convert string to object reference - avoiding eval

[xendrax]

I was told on this site eval was bad but its the only way i can work out how to do it.. their example was
use var imdesc = document.myform[imagename1].value
not var imdesc = eval("document.myform." + imagename1 + ".value")
but i could not see how to change mine to emulate it...

I have a function displaytable() which i pass the id of a div into so:

displaytable(MyLayer1) - shows the first table hidden in the <div id=MyLayer1>
displaytable(MyLayer2) - shows the second table etc

So in my updatetemplate function I used eval to pass the string version of the object when the relevent menu item is selected:

function updatetemplate()
{
    var dropdown = document.form1.template;
    var thenumber = dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value;
 
    eval ( 'displaytable(MyLayer' + thenumber + ')' ) 
}
 

The function then passes the object and changes its display method

function displaytable(xxx)
{
    xxx.style.display = "block"
 
 

I'm not sure which bit to change.. I've tried lots of things and they all just make it fall over. The eval is the only way ive got it to work.

e.g. i tried this to no avail .. just get "expecting object" error:

    var convertit = document.['MyLayer'+thenumber]
    displaytable( convertit ) ;

[acoder]

var div = document.getElementById("MyLayer"+thenumber);
displaytable(div);

should work fine.