Why can't Explorer compile the jsapi?

[Chris Schneider]

Dear Google AJAX Gurus,

I'm trying to track down why Explorer can't display the Google Maps on
my site. IE7 (running on a PC I no longer have access to) reports the
same error as does my IE5.2 for the Mac OS. I worked up a minimal test
case to demonstrate the problem, which prevents any of the Google Maps
APIs from getting loaded (because google.load isn't successfully
loaded).

While loading the following test page:

http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/ie7_google_bug.php

Explorer will display the following alert (if 'Show scripting error
alerts' is enabled):

Microsoft JScript compilation error:
Line: 23
Char: 315
Error: Expected ')'

If you click the source button, it appears that the problem is due to
the JavaScript code loaded from http://www.google.com/jsapi?key=[my
key] via the <script></script> tags on line 9 of my own source. Once
the content from www.google.com is incorporated into my source, line
23 probably refers to the following line of google code:

(function() {var
d=true,f=null,g=false,h=encodeURIComponent,j=window,k=google,m=undefined,n=document;function
p(a,b){return a.load=b}var
q="push",s="replace",t="charAt",u="ServiceBase",v="name",w="getTime",x="length",y="prototype",z="setTimeout",A="loader",B="substring",C="join",D="toLowerCase";function
E(a){if(a in F)return F[a];return F[a]=navigator.userAgent[D]().indexOf
(a)!=-1}var F={};function G(a,b){var c=function(){};c.prototype=b
[y];a.R=b[y];a.prototype=new c}

Furthermore, it appears that the following JavaScript statement may be
the source of the compilation error:

if(a in F)return F[a];

I only have the JavaScript 1.1 reference (JavaScript - The Definitive
Guide, 2nd Ed.), in which only the "for ... in" construct is
described. I saw one reference online to the use of "in" alluded to
above, which appears to make use of the fact that associative array
keys are implemented as object properties (Unfortunately, I'm unable
to find that reference right now among the plethora of posts from
people who suggest using .indexof or looping to search arrays.)

If the above is truly legal JavaScript, then in what version was this
new "in" construct introduced? What browser versions (particularly of
Explorer) would support it?

Thanks,

- Chris

[Jeremy Geerdes]

I am not seeing a syntax error in IE6 or IE7 for Windows. As far as
IE5.2 for Mac is concerned, I don't know of anyone who still utilizes
it for development or otherwise. The JSAPI is not intended to work
with IE5.2 for Mac. For development, I would recommend Firefox with
the Firebug plugin. These will get you farther in testing for IE6-8
than IE5.2 for Mac, which was a dramatically different animal than any
PC variant of IE. If you need further help, you could check out our
IRC channel.

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:
http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com
http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com
http://jgeerdes.wordpress.com
jgee...@mchsi.com

Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this
communication are given in US dollars.

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
Wesleyan Church!

And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, at http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com
!

[Chris Schneider]

Jeremy,

Thanks for responding and for trying out my test case on IE6 and IE7!
I called up my mother in law :) and had her confirm that this minimal
test case generates no errors on her machine either. (I swear that a
version of my real page was failing before on the jsapi code in the
same way as it was doing on IE5.2, but this is beside the point.)

I am certainly aware that IE5.2 for the Mac is a dead product, but
it's all I have available for testing here on my desktop. :( Just
getting that confirmation from my mother in law took about 30 minutes
of hand-holding. I hesitate to even ask for further help from the
community, but if someone out there was interested enough to just try
loading another page into IE7, please read on...

A test that is much closer to my goal still does fail on her machine
(of course). IE7 apparently now reports a syntax error on line 35,
column 5 of the following page:

http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/peak_detail_test.php?peak_name=Muir

The failing statement and the ones immediately before and after seem
fairly innocuous to me:

var new_map = new google.maps.Map2(map_element);
new_map.addMapType(google.maps.PHYSICAL_MAP);
var topo_map_type = WMS_create_topo_map_type();

Note that this is a syntax error - the code above appears in a
function that doesn't get executed simply by loading the page.

I would appreciate any insight concerning why. (I'm also still
interested in that "in" construct I mentioned in my original post, but
I suppose I'll be able to answer that myself when my new JavaScript
book arrives next week.)

Thanks,

- Chris

On Nov 6, 5:13 pm, Jeremy Geerdes <jrgeer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am not seeing a syntax error in IE6 or IE7 for Windows. As far as  
> IE5.2 for Mac is concerned, I don't know of anyone who still utilizes  
> it for development or otherwise. The JSAPI is not intended to work  
> with IE5.2 for Mac. For development, I would recommend Firefox with  
> the Firebug plugin. These will get you farther in testing for IE6-8  
> than IE5.2 for Mac, which was a dramatically different animal than any  
> PC variant of IE. If you need further help, you could check out our  
> IRC channel.
>
> Jeremy R. Geerdes
> Effective website design & development
> Des Moines, IA
>
> For more information or a project quote:http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.comhttp://jgeerdes.blogspot.comhttp://jgeerdes.wordpress.com

> jgeer...@mchsi.com

>
> Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this  
> communication are given in US dollars.
>
> If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights  
> Wesleyan Church!
>

> And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, athttp://jgeerdes.blogspot.com

