Passing a value from child window to parent

Question

Here is my scenario: i have a parent web page, in my javascript code I open a new window. This new window is a server-side aspx page. This child page needs to save some data in the database, and after saving it returns an ID. Now, I need to pass this ID from the child server page to the parent's javascript.

Essentially I need the child server code to trigger: 1) return the value to the javascript code of the parent page 2) close itself

What would be the acceptable way to do it?

Answer 1

If you are in the child window AND assuming your parent window has object childResult:

window.opener.childResult = "yourIdHere";

Answer 2

Set a variable in the parent page:

var dbID;

When the DB call returns from the opened window, place this in the opened window's load event (or ready event if using jquery or another framework):

window.opener.dbID = <%= newID %> 
// or whatever your framework's technique is for this :-)
window.close();

You can also call a global function on the parent as well using the same technique.

On "parent" page:

function handleNewDBID(dbID) { alert("lookit me, i got an ID! " + dbID); }

And on the opened window:

window.opener.handleNewDBID(<%=newID%>);