windows.location.href not working on Firefox3

Question

We have a javascript funtion named "move" which does just "windows.location.href = any given anchor".
This function works on IE, Opera and Safari, but somehow is ignored in Firefox. Researching on Google doesn't produce a satisfactory answer why it doesn't work.
Does any javascript guru knows about this behavior, and what would be the best practice to jump to an anchor via javascript?

Answer 1

Have you tried just using

window.location = 'url';

In Firefox, window.location.href is a read-only property (from what I understand) and is not really used to set the location (even though technically it should allow you to). If you use the 'location' property on its own, that should redirect for you.

Mozilla's documentation has a pretty detailed explanation of how to use the "window.location" object.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/window.location

Answer 2

I am not sure to follow you.
I just tried: going with FF3 to Lua 5.1 Reference Manual (long and with lot of anchors).
Pasting javascript:window.location.href="#2.5"; alert(window.location.href); in the address bar, I went to the right anchor and it displayed the right URL. Works also with a full URL, of course.
Alternative code: javascript:(function () { window.location.href="#2.5"; })();

Perhaps you forgot the #. Common problem, also with image maps.

Answer 3

You could also use window.location.replace to jump to an anchor without register it in the browser history:

This article illustrates how to jump to an anchor and uses href as read-only property.

function navigateNext() 
{
    if (!window.location.hash) 
    {
        window.location.replace(window.location.href + unescape("#2"))
    } 
    else 
    {
        newItem = nextItem(window.location.hash)
        if (document.getElementById(newItem)) 
        {
            window.location.replace(stripHash(window.location) + "#" + newItem)
        } 
        else 
        {
            window.location.replace(stripHash(window.location) + "#1")
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

window.location.href works fine in all versions of Firefox, as does document.location.href I think that there is something else in your code that is breaking things.

drop this in a blank page, if it works, it indicates there is something else wrong on your page.

<script>
  window.location.href = 'http://www.google.com/';
</script>

Answer 5

Sorry for being a bit of topic here, but beware of a problem with IE where the referer is not reported when using document.locaton, document.replace etc.

Not sure if it is a bug but I have not found any documentation on this yet. All other browsers reports the referer using the mentioned methods/properties

My solution was to create a hidden A element in the code and used

var aElement = document.getElementById('my-a-element');
if (isIE)
  aElement.click();
else
  // document.location = aElement.href;

The click method is available in IE

Answer 6

Have you tried this?

Response.Write("<script type='text/javaScript'> window.location = '#myAnchor'; </script>";);

Answer 7

Maybe it's just a typo in your post and not in your code, but it's window and not window*s*

Answer 8

I have the same problem and I guess this is related to a click event.

I have a function that moves the browser to a specific page. I attach that function to some click events: in a button and in a image. AlsoI execute the function when the user press escape (document onkeypress event).

The results are that in all cases the function is called and executed, but only when there is a click the browser goes to the address I want.

Update I got it working! with a

setTimeout( "location.replace('whatever.html');", 0 );

I don't know why the location.replace wasn't working when the event was a keypress, but with the settimeout it works :)

Update Returning false after the event when you press escape makes the redirection works. If you return true or nothing the browser will not follow

Answer 9

Another option:

document.location.href ="..."

Answer 10

window.location.hash = "#gallery";

Answer 11

If you are trying to call this javascript code after an event that is followed by a callback then you must add another line to your function:

function JSNavSomewhere()
{
    windows.location.href = myUrl;
    return false;
}

in your markup for the page, the control that calls this function on click must return this function's value

<asp:button ..... onlclick="return JSNavSomewhere();" />

The false return value will cancell the callback and the redirection will now work. Why this works in IE? Well I guess they were thinking differently on the issue when they prioritized the redirection over the callback.

Hope this helps!

Answer 12

please add full javascript script tag

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script>

Answer 13

You've got to add return false; after the window.location.href as mentioned above.

function thisWorks()
{
    window.location.href = "http://www.google.com";
    return false;
}

function thisDoesNotWork()
{
    window.location.href = "http://www.google.com";
}

Answer 14

thank you for your asnwers guys, i also had that issue