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Quick and easy way to open a URL as a subwindow on mouseover in javascript?

Answer 1

A:

Use AJAX to fetch the data, then:

var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.innerHTML = ajax_response_html;

Then use your favourite JavaScript library to position the iframe to the coordinates available through the mouseover event object's properties, and style the iframe to be of a fixed, smaller size.

Kev 2009-10-20 19:58:42

I was hoping to find a library or plugin to jQuery or something that would do exactly what you're talking about for me, but I will accept this if no one can provide one.

OverloadUT 2009-10-20 20:19:25

Answer 2

+2 A:

Use this jQuery tooltip plugin.

It's easy to configure, and it doesn't require AJAX, iFrames, or any other convoluted silliness.

Stefan Kendall 2009-10-20 19:59:22

I believe my original question may have been unclear. I need the actual content of the target page to load as a "tooltip" style subwindow, not just the actual url text.

OverloadUT 2009-10-20 20:06:09

From the plugin docs: "To display any customized content in the tooltip, provide the bodyHandler callback. Its return value will be inserted into the tooltip..." I don't know if the callback can stall while it fetches the content, though...I've had problems with synchronous AJAX before.

Kev 2009-10-20 20:30:49

You don't have to use AJAX. You can pull hidden content from the DOM and the like to populate the tooltip. All html is valid, so you can go crazy.

Stefan Kendall 2009-10-20 20:41:26

@OverloadUT: Kev is right. Look at the demos and documentation again.

Stefan Kendall 2009-10-20 20:41:58

Okay, I'll look more closely. Note that I already mentioned that I must pull the content from the target URL, so hiding the content in the DOM is not an option. I do not control the target webpage, and it could be anything.

OverloadUT 2009-10-20 20:48:06

I accepted your answer because it's the closest to what I asked for, however I have discovered that what I wanted to do is impossible anyway because the target URL is on a different host.

OverloadUT 2009-10-20 21:00:43

Not quite impossible. You can hit a web service on YOUR server that pulls the content from another server. You have to use your server as the middle-man in the operation, and it's more involved, but it's not impossible.

Stefan Kendall 2009-10-20 21:07:26

Ah, yes. I meant impossible using Javascript only. This whole thing was a passing fancy to implement a quick feature on a phpbb board, and having to write a whole webservice to do the work is outside the scope of what I was willing to do. :)But still good advice!

OverloadUT 2009-10-20 21:22:59

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Quick and easy way to open a URL as a subwindow on mouseover in javascript?

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