Working with Multiple Style Sheets - Switching alternate style sheets in a cross-browser fashion: defining a basic JavaScript function
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As you learned in the previous section, all of the alternate style sheets attached to a given web document have a "title" attribute that identifies them. So I'm going to use that attribute to create a simple JavaScript function that allows the user to activate programmatically only one of these sheets.
Basically, the signature for this JavaScript function looks like this:
function changeStyleSheet(title){
var lnks=document.getElementsByTagName("link");
if(!lnks){return};
for(var i=0;i<lnks.length;i++){
if(lnks[i].getAttribute("rel").indexOf("style")!=-1&&lnks
[i].getAttribute('title')){
lnks[i].disabled=true;
if(lnks[i].getAttribute('title')==title){
lnks[i].disabled = false;
}
}
}
}
As shown previously, the above "changeStyleSheet()" function implements a simple mechanism for activating/deactivating a specific alternate style sheet directly from the site's own web page. The function accepts the title of the style sheet to be enabled, and then disables the others via the "disabled" property.
Indeed, the process for swapping alternate style sheets is pretty straightforward and you shouldn't have much problem grasping how it works, so next I will define another JavaScript function that will display some links on the browser for calling the previous "changeStyleSheet()" function to activate a specific style sheet.
This brand new function is defined as follows:
function displayStyleLinks(){
var labels=new Array('Red','Green','Blue','Font Size 1','Font
Size 2','Font Size3');
var div=document.createElement('div');
div.setAttribute('id','linkcontainer');
for(var i=0;i<labels.length;i++){
var lnk=document.createElement('a');
lnk.setAttribute('href','#');
lnk.setAttribute('title',labels[i]);
lnk.appendChild(document.createTextNode(labels[i]));
div.appendChild(lnk);
}
document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(div);
}
The above JavaScript function doesn't bear mush discussion here. It performs a few basic tasks, like including some simple links via some DOM scripting. These links activate specific alternate style sheets when the user clicks on them.
And finally, the following JavaScript snippet attaches the "changeStyleSheet()" function to all of the links just created:
window.onload=function(){
if(document.getElementById && document.createElement &&
document.getElementsByTagName){
// display style links on the browser
displayStyleLinks();
var link1=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
if(!link1){return};
link1.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('redstyle');
return false;
}
var link2=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[1];
if(!link2){return};
link2.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('greenstyle');
return false;
}
var link3=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[2];
if(!link3){return};
link3.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('bluestyle');
return false;
}
var link4=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[3];
if(!link4){return};
link4.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('fontstylea');
return false;
}
var link5=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[4];
if(!link5){return};
link5.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('fontstyleb');
return false;
}
var link6=document.getElementsByTagName('a')[5];
if(!link6){return};
link6.onclick=function(){
changeStyleSheet('fontstylec');
return false;
}
}
}
So far, so good, right? At this stage I developed a simple JavaScript routine to swap several alternate style sheets by using links. But you probably want to see a concrete example that shows how to do this.
Therefore, in the section to come I'll be setting up a practical example where a group of alternate style sheets are switched by using the JavaScript functions that you learned before. So click on the link below and keep reading, to see how this process will be performed.
Next: Swapping alternate style sheets >>
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