Event Programming JavaScript

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Event Handling
(Web Development)

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During the last lecture we discussed
Functions & Variable Scope
• We looked at functions and their use for
solving simple problems
• We became familiar with a couple of
JavaScript’s built-in functions
• We became familiar with the concept of local
and global variables

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Function
A group of statements that is put together
(or defined) once and then can be used
(by reference) repeatedly on a Web page
Also known as subprogram, procedure,
subroutine

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Advantages of Functions
• Number of lines of code is reduced
• Code becomes easier to read & understand
• Code becomes easier to maintain as changes
need to be made only at a single location
instead multiple locations

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function writeList( heading, words ) {
document.write( heading + "<BR>" ) ;
for ( k = 0 ; k < words.length ; k = k + 1 ) {
document.write( words[ k ] + "<BR>" ) ;
}
}
Keyword
Function
identifier
Pair of
parenthesis
Function ‘arguments’
separated by commas
Function
definition
enclosed
in a pair
of curly
braces

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Arguments of a Function
• A comma-separated list of data
• Arguments define the interface between the
function and the rest of the Web page
• Arguments values are passed to the
function by value (some popular languages
pass arguments ‘by reference’ as well)

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To ensure that a function is defined
before it is called up, define all
functions in the HEAD portion of Web
pages

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Two Ways of Calling Functions
function add( a, b ) {
c = a + b ;
return c ;
}
sum = add( 2, 4 ) ;
document.write( sum ) ;
function popUp( message ) {
window.alert( message ) ;
}
popUp( “Warning!” ) ;
A function call
appearing as part
of a statement.
Definitions of
such functions
include a ‘return’
statement
A function call
appearing as a
complete
statement

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What Would this Statement Do?
factorial( factorial ( 3 ) ) ;
This is termed as the
recursive
use of a function

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Methods
• Methods are functions
• They are unusual in the sense that they
are stored as properties of objects

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Object: A named collection of properties
prop 1
prop 2
prop 5
name
prop 3
prop 4
A collection
of properties
All objects have the
“name” property: it
holds the name of
the object (collection)
prop 7
prop 6
prop 8

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Predefined, Top-Level or Built-In Functions
• Event handlers are not the only functions that
come predefined with JavaScript. There are
many others.
• Practically, there is no difference between
predefined functions and those that are defined
by the programmer (termed as user-defined or
custom functions)
• There are many of them, but here we discuss
only two: parseInt( ), parseFloat( )

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Local Variables
• Declaring variables (using the var
keyword) within a function, makes them
local
• They are available only within the
function and hold no meaning outside of
it

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Local –vs- Global
• Global variables can make the logic of a Web
page difficult to understand
• Global variables also make the reuse and
maintenance of your code much more difficult
HEURISTIC:
If it’s possible to
define a variable
as local, do it!

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Event Handlers
• Special-purpose functions that come predefined
with JavaScript
• They are unusual in the sense that they are
mostly called from the HTML part of a Web
page and not the <SCRIPT> … </SCRIPT> part

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Today’s Goal:
Event Handlers
• To become able to appreciate the concept of
event handlers:
– What are they?
– What do they do?
– How do we benefit from them?
• To learn to write simple programs that use
event handlers

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What is Event Handling?
• Capturing events and responding to them
• The system sends events to the program and
the program responds to them as they arrive
• Events can include things a user does - like
clicking the mouse - or things that the system
itself does - like updating the clock. Today we
will exclusively focus on user-events

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Event Driven Programs
• Programs that can capture and respond to
events are called ‘event-driven programs’
• JavaScript was specifically designed for writing
such programs
• Almost all programs written in JavaScript are
event-driven

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JavaScript Handling of Events
• Events handlers are placed in the BODY part of
a Web page as attributes in HTML tags
• Events can be captured and responded to
directly with JavaScript one-liners embedded in
HTML tags in the BODY portion
• Alternatively, events can be captured in the
HTML code, and then directed to a JavaScript
function for an appropriate response

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<INPUT
type=“submit”
name=“sendEmail”
value=“Send eMail”
onMouseOver=
“if (document.sendEmail.sender.value.length < 1)
window.alert(‘Empty From field! Please correct’)”
>
Additional JavaScript code for the smart ‘Send
eMail’ button that does not allow itself to be
clicked if the “From” text field is left blank

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That was event handling through
what we may call ‘in-line JavaScript’
That is, the event was captured and
handled with a JavaScript one-liner
that was embedded in the HTML tag

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In-Line JavaScript Event Handling (1)
• Event handlers are placed in the BODY portion
of a Web page as attributes of HTML tags
• The event handler attribute consists of 3 parts:
1.The identifier of the event handler
2.The equal sign
3.A string consisting of JavaScript statements
enclosed in double or single quotes

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In-Line JavaScript Event Handling (2)
• Multiple JavaScript statements (separated by
semicolons) can be placed in that string, but all
have to fit in a single line; no newline
characters are allowed in that string
• Due to this limitation, sophisticated event
handling is not possible with in-line event
handling

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Another - more sophisticated - way of
accomplishing the same task

