error message "object required"

[andersond]

On a webpage that has a variety of questions I get an "object required" error on lines like this...

document.getElementById('tableQuestion17').style.visibility="visible";
 

This is the code for the table "tableQuestion17"

<table border="0" width="100%" id="tableQuestion17" cellpadding="0" style="visibility:hidden">
            <tr>
                  <td bgcolor="#003300" style="padding-right: 5px" width="55%">
                  <p align="right"><b>
                  <font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial Narrow">Specify 
                  other method:</font></b></td>
                  <td width="45%" style="border: 1px solid #003300; padding-left: 3px; padding-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px">
                 <input type="text" name="otherMethod" id="otherMethod" onChange="javascript:question('17')" size="60" style="border: 1px solid #003300; font-family:Arial Narrow; font-size:10pt; color:#000080;" tabindex="-1" ></td>
                </tr>
          </table>
 

I really don't get it. Why does javascript not accept this object?

[acoder]

Where does this line get called?

[andersond]

onChange="javascript:question('17')"

[acoder]

OK, can you post the question() function code.

[andersond]

The entire function is over 1200 lines; and, I know you don't really want that, here is the portion in question

function question(x){
 
 if(x=="17"){// describe the 'other' method
   document.getElementById('tableCompletionFeedback').background="../Images/completionBLUE51%25.jpg";
   document.getElementById('percent').style.fontFamily="Arial Narrow"; 
   document.getElementById('percent').style.fontSize="10pt";
   document.getElementById('percent').align="right";
   document.getElementById('percent').innerHTML="51% complete"; 
   document.getElementById('tableQuestion18').swapNode(document.getElementById('tableRow3'));
   document.getElementById('tableQuestion18').style.visibility="visible";
   document.getElementById('tableQuestion18').id="item3";
   document.getElementById('cellOutput17').style.fontFamily="Arial Narrow"; 
   document.getElementById('cellOutput17').style.fontSize="10pt"; 
   document.getElementById('cellOutput17').innerHTML="Valuation method is: "+rtrim(document.getElementById('otherMethod').value);
   document.getElementById('coinsurance').focus();
   }
}
 

[acoder]

There's no swapNode method. Have you added it via prototype?

[andersond]

Trust me the problem is within the code I have already posted. But just for good measure, here's swapNode, which is a function I have used time and again.

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Vacant Buildings Submission Manager</title>
<script type="text/javascript; version=1.5">
Node.prototype.swapNode = function (node) {
  var nextSibling = this.nextSibling;
  var parentNode = this.parentNode;
  node.parentNode.replaceChild(this, node);
  parentNode.insertBefore(node, nextSibling);
  }  
</script>
 

[andersond]

I should also mention that it displays the error message but it still performs the function as it is supposed to do.

[acoder]

@andersond
which does answer my question - you added it via prototype.

The error message makes me think it's in IE. Have you tried other browsers for something more useful?

[andersond]

FireFox gets so bogged down with "object has no properties" messages that it crashes before it ever gets to this point. But, it has to work in IE. Our website tracking software says that every one of our clients uses IE.

[acoder]

It can work in both, or more precisely, most (if not all) browsers with a little careful thinking to leave no-one out and avoid losing visitors.

Do you have a link? To pinpoint the problem, you need to find the exact lines and more useful error messages. IE is quite bad at line numbers. You may also find a debugger such as Firebug useful.