JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Name

Window.name — the name of a window

Availability

JavaScript 1.0; read/write in JavaScript 1.1

Synopsis

                  window.name

Description

The name property is a string that specifies the name of window. This property is read-only in JavaScript 1.0 and read/write in JavaScript 1.1. The name of a top-level window is initially specified by the name argument of the Window.open( ) method. The name of a frame is initially specified by the name attribute of the <frame> HTML tag.

The name of a top-level window or frame may be used as the value of a target attribute of an <a> or <form> tag. Using the target attribute in this way specifies that the hyperlinked document or the results of form submission should be displayed in the named window.

The initial window opened by the browser and any windows opened with the New Web Browser menu item initially have no name (i.e., name == ""), so these windows cannot be addressed with a target attribute from a separate top-level window. In JavaScript 1.1, you can set the name attribute to remedy this situation.

See Also

Form.target, Link.target