Can a JavaScript modal dialog be modal only to the tab and not to the whole browser window?

Question

Modern browsers have multi-tab interface, but JavaScript function window.showModalDialog() creates a modal dialog that blocks all of the tabs.

I'd like to know if there is a way to create a modal dialog that blocks only the tab it's been created in?

Answer 1

You could use one of the more 'Ajax-like' modal dialogs, which are just absolute positioned divs, floating on top of everything else.

Those are modal to the 'document' and not the browser.

For instance take a look it this jQuery plugin

P.S. showModalDialog() is an IE only call, so you might want to not use that altogether.

Answer 2

Nope. It's conceivable IE8's ‘loose coupling’ might behave like this at some point, but it doesn't in the current betas.

I second Michiel's recommendation. A pseudo-modal-dialogue working by obscuring the rest of the page, floating a div on top, and calling the script back when it's finished, is both:

• much more usable/less annoying than a real modal dialog
• compatible with any browser

showModalDialog/showModelessDialog themselves are generally to be avoided.

Answer 3

Firefox 3 supports window.showModalDialog (but it also blocks all tabs).