Replace setAttribute with IE compatible script

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15329292

  •  22-03-2022
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Question

I am trying to create a pop-up message that disables the rest of the screen until you confirm it, only by using CSS and JavaScript (and without the alert function).

Although http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/ms536739%28v=vs.85%29.aspx declares that setAttribute is supported in IE8 and higher, it does not seem to work correctly - well, actually it doesn't seem to work at all.

Here is my code:

<html>

<style type="text/css">

.overlay
{
position: absolute;
left: 0px;
top: 0px;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
}

.overlaytext
{
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -150px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: -50px;
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
padding-top: 5px;
background-color: #777777;
color: #000000;
font-size: 20px;
text-align: center;
}

.overlaybutton
{
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -30px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: 20px;
width: 60px;
height: 25px;
border: solid;
border-color: #000000;
border-width: 1px;
background-color: #999999;
color: #000000;
font-size: 20px;
}

</style>

<script type="text/javascript">

function showoverlay(message)
{
var overlay = document.createElement('div');
overlay.setAttribute('id','overlay');
overlay.setAttribute('class','overlay');
document.body.appendChild(overlay);

var overlaytext = document.createElement('div');
overlaytext.setAttribute('id','overlaytext');
overlaytext.setAttribute('class','overlaytext');
overlaytext.innerHTML = message;
document.body.appendChild(overlaytext);

var overlaybutton = document.createElement('input');
overlaybutton.setAttribute('type','button');
overlaybutton.setAttribute('id','overlaybutton');
overlaybutton.setAttribute('class','overlaybutton');
overlaybutton.setAttribute('value','OK');
overlaybutton.setAttribute('onclick','deleteoverlay()');
document.body.appendChild(overlaybutton);
}

function deleteoverlay()
{
var elem = document.getElementById('overlay');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
elem = document.getElementById('overlaytext');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
elem = document.getElementById('overlaybutton');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
}

</script>

<body>

<input type="button" value="Show message" onclick="showoverlay('Message text')"/>

</body>
</html>

It works just fine in Firefox and Chrome, but IE (testing with IE9) seems to ignore the setAttribute method, because it only puts in the text and the button, but without the formatting (i.e. class was not applied) and also clicking the newly created button does not remove the objects (i.e. either id was not applied, or there is some additional incompatibility with portions of the code that remove the objects).

I tried to replace setAttribute like this:

<script type="text/javascript">

function showoverlay(message)
{
var overlay = document.createElement('div');
overlay.id = 'overlay';
overlay.class = 'overlay';
document.body.appendChild(overlay);

var overlaytext = document.createElement('div');
overlaytext.id = 'overlaytext';
overlaytext.class = 'overlaytext';
overlaytext.innerHTML = message;
document.body.appendChild(overlaytext);

var overlaybutton = document.createElement('input');
overlaybutton.type = 'button';
overlaybutton.id = 'overlaybutton';
overlaybutton.class = 'overlaybutton';
overlaybutton.value = 'OK';
overlaybutton.onclick = 'deleteoverlay()';
document.body.appendChild(overlaybutton);
}

function deleteoverlay()
{
var elem = document.getElementById('overlay');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
elem = document.getElementById('overlaytext');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
elem = document.getElementById('overlaybutton');
elem.parentNode.removeChild(elem);
}

</script>

But this time it does not even add the text and the button.

So, how to make this script IE compatible, both showing all the elements and then removing them?

Thanks

Was it helpful?

Solution

Use this as your doctype

<!DOCTYPE html>

and then put this in the head of the document

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />

and then enjoy using setAttribute and a number of other features which this will allow to properly work on IE8+ environments.

OTHER TIPS

The correct way to set a class in your second example is: 

overlaybutton.className = 'overlaybutton';

That will get classes working in IE. As far as deleting elements goes, I'd recommend reformatting your event handling attachment like so:

overlaybutton.onclick = deleteoverlay;

I have run into this issue as well. If you are able to include jQuery on the site, you can use $('#overlay').attr('class', 'overlay');. jQuery is extremely useful for making cross-browser compatible code.

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