[javascript] Calling javascript function in iframe

I have problem calling a JavaScript function in an iframe from the parent page. Here is my two pages:

mainPage.html

<html>
<head>
    <title>MainPage</title>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function Reset() 
        {
            if (document.all.resultFrame)
                alert("resultFrame found");
            else
                alert("resultFrame NOT found");

            if (typeof (document.all.resultFrame.Reset) == "function")
                document.all.resultFrame.Reset();
            else
                alert("resultFrame.Reset NOT found");
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    MainPage<br>
    <input type="button" onclick="Reset()" value="Reset"><br><br>
    <iframe height="100" id="resultFrame" src="resultFrame.html"></iframe>
</body>
</html>

resultFrame.html

<html>
<head>
    <title>ResultPage</title>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function Reset() 
        {
            alert("reset (in resultframe)");
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    ResultPage
</body>
</html>

(I know that document.all isn't recommended but this page should only be viewed with IE internally and I don't think that's the problem)

When I press the Reset-button I get "resultFrame found" and "resultFrame.Reset NOT found". It seems to have a reference to the frame but can't call the function on the frame, why is that?

This question is related to javascript iframe

The answer is


Call

window.frames['resultFrame'].Reset();

The first and foremost condition that needs to be met is that both the parent and iframe should belong to the same origin. Once that is done the child can invoke the parent using window.opener method and the parent can do the same for the child as mentioned above


If you can not use it directly and if you encounter this error: Blocked a frame with origin "http://www..com" from accessing a cross-origin frame. You can use postMessage() instead of using the function directly.


For even more robustness:

function getIframeWindow(iframe_object) {
  var doc;

  if (iframe_object.contentWindow) {
    return iframe_object.contentWindow;
  }

  if (iframe_object.window) {
    return iframe_object.window;
  } 

  if (!doc && iframe_object.contentDocument) {
    doc = iframe_object.contentDocument;
  } 

  if (!doc && iframe_object.document) {
    doc = iframe_object.document;
  }

  if (doc && doc.defaultView) {
   return doc.defaultView;
  }

  if (doc && doc.parentWindow) {
    return doc.parentWindow;
  }

  return undefined;
}

and

...
var el = document.getElementById('targetFrame');

var frame_win = getIframeWindow(el);

if (frame_win) {
  frame_win.reset();
  ...
}
...

objectframe.contentWindow.Reset() you need reference to the top level element in the frame first.


When you access resultFrame through document.all it only pulls it as an HTML element, not a window frame. You get the same issue if you have a frame fire an event using a "this" self-reference.

Replace:

document.all.resultFrame.Reset();

With:

window.frames.resultFrame.Reset();

Or:

document.all.resultFrame.contentWindow.Reset();

Instead of getting the frame from the document, try getting the frame from the window object.

in the above example change this:

if (typeof (document.all.resultFrame.Reset) == "function")
    document.all.resultFrame.Reset();
else
    alert("resultFrame.Reset NOT found");

to

if (typeof (window.frames[0].Reset) == "function")
    window.frames[0].Reset();
else
    alert("resultFrame.Reset NOT found");

the problem is that the scope of the javascript inside the iframe is not exposed through the DOM element for the iframe. only window objects contain the javascript scoping information for the frames.