128988 - setAttribute('href', link) on <a> tag does not work properly or at all

Status: VERIFIED INVALID

(Core :: DOM: Core & HTML, defect, P3)

Description

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Any attempt to assign an <a> element that has been created by
document.createElement an href attribute fails to turn it into a link. Two
testcases have been provided. In the first the href attribute is set on the
created <a> element prior to its insertion into the document. In the second the
href attribute is set after the <a> element has been inserted into the document. 

A more minor problem is that the cursor does not change when over a pre-existing
<a> element that has been assigned an href attribute after the document has
finished loading. A third testcase has been attached do demonstrate this.

Comment 1

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Attachment: setAttribute before appendChild

Comment 2

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Attachment: setAttribute after appendChild

Comment 3

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Attachment: setAttribute on existing <a> element

Comment 4

[Christopher Hoess (gone)]

The first two testcases are broken, but I get the hand cursor in the third on a
fresh Linux build.

Comment 5

[Fabian Guisset]

Probably a dup of fixed bug 113310. What build were you using? Could you please
re-test with a new build? Thanks in advance!

Comment 6

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Fabian, build is 2002020406 (0.9.8). 

Christopher has just confirmed that the main part of this bug (setting an href
attribute on a <a> element created through document.createElement) is _still_
broken on latest linux build. 

However, the second part is indeed a dup of fixed bug 113310.

Comment 7

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Additional information: 

After clicking on the text of what should be a link created through the DOM I
get this warning in the JavaScript Console: 

Warning: reference to undefined property linkNode.href
Source File: chrome://communicator/content/contentAreaClick.js
Line: 153

Maybe helpful, maybe not. 

Comment 8

[Sivakiran Tummala]

changing priority to p3

Comment 9

[HJ]

I'm changing tabbrowser.xml so that a mouse hover over tabs will display that
little close button icon but it seems that the stylesheet has been disabled
after using setAttribute in onStateChange: This is how the code looks:

                if (this.mIcon) {
                  this.mTab.setAttribute("image", this.mIcon);
                  mIcon = "";
                }

The new code works just fine, but only if I remove setAttribute(). So the main
problem is a disabled stylesheet.

Comment 10

[HJ]

I like to know if my problem is related, or that I need to file a new bug report?

Comment 11

[HJ]

CC'ed bz on request (IRC)

Comment 12

[HJ]

I have changed browser.css (cursor: grab;) to see _if_ the stylesheet was
disabled, but that's a negative! The mouse pointer changed in a hand (mouse
hovers) so the stylesheet is still Ok. Adding this.mTab.setAttribute("class",
"tab-icon"); didn't help me either.

Boris, do you know a way (css) to change the favicon/icon on the tabs on mouse
hovers? This is what I use now:

<snap>
tab:hover, tab[busy]:hover {
  list-style-image: url("chrome://global/skin/icons/close.gif") !important;
}
</snap>

Comment 13

[Johnny Stenback (:jst)]

Attachment: Working testcase

Working testcase.

Comment 14

[Johnny Stenback (:jst)]

We're dealing with XML here, which means if you want to create XHTML elements,
you must use the DOM's createElementNS method to create elements in the XHTML
namespace. document.createElement('a') will just create a vanilla 'a' element in
no namespace.

INVALID.

Comment 15

[Sivakiran Tummala]

marking verified , testcase works