some more

String variables are used when a sequence of characters (any characters not to be treated as numbers) are required for display or program control.

String variables have several symbols in common with number variables.

"=" means the same as it does in numbers, "assign the value on the right to the variable on the left".

"==" means "is equal to" except the comparison is character by character rather than the numerical value. Examples:

var s = 'hi'; // assigns "hi" to variable s
s == 'hi'; // is true
s == 'hi ya'; // is false (is not exactly the same)
s == 'HI'; // is false ("==" is case sensitive)
s == 'bye'; // is false

The program code:

var s = 'hi';
if(s == 'hi') { document.write('The same!'); }

will print "The same!" on your page if the variable s contains 'hi'.

Another symbol that string and number variables have in common is the "+" symbol. For number variables, it means addition. However, for string variables it means concatenation:

var a = "Hello,";
var b = "world!";
var s = a + b;

stores the string "Hello,world!" in the variable s.

If you know ahead of time what the variables a and b will contain, you can accomplish the same thing with:

var s = "Hello," + "world!";

If you want a space in between, you could use either one of the following two lines:

var s = a + " " + b;
var s = "Hello," + " " + "world!";

With the above value in s, the code:

s = s + ' -- real loud :)';
document.write("My program says: " + s);

will print "My program says: Hello, world! -- real loud :)" on your page.

~~ ~~ Objects

An object can contain many variables and entire functions, and even other objects, within itself. In order to use the stuff in the object, the object must be assigned to a variable.

(Although you can make your own objects, this article deals only with objects that are built into the JavaScript language.)

To assign an object to a variable, the name of the object must have a pair of parenthesis at the end (which can have values in them, like functions) and you must use the word: new

~~ ~~ Date

Here is an example of assigning the Date object to a variable.

var d = new Date();

The variable d is now an object variable and has access to all the variables and functions within the object. To accomplish an access, type the object variable's name, then a period, then the name of the function or variable inside the object.

The following example will access several functions and store the results. Wherever you put the following code, it will print the current date and time on your page:



Notice the line: month = month + 1;

It is there because JavaScript's numerical representation of the calendar months are the digits 0 through 11, rather than the human representation of digits 1 through 12. The line adds 1 to the value returned by d.getMonth()

Also, notice the line beginning with: if(year

It is there because some browsers will display the correct 4-digit year and some browsers will display the year minus 1900. The line checks to see if year is less than 2000 and, if so, adds 1900 to it.

Let's do an example with another object.

~~ ~~ String

Sometimes, knowing the length of string variables can be essential to your program. To determine the length, you must create an object variable using the built-in: String

var s = new String('William');

The variable s is now an object variable which contains the string "William" along with several other values and functions. One of the values stored in s is the length of the string it contains. Two of the functions it contains are toUpperCase() and toLowerCase().

This code uses the mentioned value and functions (note that it will print the

 and 

HTML tags):



Note that a line break is represented in string variables with the two-character sequence: \n

The above code will write the following on your page as preformatted text:

Some stuff about William...
Length: 7
Upper Cased: WILLIAM
Lower Cased: william

"Netscape JavaScript Reference" and "Netscape - Client-Side JavaScript Guide" contain lists of built-in objects and functions. The references are linked from http://search.netscape.com/Computers/
Programming/Languages/JavaScript/References

~~ Program Flow Control

Much of what you do with JavaScript will require actions dependant on the contents of variables.

~~ ~~ if()

This articles series has used the if() flow control statement several times. It is of the format:

if() {
// code to execute
}

Between the parenthesis is the evaluation. Between the
curly braces is the code to execute if the evaluation
is true. Example:

if(n == 2) {
n++;
}

One-line code to execute following the if() statement does
not need to be in curly braces. And, whether or not it is
in curly braces, it can be all on one line. These two
examples work just as well as the above:

if(n == 2) { n++; }
if(n == 2) n++;

However, a multi-line code block must be within curly
braces:

if(n == 2) {
n++;
n = n * n;
}

All of the flow control statements in this section follow the same rule: If the code to run is a single line, it may be within curly braces but it is not necessary. However, if the code is multi-line, the curly braces are required.

~~ ~~ else

The if() flow control statement can have an accompanying: else

if(n == 2) n++;
else n--;

A multi-line "else" code block would look something like:

if(n == 2) n++;
else {
n = n + 21;
n = n * n;
}

If you use an else statement, it must immediately follow an if() statement.

For example, this will not run correctly:

if(n == 2) n++;
document.write('something');
else n = n - 1;

The corrected code is:

if(n == 2) n++;
else n = n - 1;
document.write('something');

~~ ~~ while()

The while() flow control statement executes it's code so long as whatever is between it's parenthesis evaluates as true:

var n = 1;
while(n <= 10) {
document.write('
' + n);
n++;
}

writes the current value of n on your page so long as the value of n is less than or equal to 10. In other words, it will write a list of numbers 1 through 10 on your page.

However, this

var n = 22;
while(n <= 10) {
document.write('
' + n);
n++;
}

will write nothing on your page because the statement between the parenthesis is never true.

~~ ~~ do ... while()

The do ... while() statement, however, will always execute it's code once because it checks the value in the parenthesis after the code is executed. Thus,

var n = 22;
do {
document.write('
' + n);
n++;
} while(n <= 10)

will print the number 22 on your page. And

var n = 1;
do {
document.write('
' + n);
n++;
} while(n <= 10)

will print the numbers 1 through 10.

~~ ~~ for()

The for() flow control statement is used to make a series of consistent changes and test a value repeatedly. There are three items within the for()'s parenthesis, separated with semi-colons.

The first item is the variable initialized to a specific value.

The second item is the check.

The third item changes the variable.

This prints the numbers 1 through 10:

for (var n = 1; n <= 10; n++) document.write('
' + n);

~~ Name Spitter

Here is a function that may amuse some people for a few moments. But then, maybe not. It's a simple thing with the purpose of demonstrating some of what has been covered in these first three parts of the JavaScript Tutorial.

The Name spitter is two JavaScript functions and a form that accepts a first name and a last name. When the button is clicked, the spitter does some calculations then opens up a popup window with the name printed twice as many times as the number of characters it contains, with ever increasing space between the names.

There are two functions, which should go between the and tags. The form should be below the tag. Here is the complete page:

First Name:
Last Name:

soure of javascript tutorial all above post also