[bens1901]

Hi.

I've got a question about HTML frames which might be simple, but I have not yet found the answer.

I'd like to have a page (a.htm) with 2 frames, the top frame displays a local file (top.html), and the bottom frame should display an external site (http://zzz.zzz.zzz/zz/). The a.html page with the "frameset" loads, but when it's done loading then the entire browser reloads with the bottom frame's address (http://zzz.zzz.zzz/zz/).

How can I get the page to remain with just a.html and show the top and bottom frames?

Thanks for any info.

-Ben

[Oisín]

It sounds like the external page you're loading in your bottom frame doesn't like being framed (hehe). There's probably a frame busting script in it, and there's not much you can do about that...

[thePurpleGiant]

Olsin is right. Some sites are written specifically with code to prevent them from being opened in a frame. And unless you have access to that site's code (which I'm assuming you don't, since it's an external site), then there really isn't much you can do. Sorry!

[Oisín]

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Olsin is right.

Hi, my name is... "What?"
My name is... "Who?"
My name is... [jiggyjiggy] Oisín, not Olsín

[thePurpleGiant]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Hi, my name is... "What?"
My name is... "Who?"
My name is... [jiggyjiggy] Oisín, not Olsín

Excuse me!
Can I have the attention of Oisin
for one second?

...uh, yeah, so it is My super-blurry Safari text rendering on here shows your 'i' as an 'l' for me. Sorry 'bout that.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Excuse me!
Can I have the attention of Oisin
for one second?

[Chris O'Brien]

Hmm, it might be possible to stop their 'frame-busting' script. It'd be a lot easier if you had access to the code of the external page, but there are still some possibilities without seeing their code…

For example, a 'frame-busting' script will likely just check to see if the top.location.href is equal to document.location.href, but if they're dumb, and you're lucky, they may only be matching the page names (rather than the whole URL), so you could name your top page the same as the external page. That's extremely unlikely to work, but it's a start.

Next thing - you could override the onload event (as, I preusme this will be when the 'busting' script will be called. Even if it's just to throw an error - as long as it doesn't interfere with any other functionality of the site, then it shouldn't matter, and you've kept it in your frame.

If you had access to the code, you could check for any global variables you could change etc.

My point is that it is likely to be possible, but will likely be difficult (if it is actually possible…).

Why are you having an external page in your frame anyway?

[bens1901]

Originally posted by Black Book:
Why are you having an external page in your frame anyway?

I'm trying to build a web site that lists other sites with a rating value. When you click on a list item, you'd get a new window with two frames: the top frame is a simple rating scale that you can use to rate the site, the bottom frame is the external site. There would also be an "exit frames" button so you could just escape the frames and view the external site in the whole browser window.

The new window with the 2 frames seems to be working. However, a few sites will just not display...they reload in the entire window. i'm ok with the idea of just a few sites doing this. Although, this means that those particular sites will never get a rating in my system. If my site were to grow and become popular, then it's their loss.

Anyways, my site is still in development on my local machine. Any advice on how to handle all of this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

-Ben

[Oisín]

Wouldn't it perhaps be better to show the rating in your main window and then have the link point directly to the external site then? Or perhaps (although I would hate this and never do it myself) have two popup windows open up when you click the link - one with the rating and one with the frame?

[bens1901]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Wouldn't it perhaps be better to show the rating in your main window and then have the link point directly to the external site then? Or perhaps (although I would hate this and never do it myself) have two popup windows open up when you click the link - one with the rating and one with the frame?

I've thought about taking that approach, but I want to encourage users to rate the other sites. If a visitor comes to my site and finds a link that then asnwers their question or gives them valuable information, then they may not bother to return to my site and give a rating/feedback for that site.