>   !
>
> On Nov 6, 2009, at 6:28 PM, Chris Schneider wrote:
>
>
>
> > Dear Google AJAX Gurus,
>
> > I'm trying to track down why Explorer can't display the Google Maps on
> > my site. IE7 (running on a PC I no longer have access to) reports the
> > same error as does my IE5.2 for the Mac OS. I worked up a minimal test
> > case to demonstrate the problem, which prevents any of the Google Maps
> > APIs from getting loaded (because google.load isn't successfully
> > loaded).
>
> > While loading the following test page:
>
> >http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/ie7_google_bug.php
>
> > Explorer will display the following alert (if 'Show scripting error
> > alerts' is enabled):
>
> > Microsoft JScript compilation error:
> > Line: 23
> > Char: 315
> > Error: Expected ')'
>
> > If you click the source button, it appears that the problem is due to

> > the JavaScript code loaded fromhttp://www.google.com/jsapi?key=[my

> > key] via the <script></script> tags on line 9 of my own source. Once

> > the content fromwww.google.comis incorporated into my source, line

[Chris Schneider]

Gang,

P.S. - I guess I should have explicitly stated that everything is
already working well in Firefox and Safari. In particular, nothing
appears in the Firefox Error Console, and things look good poking
around in Firebug.

- Chris

> > For more information or a project quote:http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.comhttp://jgeerdes.blogspot.comhttp://jgee...

> > > the content fromwww.google.comisincorporated into my source, line

[Chris Schneider]

FYI,

I just got my new JavaScript guide (5th ed.), and there is a new use
of the "in" keyword to check property existence (see p.108 and Chapter
5). This use of what is now called the "in operator" is documented in
the book as being part of the JavaScript ECMA-262, version 3 standard
(available at http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-262.pdf),
but I was unable to find the in operator documented within that
standard. The book also claims that everything documented in the book
(i.e., including the in operator) should be supported by IE4, as well
as Netscape 4.5 and any more recent versions of other browsers.

- Chris

On Nov 6, 4:28 pm, Chris Schneider <Sch...@TransPac.com> wrote:
> Dear Google AJAX Gurus,
>
> I'm trying to track down why Explorer can't display the Google Maps on
> my site. IE7 (running on a PC I no longer have access to) reports the
> same error as does my IE5.2 for the Mac OS. I worked up a minimal test
> case to demonstrate the problem, which prevents any of the Google Maps
> APIs from getting loaded (because google.load isn't successfully
> loaded).
>
> While loading the following test page:
>
> http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/ie7_google_bug.php
>
> Explorer will display the following alert (if 'Show scripting error
> alerts' is enabled):
>
> Microsoft JScript compilation error:
> Line: 23
> Char: 315
> Error: Expected ')'
>
> If you click the source button, it appears that the problem is due to

> the JavaScript code loaded fromhttp://www.google.com/jsapi?key=[my

> key] via the <script></script> tags on line 9 of my own source. Once

> the content fromwww.google.comis incorporated into my source, line

[Chris Schneider]

FYI,

The *version 3* ECMA-262 is actually at the following URL:

http://www.mozilla.org/js/language/E262-3.pdf

I *does* contain the description of the "in operator" (see section
11.8.7).

- Chris

On Nov 10, 12:59 pm, Chris Schneider <Sch...@TransPac.com> wrote:
> FYI,
>
> I just got my new JavaScript guide (5th ed.), and there is a new use
> of the "in" keyword to check property existence (see p.108 and Chapter
> 5). This use of what is now called the "in operator" is documented in
> the book as being part of the JavaScript ECMA-262, version 3 standard

> (available athttp://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-262...),

> but I was unable to find the in operator documented within that
> standard. The book also claims that everything documented in the book
> (i.e., including the in operator) should be supported by IE4, as well
> as Netscape 4.5 and any more recent versions of other browsers.
>
> - Chris
>

> On Nov 6, 4:28 pm, ChrisSchneider<Sch...@TransPac.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear Google AJAX Gurus,
>
> > I'm trying to track down why Explorer can't display the Google Maps on
> > my site. IE7 (running on a PC I no longer have access to) reports the
> > same error as does my IE5.2 for the Mac OS. I worked up a minimal test
> > case to demonstrate the problem, which prevents any of the Google Maps
> > APIs from getting loaded (because google.load isn't successfully
> > loaded).
>
> > While loading the following test page:
>
> >http://www.vulgarianramblers.org/ie7_google_bug.php
>
> > Explorer will display the following alert (if 'Show scripting error
> > alerts' is enabled):
>
> > Microsoft JScript compilation error:
> > Line: 23
> > Char: 315
> > Error: Expected ')'
>
> > If you click the source button, it appears that the problem is due to
> > the JavaScript code loaded fromhttp://www.google.com/jsapi?key=[my
> > key] via the <script></script> tags on line 9 of my own source. Once

> > the content fromwww.google.comisincorporated into my source, line

[Jeremy Geerdes]

Thanks for the update, Chris.

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:

http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com
http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com
http://jgeerdes.wordpress.com
jgee...@mchsi.com

Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this
communication are given in US dollars.

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
Wesleyan Church!

And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, at http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com
!

>>> d
>>> =
>>> true
>>> ,f
>>> =
>>> null
>>> ,g
>>> =
>>> false
>>> ,h
>>> =

>>> encodeURIComponent,j=window,k=google,m=undefined,n=document;function
>>> p(a,b){return a.load=b}var