Functions & Event

Handling
 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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 Pair of
Keyword
parenthesis
Function
Function Function ‘arguments’ definition
identifier separated by commas enclosed
in a pair
of curly
function writeList( heading, words ) { braces

document.write( heading + "<BR>" ) ;

for ( k = 0 ; k < words.length ; k = k + 1 ) {

document.write( words[ k ] + "<BR>" ) ;
}
}
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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 popUp( message ) { A function call
appearing as a
window.alert( message ) ;
complete
} statement
popUp( “Warning!” ) ;
A function call
function add( a, b ) { appearing as part
of a statement.
c=a+b;
Definitions of
return c ; such functions
} include a ‘return’
sum = add( 2, 4 ) ; statement
document.write( sum ) ; 7
 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

A collection
All objects have the
of properties
“name” property: it
holds the name of
the object (collection)

name prop 8
prop 1
prop 3 prop 5
prop 2
prop 6 prop 4 prop 7
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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( ) 10
 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! 12
 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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 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 17
18
<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
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clicked if the “From” text field is left blank
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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JavaScript that goes between the <SCRIPT>, </SCRIPT> tags:

function checkForm() {
if ( document.sendEmail.sender.value.length < 1) {
window.alert( “Empty From field! Please correct” );
}
}

JavaScript included as an attribute of the “Send eMail” button:

onMouseOver=“checkForm( )”

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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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26
JavaScript that goes between the <SCRIPT>, </SCRIPT> tags:

function vuWindow() {
window.open(“http://www.vu.edu/”) ;
}

JavaScript included as an attribute of the “New Window” button:

onClick=“vuWindow()”
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A Few of 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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31
JavaScript that goes between the <SCRIPT>, </SCRIPT> tags:

function checkAge( ) {
if( parseInt( document.form1.age.value ) < 12 ) {
window.alert( "Stop! You are younger than 12" ) ;
}
}

JavaScript included as an attribute of the INPUT tag:

<INPUT type="text" name="age"

onBlur="checkAge( ) "
> 32
<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> 33
</TABLE></FORM></BODY></HTML>
 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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http://
onUnloadDemo.htm
www.vu.edu.pk/

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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> 36
<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> 37
 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 38
 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 41
 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

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