Accessing javascript variable from HTML page in same domain?

Question

I am attempting to enhance a internal web application we use. I am using a custom favelet to autopopulate certain fields. The javascript variables I need to populate a form exist on a different HTML page internally. Is it possible to access vars from another html page? They would be embedded in the external pages document element.

I do not want to open a popup or redirect the page.

This will be embedded into the page as a favelet.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use an iframe and access its variables via the frames object in an onload handler:

<script type="text/javascript">
    // This function will run as a callback when the iframe loads
    function frameLoad() {
       // Access the foo variable from external.html
       var foo = frames["externalFrame"].foo;
    }
    // Create an invisible iframe
    var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
    iframe.width = 0;
    iframe.height = 0;
    iframe.style.display = "none";
    // Reference the page on the same domain with external variables on it
    iframe.src = "external.html"
    // Give it a name and ID so we can access it via the frames object
    iframe.id = "externalFrame";
    iframe.name = "externalFrame";
    // Set the load handler
    iframe.onload = frameLoad;
    // Append the iframe to the DOM
    document.body.appendChild(iframe);
</script>

Answer 2

iFrame looks like it will work, however I still am having some problems in relation to accessing the vars ... this flushes the current window displaying [object]?

Here's what I got so far ...

javascript:
var issueDoc = window.frames.editor.document;

function wwaLoad() {
    alert(issueDoc.control.getSortedIdList());
}

var listFrame = issueDoc.createElement('iframe');
listFrame.width = 0;
listFrame.height = 0;
listFrame.style.display = "none";
listFrame.src = "lp.jps?data=1";
listFrame.id = "WWALIST";
listFrame.name = "WWALIST";
listFrame.onload = wwaLoad;
issueDoc.body.appendChild(listFrame);