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onMouseOver=“checkForm( )”
JavaScript that goes between the <SCRIPT>, </SCRIPT> tags:
JavaScript included as an attribute of the “Send eMail” button:
function checkForm() {
if ( document.sendEmail.sender.value.length < 1) {
window.alert( “Empty From field! Please correct” );
}
}

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Usage Guideline
• For very short scripts, “all code in the tag”
works well
• The “code in the HEAD portion” is the right
choice for developing larger JavaScript scripts
– It makes the code easier to read
– It allows the reuse of a function for multiple event
handlers

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Another event-handling example; this
time from lecture 18

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onClick=“vuWindow()”
JavaScript included as an attribute of the “New Window” button:
function vuWindow() {
window.open(“http://www.vu.edu.pk/”) ;
}

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A Few of My Favorite Event Handlers
onClick
onDblClick
onMouseOver
onMouseDown
onFocus onBlur
onReset
onSubmit
onLoad
onUnload

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There are many more: there is an
expanded, but still incomplete list in
your book
Now let’s look at some of these error
handlers in a bit more detail

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onFocus & onBlur
• onFocus executes the specified JavaScript
code when a window receives focus or when a
form element receives input focus
• onBlur executes the specified JavaScript code
when a window loses focus or a form element
loses focus

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<INPUT type="text" name="age"
onBlur="checkAge( ) "
>
JavaScript included as an attribute of the INPUT tag:
function checkAge( ) {
if( parseInt( document.form1.age.value ) < 12 ) {
window.alert( "Stop! You are younger than 12" ) ;
}
}

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<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>onBlur( ) Demo</TITLE>
<SCRIPT>
function checkAge() {
if( parseInt(document.form1.age.value) < 12) {
window.alert("Stop! You are younger than 12" ) ;
}
}
</SCRIPT></HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor="#66FFCC">
<FORM name="form1" method="post" action="">
<TABLE border="1">
<TR> <TD>Age</TD>
<TD><INPUT type="text" name="age" onBlur="checkAge()">
</TD></TR><TR> <TD>Phone Number</TD>
<TD><INPUT type="text" name="phNo"></TD>
</TR><TR> <TD><INPUT type="reset" value="Reset"></TD>
<TD><INPUT type="submit" value="Submit"></TD></TR>
</TABLE></FORM></BODY></HTML>

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onLoad & onUnload
• onLoad executes the specified JavaScript code
when a new document is loaded into a window
• onUnload executes the specified JavaScript
code when a user exits a document
• What is the key difference between these 2 and
the 4 event handlers (onMouseOver, onClick,
onFocus, onBlur) that we have used so far?

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onUnloadDemo.htm
onUnloadDemo.htm
http://www.vu.edu.pk/
onUnloadDemo.htm

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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>onUnload Demo</TITLE>
<SCRIPT>
function annoyUser( ) {
currentUrl = window.location ;
window.alert( "You can't leave this page" ) ;
window.location = currentUrl ;
}
</SCRIPT></HEAD>
<BODY onUnload="annoyUser( )">
This page uses the onUnload event handler …
</BODY></HTML>

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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>onUnload Demo</TITLE>
<SCRIPT>
function annoyUser( ) {
currentUrl = window.location ;
window.alert( "You can't leave this page" ) ;
window.location = currentUrl ;
}
</SCRIPT></HEAD>
<BODY onUnload="annoyUser( )">
This page uses the onUnload event handler …
</BODY></HTML>

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More Uses for onLoad/onUnload?
• onLoad can be used to open multiple Windows
when a particular document is opened
• onUnload can be used to say “Thank you for
the visit” when a user is leaving a Web page
• At times, a user opens multiple inter-dependent
windows of a Web site (e.g. VULMS).
onUnload can be used to warn that all child
Windows will become inoperable if the user
closes the parent Window

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A Note on Syntax (1)
• Mixed-case capitalization of event handlers
(e.g. onClick) is a convention (but not a
requirement) for JavaScript event handlers
defined in HTML code. Using ‘ONCLICK’ or
‘onclick’ as part of a an HTML tag is perfectly
legal as well

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A Note on Syntax (2)
• At times, you may wish to use event handlers in
JavaScript code enclosed in <SCRIPT>,
</SCRIPT> tags
• In those cases you have to strictly follow the
JavaScript rule for all event handler identifiers:
they must all be typed in small case, e.g.
‘onclick’ or ‘onmouseover’

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A misleading statement from Lecture 18
• I stated:
JavaScript is case sensitive. Only the first of the
following will result in the desired function – the rest
will generate errors or other undesirable events:
– onMouseClick – OnMouseClick
– onmouseclick – ONMOUSECLICK
• That statement is incorrect in two ways:
1. All four will work fine as part of HTML tags
2. Only the ‘all small case’ version will be interpreted
as intended in JavaScript code

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During Today’s Lecture …
• We looked at the concept of event-driven
programs and event handlers
– What are they?
– What do they do?
– How do we benefit from them?
• We wrote simple programs to demonstrate the
capabilities of a few event handlers

Event Programming JavaScript

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