javascript window showModalDialog( )

You can pass arguments to the modal dialog by creating a data structure that best suits the data. For a single value, a string will do. For multiple values, you can create a string with a unique delimiter between values, or create an array and specify the array as the second parameter for the showModalDialog( ) method. A script in the document loaded into the modal dialog can then examine the window.dialogArguments property and parse the arguments as needed for its scripting purposes. See the dialogArguments property for an example.

The third optional parameter lets you set physical characteristics of the dialog window. These characteristics are specified in a CSS-style syntax. Dimensions for dialogWidth, dialogHeight, dialogLeft, and dialogTop should be specified in pixels. An example of a call to a modal dialog is as follows:

var answer = window.showModalDialog("subDoc.html",argsVariable, 
"dialogWidth:300px; dialogHeight:200px; center:yes");

None of the third parameter characteristics are recognized by the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer 4, which creates a full-size modal dialog.

Modal dialogs can present problems for scripts if the window loads a frameset. A script in one of the frames will likely not be able to reference the parent or top window to gain access to either the window's close( ) method or content in another frame.

• A complete or relative URL as a string.
• Data as a number, string, or array to be passed to the scripts in the document loaded into the modal dialog.
• A string of semicolon-delimited style attributes and values to set the physical characteristics of the modal dialog. Available attributes are as shown in the following table.

The value (if any) assigned to the window.returnValue property in the document loaded into the modal dialog window.