在不使用提示的情况下在javascript中获取用户输入

Question

I have a setup where I allow the user to type commands in a regular html textfield. I handle the onkeypress event on the textfield, check if it is an enter key that has been pressed, and parse and execute the command.

An example could be:

deletefile /testfolder/testfile.html

The code kind of looks like this:

inputControl.onkeypress = function(e) { 
    if (e.which == 13) { 
        var outputMessage = commandHandler.executeCommand(inputControl.value);
        printOutputToScreen(outputMessage);
        inputControl.value = "";
        inputControl.focus();
    }
}

(by the way this is not what my code actually looks like, it's just an example)

The idea here is to be able to write a command, see the output, write another command, see the output, etc.

executeCommand parses the commandstring and calls a specific command with the appropriate arguments.

> deletefile /test1.html
The file was deleted

> deletefile /test2.html
An error occured while trying to delete the file

This part is simple. What I need help with is this: If the user just types "deletefile", I want to be able to ask the user (using the outputarea) "Which file do you want to delete?".

I know I can do this with:

var additionalInput = prompt("Which file?");

, but I don't want to use the prompt.

Forgetting about my contrived example, does anyone know of a good way of asking the user for input in the middle of a javascript (not using prompt), like:

var status = doSomeStuff(args);  
if (status.fail) {
    tmp = getUserInput();  
    doSomeFinalStuffBasedOnTheUserInput(tmp);
}

Is this even possible?

I'm not sure I'm able to explain myself here, but if anyone feel they can help me in some way please let me know :-)

One solution could be to implement a global state variable and use this as a mechanism in the keypress-eventhandler to route the input to the command, something like:

inputControl.onkeypress = function(e) {
  if (e.which == 13) {
      if (state.additionalInputPending && currentCommand != null) {
          currentCommand.executeWithAdditionalInput();
      } else {
          // perform regular command execution
      }
  }
}

In this way my "app" needs to handle in internal state variable, and store the currentCommand between keypresses.

Answer 1

You could use a jquery/javascript solution where you show a 'fancy' dialog (not a JS prompt) to ask for the input.

http://trentrichardson.com/Impromptu/#Examples The very last example shows forms. Impromptu is just one of many (many, many) solutions for dialogs/prompt alternatives.

The only other option that comes to mind is to do it directly in the JS console you're creating more like a real command-line tool.