Recieving Error "'theForm' is undefined" In ASP.NET Application Even With The Line "var theForm = do

[Nathan Sokalski]

I have an ASP.NET application which is giving the following JavaScript
error:

'theForm' is undefined

However, when I do a View Source one of the <script> elements is as follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
theForm.submit();
}
}
// -->
</script>

You will notice that the first line of code in this script element creates
and assigns a value to a variable named "theForm". This code was generated
by ASP.NET, so it SHOULD be correct, and it looks to me like 'theForm' is
defined. I have seen other people post this error before also, but I can't
remember what they said they did to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Randy Webb]

Nathan Sokalski said the following on 6/9/2007 8:57 PM:

I have an ASP.NET application which is giving the following JavaScript
error:

'theForm' is undefined

However, when I do a View Source one of the <script> elements is as follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
theForm.submit();
}
}
// -->
</script>

You will notice that the first line of code in this script element creates
and assigns a value to a variable named "theForm". This code was generated
by ASP.NET, so it SHOULD be correct,

But it isn't "correct". The error is caused because the script block
will be before the form element appears in the page and so it will be
undefined because it doesn't exist yet.

and it looks to me like 'theForm' is defined.

If, and only if, a form with the name/id attribute of "form1" exists at
the time that the script executes.

I have seen other people post this error before also, but I can't
remember what they said they did to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks.

1) Make sure the script block appears after the element in the page.
2) Better, is to include it in the postback function. Failing that, wrap
it in a function and call it via window.onload

The entire if part that is not in a function is a bad way of writing a
script though. I would be interested to see a scenario where theForm
didn't get defined on the first line but got defined on the second.
Meaning, a browser that didn't support document.forms['form1'] but did
support document.form1

 

[Nathan Sokalski]

Thank you for that information, it will definitely be useful at some point.
However, it brings me to another problem:

Because I did not specifically request that this script be added (it gets
added automatically, my code does not include anything that says where to
put the script or even that it should be included at all), what should I do
to fix the problem? Thanks.
--
Nathan Sokalski
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.nathansokalski.com/

Nathan Sokalski said the following on 6/9/2007 8:57 PM:

I have an ASP.NET application which is giving the following JavaScript
error:

'theForm' is undefined

However, when I do a View Source one of the <script> elements is as
follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
theForm.submit();
}
}
// -->
</script>

You will notice that the first line of code in this script element
creates and assigns a value to a variable named "theForm". This code was
generated by ASP.NET, so it SHOULD be correct,

But it isn't "correct". The error is caused because the script block will
be before the form element appears in the page and so it will be undefined
because it doesn't exist yet.

and it looks to me like 'theForm' is defined.

If, and only if, a form with the name/id attribute of "form1" exists at
the time that the script executes.

I have seen other people post this error before also, but I can't
remember what they said they did to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks.

1) Make sure the script block appears after the element in the page.
2) Better, is to include it in the postback function. Failing that, wrap
it in a function and call it via window.onload

The entire if part that is not in a function is a bad way of writing a
script though. I would be interested to see a scenario where theForm
didn't get defined on the first line but got defined on the second.
Meaning, a browser that didn't support document.forms['form1'] but did
support document.form1

--
Randy
Chance Favors The Prepared Mind
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
Javascript Best Practices -
http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/

 

[Randy Webb]

Nathan Sokalski said the following on 6/9/2007 9:55 PM:

Thank you for that information, it will definitely be useful at some point.
However, it brings me to another problem:

Because I did not specifically request that this script be added (it gets
added automatically, my code does not include anything that says where to
put the script or even that it should be included at all), what should I do
to fix the problem? Thanks.

Stop using ASP.NET

 

[Eliyahu Goldin]

Make sure you have something like
<form id="form1" runat="server">
on your form. You didn't rename the form1 did you?

--
Eliyahu Goldin,
Software Developer & Consultant
Microsoft MVP [ASP.NET]
http://msmvps.com/blogs/egoldin
http://usableasp.net

 

[Nathan Sokalski]

No, I did not rename my the form. The exact line of code copy & pasted from
Visual Studio 2005 is:

<form id="form1" runat="server">

--
Nathan Sokalski
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.nathansokalski.com/

Make sure you have something like
<form id="form1" runat="server">
on your form. You didn't rename the form1 did you?

--
Eliyahu Goldin,
Software Developer & Consultant
Microsoft MVP [ASP.NET]
http://msmvps.com/blogs/egoldin
http://usableasp.net

I have an ASP.NET application which is giving the following JavaScript
error:

'theForm' is undefined

However, when I do a View Source one of the <script> elements is as
follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
theForm.submit();
}
}
// -->
</script>

You will notice that the first line of code in this script element
creates and assigns a value to a variable named "theForm". This code was
generated by ASP.NET, so it SHOULD be correct, and it looks to me like
'theForm' is defined. I have seen other people post this error before
also, but I can't remember what they said they did to fix it. Any ideas?
Thanks.