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-   -   [JavaScript Application] pop-up appears everytime I go to Firefox. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/%5Bjavascript-application%5D-pop-up-appears-everytime-i-go-to-firefox-769699/)

dayton32 11-17-2009 10:18 AM

[JavaScript Application] pop-up appears everytime I go to Firefox.
 
Everytime I go to Firefox I get as many as three [JavaScript Application] pop-ups, stating: Error: document.body is null. I think this has to do with the last time I installed Java after a crash. One of the Java licenses would just not finish up and get off, and I deleted it after a couple of hours and reinstalled. Is there any way to get this pop-up off. I can delete each one, but sometimes there are as many as three or four.

mericet 11-17-2009 10:35 AM

You mention both Javascript popups and Java. I think it's highly unlilely the two are related, and Java and Javascript have only one similarity - their name. Other than that, they have nothing to do with each other.

What website comes up when you start Firefox?
Also, determine that they really are Javascript popups by disabling Javascript, refreshing the page, and see if they still appear.

dayton32 11-18-2009 08:39 AM

The web page on which this always happens is iGoogle. Following your suggestion, I disabled JavaScript and the [JavaScript Application] --title of the pop-up, and the pop-up doesn't appear on the page. But then neither does half the page. I then closed and then returned to iGoogle page, disabled JavaScript, refreshed the page, and no [JavaScript Application], but also no half of the page. So apparently the pop-ups have something to do with JavaScript as the title of the pop-up says, but I am so inexperienced I wouldn't have known the difference if you hadn't mentioned it.

Thanke you, mericet, for locating the problem for me. Now, what to do? I would be most appreciative for any further suggestion you have.

timmeke 11-18-2009 09:13 AM

Perhaps you could try a Mozilla Firefox specific forum, like http://forums.mozillazine.org/
It sounds like a typical JavaScript error indeed.

A quick google search turned up similar error in jquery.js JavaScript on the iGoogle page.
> Are you using jquery.js by any chance? You could perhaps have a look at the web page source code (menu View - Page Source or similar)
and do a text search on "jquery"?

Which Firefox version are you using?

Alternatively, you could start with:
1/ resetting your iGoogle settings (get back to basics). You can start by eliminating those items that don't show up
when you disable JavaScript (eg the JavaScript based iGoogle apps) one by one, until you have found the offending one (eg the errors stop).
2/ There are Firefox plugins to debug javascript code, which can help track down the offending code - if you're comfortable
debugging other people's JavaScript code, that is. At least, it can be a faster way to find the iGoogle app that runs the
offending code.

That said, the error in itself seems sensless. "document.body" normally refers to your HTML doc's <body> element if my memory
serves me well. And the <body> contains the main body of the web page and hence shouldn't be "null" (empty / non-existing).

mericet 11-19-2009 03:59 AM

Hi,
There are certainly some valid point is timmeke's response, but ultimately I don't think you'll be able to do anything about it, as this sounds like a fault in iGoogle's code.
Why it's giving you popups instead of just logging the errors like it usually does, I'm not sure. Maybe some Firefox setting somewhere.

timmeke 11-19-2009 04:17 AM

Yes, mericet, you're right. Fixing the problem is difficult if not impossible, as it's likely to be in iGoogle code. Hence my suggestion
to track the offending iGoogle app and remove that, so the rest can keep working (without throwing all JavaScript apps out).

dayton32 11-23-2009 08:59 AM

Thanks to you both, Timmeke and Mericet. No, I'm not using JQuery.js. I think I have an idea about how to go about this now. Unfortunately, Ubuntu Geek is also one of the pop-ups on iGoogle which may have to go, but I can remedy that if "Geeks" is the offender. I appreciate your lending a helping hand. One thing though, and I haven't been able to find an answer to this one: When Ubuntu freezes, is there anyway to get it back in working order other than restarting the computer? It seems like I have to restart several times a day, something hangs up and it just won't budge. I tried ctr+Alt+del but that doesn't work.

timmeke 11-25-2009 02:36 AM

Did you try switching runlevel to avoid the X window environment?
It could be that it's just your window manager / X that's hanging.
Usually, you can switch with Ctrl + Alt + F-keys
Ctrl-Alt-F7 usually turns to the regular X Window (graphical) one.

dayton32 11-26-2009 06:30 AM

Tim, thanks for your suggestion. I think I found the cause of this pop-up which not only appeared on iGoogle (always and continued to pop up everytime I went to another tab), but also turned up at other times (I didn't note these, they were so few). I tried what I know best first, that is, whenever I have had trouble in my former Mac days, I checked the Firefox Extensions. This time I disabled all the Firefox Extensions and no pop-ups. All of them seemed OK except one: Apt-linker. I enabled it and the pop-ups resumed. The extension is too valuable a tool to eliminate, so I just disabled it. No pop-ups. I went to my lap-top which I had cloned from my PC and disabled Apt-linker and the pop-ups disappeared. Since I know so little about the computer, I didn't report this to Firefox. And it might be that the extension is not the problem, but a conflict with another extension. I don't know. Anyway, the pop-up mystery is solved until the next glitch shows up. Thanks again.


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