Multiple Line textfile output html

Question

I am trying to output the lines of a textfile to a div in an HTA. The text itself comes up just fine, however the lines do not carry over. Instead, the text is grouped together on one big line. If I print to a msgbox it comes up with correct, separated, lines.

function updateTPtally()
{
    var fso, appdir, messagefile, ts, messagetext, line;
    fso = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");

    if (MESSAGE_FILE_NAME7.indexOf("\\") == -1) {
        appdir = unescape(fso.GetParentFolderName(location.pathname));
        messagefile = fso.BuildPath(appdir, MESSAGE_FILE_NAME7);
    } else {
        messagefile = MESSAGE_FILE_NAME7;
    }

    try {
        // Open the message-of-the-day file as a TextStream.
        ts = fso.OpenTextFile(messagefile, 1);
        messagetext = "";
        while (! ts.AtEndOfStream) {
            line = ts.ReadLine();
            // If the line contains text, enclose in <p> element;
            // otherwise, construct a blank line with a nonbreaking space.
            if (line.length > 0)
                line = line.replace(/^(.*)$/, "$1");
            else
                line = "<p>&nbsp;</p>";
            messagetext += line;
        }
        ts.Close();
    }

    // Construct an error message if an error occurred.
    catch(err) {
        messagetext = "<p>Can't display the message of the day.</p>"
        + "<p>&nbsp;</p>"
        + "<p>Error <b>0x" + hex(err.number) + "</b><br />"
        + err.description + "</p>";
    }

    // Update the innerHTML element of the textarea element with the
    document.getElementById("TPtallymemo").innerHTML = messagetext;
}

EDIT: I have added line = line.replace(/\\n/g, "
");

This seems to work, however the first word of the text. This is my textfile:

Hello.

This should be line two.  And written all in one line.

This should be line three, and also written on one line.

This is what prints out in my span:

Hello.


This
should be line two. And written all in one line.


This
should be line three, and also written on one line.

Answer 1

You are not enclosing the lines on the text after you replace them. Also, you shouldn't enclose the non-breaking space, as paragraph elements account to be correctly separated from each other.

Just one small final observation: you should call for AtEndOfStream() with the parentheses in your while condition.

messagetext = "";
while (! ts.AtEndOfStream()) {
    line = ts.ReadLine();
    // If the line contains text, enclose in <p> element;
    // otherwise, construct a blank line with a nonbreaking space.
    if (line.length > 0)
        line = line.replace(/^(.*)$/, "<p>$1</p>");
    messagetext += line;
}