Need to escape parentheses in script parameter string???

KathyB

Hi, I'm passing a parameter to a script, which sometimes fails.
However, I discovered that the ones failing had parentheses within the
text string, e.g., "Step: Press the (0) on the console."

I've learned how to escape apostrophes, but how do I do so for parens?
Is it \( ? Also, where ' was the xml entity for apostrophe,
would someone know the one for left and right parens? Can't find that
either...not having much luck today with my searches.

Thanks! Kathy

Jul 20 '05 #1

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen

Ka**********@attbi.com (KathyB) writes:

Hi, I'm passing a parameter to a script, which sometimes fails.
However, I discovered that the ones failing had parentheses within the
text string, e.g., "Step: Press the (0) on the console."
Parentheses have no special meaning in either Javascript strings or
HTML. I.e., the failure is not due to the parentheses in the string literal,
but due to the way the string is later operated on.
I've learned how to escape apostrophes, but how do I do so for parens?
Is it \( ? Also, where ' was the xml entity for apostrophe,
would someone know the one for left and right parens? Can't find that
either...not having much luck today with my searches.

No need for it. Show us the code that breaks instead.

/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lr*@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleDOM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'

Jul 20 '05 #2

Kathy Burke

Thanks, Lasse,

By DOESN'T WORK, I mean the new window does not open.

My script:

function Anomaly(typeIn,idIn,textIn)
{
var sType = 'type=' &typeIn;
var sIdNo = '+idNo=' &idIn;
var sText = '+text=' &textIn & "'";

newWindow = window.open(('Anomaly.aspx?' + sType + sIdNo + sText),
'Anomaly',
'width=650,height=700,left=100,toolbar=no,menubar= no,resizable=yes');
}

My parameters:
WORKS: onclick="javascript:Anomaly('Step','1','Startup.') "

DOESN'T WORK: onclick="javascript:Anomaly('Step','2.3','Finally, press
the (Menu) button located
above the (Recipe) button.')"

But oddly enough (for me at least), the following used to work, but now
doesn't:

onclick="javascript:Anomaly('Safety','1','Static prevention straps and
lab coats must be worn at all
times.')"

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Kathy

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Jul 20 '05 #3

Richard Cornford

"Kathy Burke" <ka**********@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:3f*********************@news.frii.net...
<snip>

function Anomaly(typeIn,idIn,textIn)
{
var sType = 'type=' &typeIn;
var sIdNo = '+idNo=' &idIn;
var sText = '+text=' &textIn & "'";

<snip>

You are getting confused between server side language and client side.
The - & - operator in JavaScript is the bitwise AND operator not string
concatenation (+) and in a URL query string the - & - is used to
separate name-value pairs within the query string not the - + - symbol.
I would expect the above to be more like:-

var sType = 'type=' + typeIn;
var sIdNo = '&idNo=' + idIn;
var sText = '&text=' + textIn + "'";

Though I expect that concatenating - "'" - to the final line is also a
mistake.

Richard.

Jul 20 '05 #4

Kathy Burke

Richard, I make that change (thanks for explaining) but get the exact
same results as my previous posting.

Any other thoughts?

Kathy

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Jul 20 '05 #5

Kathy Burke

I've discovered WHY it is breaking, but don't know HOW to fix it!

I'm generating my html via xml/xsl. The lines that don't work are those
that end up on two different lines in html source. No hard returns etc,
but when I delete the space that puts the script back on one
line...works fine.

PLEASE can anyone tell me how to fix this?

Kathy

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Jul 20 '05 #6

Kathy Burke

I've discovered that the authoring tool being used to create the xml
files was set to be 72 character lines in the output files. Changed that
and all is well.

Thanks for responding...you sent me in the right direction.

Kathy

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Jul 20 '05 #7