[Webdev] Netscape Javascript console

[Niall O Broin]

Hi,
   I am trying to debug some thorny Javascript and I thought I could use
Netscape's Javascript console to help me. I'm trying to manage a document
with layers and a form, and the exact relationship of form to layers is
driving me nuts. Anyway, T don't seem to be ab;t to use the console to do
anything worthwhile. When I use the typein box to call a function like

hideLayer("somelayer")

I get an error message like


JavaScript Error: [unknown origin]:

hideLayer is not defined.


and when I do


document.layers["somelayer"].visibility="hidden";

I get


JavaScript Error: [unknown origin]:

document.layers.collection_0 has no properties.


Needless to say, hideLayer is a function, and hideLayer("somelayer") actully
does

document.layers["somelayer"].visibility="hidden";

and this works on the page, when called as part of the page processing, but
I can't make it work from the console.


The thought occurs to me as I write that perhaps the problem is that the
console is at a higher level than my document. This is reinforced by the
fact that when I simply type in a variable name at the typein I get

variable_name is not defined

So I guess the question becomes - how do I reach parts of a document from
the console ?




Regards,



Niall