The browser is capable of invoking system dialogs to display to the user through the alert(),
confirm(), and prompt() methods. These dialogs are not related to the web page being displayed
in the browser and do not contain HTML. Their appearance is determined by operating system and/
or browser settings rather than CSS. Additionally, each of these dialogs is synchronous and modal,
meaning code execution stops when a dialog is displayed, and resumes
after it has been dismissed.
The alert() method has been used throughout this book. It simply
accepts a string to display to the user. When alert() is called, a
system message box displays the specifi ed text to the user, followed by
a single OK button.
Alert dialogs are typically used when users must be made aware of something that they have no
control over, such as an error. A user’s only choice is to dismiss the dialog after reading the message.
The second type of dialog is invoked by calling confirm(). A confi rm dialog looks similar to an
alert dialog in that it displays a message to the user. The main difference between the two is the
To determine if the user clicked OK or Cancel, the confirm() method
returns a Boolean value: true if OK was clicked, or false if Cancel
was clicked or the dialog box was closed by clicking the X in the
corner. Typical usage of a confi rm dialog looks like this:
if (confirm(“Are you sure?”)) {
alert(“I’m so glad you’re sure! “);
} else {
alert(“I’m sorry to hear you’re not sure. “);
}
If the OK button is clicked, prompt() returns the value in the text box; if Cancel is clicked or the
dialog is otherwise closed without clicking OK, the function returns null. Here’s an example:
var result = prompt(“What is your name? “, “”);
if (result !== null) {
alert(“Welcome, “ + result);
}
confirm(), and prompt() methods. These dialogs are not related to the web page being displayed
in the browser and do not contain HTML. Their appearance is determined by operating system and/
or browser settings rather than CSS. Additionally, each of these dialogs is synchronous and modal,
meaning code execution stops when a dialog is displayed, and resumes
after it has been dismissed.
The alert() method has been used throughout this book. It simply
accepts a string to display to the user. When alert() is called, a
system message box displays the specifi ed text to the user, followed by
a single OK button.
Alert dialogs are typically used when users must be made aware of something that they have no
control over, such as an error. A user’s only choice is to dismiss the dialog after reading the message.
The second type of dialog is invoked by calling confirm(). A confi rm dialog looks similar to an
alert dialog in that it displays a message to the user. The main difference between the two is the
To determine if the user clicked OK or Cancel, the confirm() method
returns a Boolean value: true if OK was clicked, or false if Cancel
was clicked or the dialog box was closed by clicking the X in the
corner. Typical usage of a confi rm dialog looks like this:
if (confirm(“Are you sure?”)) {
alert(“I’m so glad you’re sure! “);
} else {
alert(“I’m sorry to hear you’re not sure. “);
}
If the OK button is clicked, prompt() returns the value in the text box; if Cancel is clicked or the
dialog is otherwise closed without clicking OK, the function returns null. Here’s an example:
var result = prompt(“What is your name? “, “”);
if (result !== null) {
alert(“Welcome, “ + result);
}