Activation of 'no JavaScript' mode

Ebase supports client browsers which do not support JavaScript. This support can be activated in one of three ways:

Automatically, when the system detects that the client browser does not have JavaScript enabled
Explicitly, when the 'do not use JavaScript' option has been set in the global accessibility dialog.
Explicitly using a script command to set system variable $PRESENTATION_USE_JAVASCRIPT = 'N'

(See Accessibility options and attributes for more information)

Browser with JavaScript disabled

When Ebase detects a client browser system that does not support JavaScript, the following message is displayed.

Both the message and the OK button are multi-lingual system texts and their content can be changed by edition system texts 387 and 388 respectively. To avoid this prompt message being repeatedly displayed, the system remembers that JavaScript is disabled for the duration of the session between the browser and the application server. (See System Administration for more information)

Behaviour differences with JavaScript disabled

When operating without JavaScript, some system behaviour is altered. These differences are listed below:

1. Validation of user input

All validation of user input normally performed using JavaScript in the client browser is performed on the server when JavaScript is disabled. This includes:

Checking for mandatory fields
Checking numeric and date formats
Validation of input masks

Any validation error messages are positioned immediately above the field in error and are displayed using the template attributes specified for error messages. The server validation processes all fields on the page and will issue multiple error messages if necessary - this is in contrast to client validation which processes fields one at a time. The page below illustrates this and contains a number of validation errors:

The validation messages issued are multi-lingual system texts and can be customized as required by editing system texts 380 - 386 and 413. (See System Administration for more information)

2. Display of popup windows

When JavaScript is disabled, it is not possible to popup new browser windows. Instead, the new window is displayed in the original browser window replacing the Ebase form window. This applies to popup windows relating to all of the following:

Popup help windows i.e. as popup window has been selected for info text position in the presentation template associated with the form.
All windows associated with save and restore dialog boxes
Windows containing PDF documents resulting from FPL print, pdfprint or outputpage commands, or API WebForm.generatePdf() methods
Windows displaying additional documents resulting from the FPL display command or API WebForm.displayUrl() method
The dialog box resulting from the FPL upload command or API WebForm.uploadFileFromBrowser() method

Where possible, Ebase adds a return button to enable the user to return to the form window. However, when the popup window contains a document of a type other than HTML e.g. a PDF document, this is not possible, and the user must then press the browser back button to return to the form.

3. Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are displayed as buttons when JavaScript is disabled. Otherwise, their behaviour is unchanged.

4. Field focus

When JavaScript is enabled, Ebase highlights both the current field and fields with error using the colours specified in the presentation template under section Focus options. In addition, the system attempts to always set focus to the next field to be completed each time a page is displayed.

When JavaScript is disabled, it is not possible to set focus to an individual field and all focus functionality is disabled.

5. Calendar

The popup calendar window to assist with entering of dates is not displayed when JavaScript is disabled.

6. Immediate validation option

When JavaScript is disabled, fields with immediate validation are displayed with an adjacent 'Go!' button as shown below. When the user clicks on the button the immediate validation event fires. The text in the 'Go!' button is system text 399 and can be customized and displayed in multiple languages. In addition, the 'Go!' button can be displayed as an image. This option is set in the properties of Field Control.

(See System Administration for more information)

7. Lists displayed as checkboxes

Displaying a list (either a static list or a dynamic list) as a number of checkboxes is not possible with JavaScript disabled. The system will automatically display any such field as radio buttons.