Call javascript function from frame in other frameset

Question

My site is setup like this:

<frameset rows="80,*">
    <frame name="top" id="top" src="header.html">
    <frameset id="innerframe" cols="300,*">
        <frame name="nav" src="nav.html">
    </frameset>
</frameset>

In header.html I have:

function fAlert() {
    alert('test');
}

How can I call fAlert() in nav.html?

I tried

var fframe = parent.document.getElementById('top');
fframe.fAlert();

and also

parent.frames.top.fAlert();

but it didnt work (fAlert is undefined).

Any ideas how I can accomplish this?

Answer 1

First off, don't use framesets and frames. Use iframes--frames are deprecated.

Secondly, provide an id for the iframe (or frame, if you must) in order to direct the function call correctly. (You've already pretty much done this, but I'm being methodical.) I wouldn't name it 'top' because 'top' already has a meaning in terms of windows and frames.

From inside the nav frame, parent.insertYourFrameIdHere.fAlert() should work correctly. This assumes two things: 1) The page and the frame contents come from the same domain, and 2) header.html loaded correctly and there were no script errors in it. Script errors or other issues could keep the function from ever being created.