JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Chapter 13. Windows and Frames

Chapter 12 described the Window object and the central role it plays in client-side JavaScript. We’ve seen that the Window object serves as the global object for client-side JavaScript programs, and, as illustrated in Figure 12-1, it is also the root of the client-side object hierarchy.

Besides these special roles, the Window object is an important object in its own right. Every web browser window and every frame within every window is represented by a Window object. The Window object defines quite a few properties and methods that are important in client-side JavaScript programming. This chapter explores those properties and methods and demonstrates some important techniques for programming with windows and frames. Note that because the Window object is so central to client-side programming, this chapter is quite long. Don’t feel you have to master all this material at once -- you may find it easier to study this chapter in several shorter chunks!

Window Overview

We begin this chapter with an overview of some of the most commonly used properties and methods of the Window object. Later sections of the chapter explain this material in more detail. As usual, the client-side reference section contains complete coverage of Window object properties and methods.

The most important properties of the Window object are the following:

closed

A boolean value that is true only if the window has been closed.

defaultStatus, status

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