Open and style a new window

Question

Hello,
Following this thread Re: Apply CSS to help window I'm trying to open and style a new window, using JavaScript. I'm using the following script:
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
function newwin(targetURL) {
var swin = window.open(targetURL,null);
swin.focus();
swin.document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].dir = "rtl";
</script>In a pure HTML environment, it works just fine. In ApEx I'm receiving an error message http://i2.tinypic.com/vfl7qc.png, which relate to the first window. For some reason, the reference to the new window (swin) does not work properly.
An example page can be seen at http://htmldb.oracle.com/pls/otn/f?p=22814:30
Can anyone please help me understand where the problem is?
Thanks,
Arie.

Answer 1

I've just tried your supplied code in Firefox and Internet Explorer in an Apex environment and they both worked fine.
FYI I tested with the following links on my host page:
< A href=javascript:newwin('http://www.leeds.ac.uk');>Click here!< /a >
< A href=javascript:newwin('f?p=103:1:&SESSION.');>Click here!< /a >
And the Javascript code in the header section of the same page.
A few questions:
- Which browser are you using?
- What will be in your popup? Another Apex page or something else?
- If an APEX page, what does the URL look like? Different to mine above?
- Is the popup Apex page a 'normal' page - or have you customised the template significantly?
I would guess that your error message is referring to the fact that getElementsByTagName is returning null - rather than the reference to the window. Thus, I'd check for the existance of a body tag and a generally well formed destination page. Test with leeds.ac.uk as I used above to confirm.
Hope this helps
Ben