How do I get the contents of an <iframe> containing a different site?

Question

I'm able to get the 'src' attribute of an using .src. But I cannot get the contents that are located in another domain. Is this a browser security problem?

jQuery(document).ready(function() {
    var elementTest = $("iframe:first").get(0);
    alert(elementTest.src);  // ok
    alert(elementTest.innerHTML);  // not ok
});

Answer 1

The property you are looking for is contentWindow.

Try this code:

alert(elementTest.contentWindow.document.innerHTML);

It is analogous to the current window object, but for the iframe. so you can also do this:

alert(elementTest.contentWindow.location.href);

Edit: Ah - I missed the fact that you have a page from another domain in the iframe. THis method won't work for you, because of the built-in browser restrictions for one domain (your parent window) and accessing information in another domain (your iframe).

Answer 2

Yes, this restriction against inspecting content and executing code within that external domain is known as the same-origin policy.

Answer 3

What you are trying (in a sense) is cross-domain communication. This won't work in the normal way you've tried (due to the same-origin policy as noted by altCognito), but there are some solutions if you have control over the other server. Check out this article:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735305.aspx