfocus intrinsic events, which means you can make
things happen when they gain focus, usually by tabbing to or
clicking on them. It does not mean the element has a focus()
method.

ah - that explains it.

I'm trying to get the focus to a specific paragraph, so the page
scrolls to it on loading, but as the page in question is dynamic, i
can't feed the # van the URL

That is what anchors are for. Giving the <a> focus will not
necessarily scroll the page to it, but using it as an anchor will if
there is sufficient depth in the page.

<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.1>

yes, that I know, but if you add '?x=y' into the URL it doesn't work any
more. You either get the contents of the GET ignored or the anchor
reference is.

[Art X]

I'm having a similar situation with normal text links. For example,
after closing an iframe or hiding a division I want focus to go to a
certain text link. I tried:

document.links[2].focus;

to target the 3rd link on the page after the closing or hide, and it
doesn't work. Is this possible ?

Later, Art.

[Art X]

In my previous post I forgot to point out that the:

document.links[2].focus;

is not part of a function. It's a stand alone statement within the
script tags. Might that be the problem ?

[RobG]

s_m_b wrote:

RobG <rg***@iinet.net.auau> wrote in
news:42***********************@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

s_m_b wrote:

I'm trying to get an <a> element to gain the focus onload, but only
get back 'has no properties'.
Reading through this ng, its clear that unless the element is within
a form, this doesn't happen, but according to the w3 TR on html 4.01,
the a element can take onFocus commands, which to me means you can do
document.getElementById(element).focus() ?

<a> elements have onfocus intrinsic events, which means you can make
things happen when they gain focus, usually by tabbing to or
clicking on them. It does not mean the element has a focus()
method.

ah - that explains it.

I'm trying to get the focus to a specific paragraph, so the page
scrolls to it on loading, but as the page in question is dynamic, i
can't feed the # van the URL

That is what anchors are for. Giving the <a> focus will not
necessarily scroll the page to it, but using it as an anchor will if
there is sufficient depth in the page.

<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.1>

yes, that I know, but if you add '?x=y' into the URL it doesn't work any
more. You either get the contents of the GET ignored or the anchor
reference is.

I think you need to explain a bit more about what you are trying to
do - do you have bit of code showing what you are up to?

--
Rob

[RobG]

Art X wrote:

I'm having a similar situation with normal text links. For example,
after closing an iframe or hiding a division I want focus to go to a
certain text link. I tried:

document.links[2].focus;

to target the 3rd link on the page after the closing or hide, and it
doesn't work. Is this possible ?

Later, Art.

Give the a element a name, that makes it an anchor. Fire some event
and set the page location to <currentURL> + '#' + <anchorName>.

That will navigate to the link and put it in focus:

<a href="#freddy">freddy</a>

<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><b r><br><br>
<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><b r><br><br>

<a name="freddy" href="http://www.apple.com" onfocus="
alert('Hey, ' + this.name + ' got focus');">Apple</a>

--
Rob

[RobG]

Art X wrote:

In my previous post I forgot to point out that the:

document.links[2].focus;

is not part of a function. It's a stand alone statement within the
script tags. Might that be the problem ?

I ignored it. If you were trying to call the focus method, then:

document.links[2].focus();

will do the trick, but using an anchor will work without JavaScript.
Probably should test the method before trying to use it:

if (document.links[2].focus) document.links[2].focus();

--
Rob

[Art X]

Thanks Rob,

I'll try the anchor.

Later, Art.

[s_m_b]

RobG <rg***@iinet.net.auau> wrote in
news:42***********************@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

s_m_b wrote:

RobG <rg***@iinet.net.auau> wrote in
news:42***********************@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

s_m_b wrote:

I'm trying to get an <a> element to gain the focus onload, but only
get back 'has no properties'.
Reading through this ng, its clear that unless the element is within
a form, this doesn't happen, but according to the w3 TR on html
4.01, the a element can take onFocus commands, which to me means you
can do document.getElementById(element).focus() ?

<a> elements have onfocus intrinsic events, which means you can
make things happen when they gain focus, usually by tabbing to or
clicking on them. It does not mean the element has a focus()
method.

ah - that explains it.

I'm trying to get the focus to a specific paragraph, so the page
scrolls to it on loading, but as the page in question is dynamic, i
can't feed the # van the URL

That is what anchors are for. Giving the <a> focus will not
necessarily scroll the page to it, but using it as an anchor will
if there is sufficient depth in the page.

<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.1>

yes, that I know, but if you add '?x=y' into the URL it doesn't work
any more. You either get the contents of the GET ignored or the
anchor reference is.

I think you need to explain a bit more about what you are trying to
do - do you have bit of code showing what you are up to?

ah..............

I've just been through the code in a little more depth to check it, and
found the problem - the anchor I was sending is missing on the target
document. Another anchor that I've just tried, does exist and works.
I'll have to find where this duff one comes from now [blush]