Javascript – Change URL parameters

javascriptquery-stringurlurl-parametersurl-parsing

I have this URL:

site.fwx?position=1&archiveid=5000&columns=5&rows=20&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc

what I need is to be able to change the 'rows' url param value to something i specify, lets say 10. And if the 'rows' doesn't exist, I need to add it to the end of the url and add the value i've already specified (10).

Best Answer

I've extended Sujoy's code to make up a function.

/**
 * http://stackoverflow.com/a/10997390/11236
 */
function updateURLParameter(url, param, paramVal){
    var newAdditionalURL = "";
    var tempArray = url.split("?");
    var baseURL = tempArray[0];
    var additionalURL = tempArray[1];
    var temp = "";
    if (additionalURL) {
        tempArray = additionalURL.split("&");
        for (var i=0; i<tempArray.length; i++){
            if(tempArray[i].split('=')[0] != param){
                newAdditionalURL += temp + tempArray[i];
                temp = "&";
            }
        }
    }

    var rows_txt = temp + "" + param + "=" + paramVal;
    return baseURL + "?" + newAdditionalURL + rows_txt;
}

Function Calls:

var newURL = updateURLParameter(window.location.href, 'locId', 'newLoc');
newURL = updateURLParameter(newURL, 'resId', 'newResId');

window.history.replaceState('', '', updateURLParameter(window.location.href, "param", "value"));

Updated version that also take care of the anchors on the URL.

function updateURLParameter(url, param, paramVal)
{
    var TheAnchor = null;
    var newAdditionalURL = "";
    var tempArray = url.split("?");
    var baseURL = tempArray[0];
    var additionalURL = tempArray[1];
    var temp = "";

    if (additionalURL) 
    {
        var tmpAnchor = additionalURL.split("#");
        var TheParams = tmpAnchor[0];
            TheAnchor = tmpAnchor[1];
        if(TheAnchor)
            additionalURL = TheParams;

        tempArray = additionalURL.split("&");

        for (var i=0; i<tempArray.length; i++)
        {
            if(tempArray[i].split('=')[0] != param)
            {
                newAdditionalURL += temp + tempArray[i];
                temp = "&";
            }
        }        
    }
    else
    {
        var tmpAnchor = baseURL.split("#");
        var TheParams = tmpAnchor[0];
            TheAnchor  = tmpAnchor[1];

        if(TheParams)
            baseURL = TheParams;
    }

    if(TheAnchor)
        paramVal += "#" + TheAnchor;

    var rows_txt = temp + "" + param + "=" + paramVal;
    return baseURL + "?" + newAdditionalURL + rows_txt;
}

Examples

Roger Pate

This is my name, which is an identifier. It is like a URI, but cannot be a URL, as it tells you nothing about my location or how to contact me. In this case it also happens to identify at least 5 other people in the USA alone.

4914 West Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas

This is a locator, which is an identifier for that physical location. It is like both a URL and URI (since all URLs are URIs), and also identifies me indirectly as "resident of..". In this case it uniquely identifies me, but that would change if I get a roommate.

I say "like" because these examples do not follow the required syntax.

Popular confusion

From Wikipedia:

In computing, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a subset of the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that specifies where an identified resource is available and the mechanism for retrieving it. In popular usage and in many technical documents and verbal discussions it is often incorrectly used as a synonym for URI, ... [emphasis mine]

Because of this common confusion, many products and documentation incorrectly use one term instead of the other, assign their own distinction, or use them synonymously.

URNs

My name, Roger Pate, could be like a URN (Uniform Resource Name), except those are much more regulated and intended to be unique across both space and time.

Because I currently share this name with other people, it's not globally unique and would not be appropriate as a URN. However, even if no other family used this name, I'm named after my paternal grandfather, so it still wouldn't be unique across time. And even if that wasn't the case, the possibility of naming my descendants after me make this unsuitable as a URN.

URNs are different from URLs in this rigid uniqueness constraint, even though they both share the syntax of URIs.

Javascript – How to change an element’s class with JavaScript

Modern HTML5 Techniques for changing classes

Modern browsers have added classList which provides methods to make it easier to manipulate classes without needing a library:

document.getElementById("MyElement").classList.add('MyClass');

document.getElementById("MyElement").classList.remove('MyClass');

if ( document.getElementById("MyElement").classList.contains('MyClass') )

document.getElementById("MyElement").classList.toggle('MyClass');

Unfortunately, these do not work in Internet Explorer prior to v10, though there is a shim to add support for it to IE8 and IE9, available from this page. It is, though, getting more and more supported.

Simple cross-browser solution

The standard JavaScript way to select an element is using document.getElementById("Id"), which is what the following examples use - you can of course obtain elements in other ways, and in the right situation may simply use this instead - however, going into detail on this is beyond the scope of the answer.

To change all classes for an element:

To replace all existing classes with one or more new classes, set the className attribute:

document.getElementById("MyElement").className = "MyClass";

(You can use a space-delimited list to apply multiple classes.)

To add an additional class to an element:

To add a class to an element, without removing/affecting existing values, append a space and the new classname, like so:

document.getElementById("MyElement").className += " MyClass";

To remove a class from an element:

To remove a single class to an element, without affecting other potential classes, a simple regex replace is required:

document.getElementById("MyElement").className =
   document.getElementById("MyElement").className.replace
      ( /(?:^|\s)MyClass(?!\S)/g , '' )
/* Code wrapped for readability - above is all one statement */

An explanation of this regex is as follows:

(?:^|\s) # Match the start of the string or any single whitespace character

MyClass  # The literal text for the classname to remove

(?!\S)   # Negative lookahead to verify the above is the whole classname
         # Ensures there is no non-space character following
         # (i.e. must be the end of the string or space)

The g flag tells the replace to repeat as required, in case the class name has been added multiple times.

To check if a class is already applied to an element:

The same regex used above for removing a class can also be used as a check as to whether a particular class exists:

if ( document.getElementById("MyElement").className.match(/(?:^|\s)MyClass(?!\S)/) )

### Assigning these actions to onclick events:

Whilst it is possible to write JavaScript directly inside the HTML event attributes (such as onclick="this.className+=' MyClass'") this is not recommended behaviour. Especially on larger applications, more maintainable code is achieved by separating HTML markup from JavaScript interaction logic.

The first step to achieving this is by creating a function, and calling the function in the onclick attribute, for example:

<script type="text/javascript">
    function changeClass(){
        // Code examples from above
    }
</script>
...
<button onclick="changeClass()">My Button</button>

_{(It is not required to have this code in script tags, this is simply for the brevity of example, and including the JavaScript in a distinct file may be more appropriate.)}

The second step is to move the onclick event out of the HTML and into JavaScript, for example using addEventListener

<script type="text/javascript">
    function changeClass(){
        // Code examples from above
    }

    window.onload = function(){
        document.getElementById("MyElement").addEventListener( 'click', changeClass);
    }
</script>
...
<button id="MyElement">My Button</button>

(Note that the window.onload part is required so that the contents of that function are executed after the HTML has finished loading - without this, the MyElement might not exist when the JavaScript code is called, so that line would fail.)

JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries

The above code is all in standard JavaScript, however, it is common practice to use either a framework or a library to simplify common tasks, as well as benefit from fixed bugs and edge cases that you might not think of when writing your code.

Whilst some people consider it overkill to add a ~50 KB framework for simply changing a class, if you are doing any substantial amount of JavaScript work or anything that might have unusual cross-browser behavior, it is well worth considering.

(Very roughly, a library is a set of tools designed for a specific task, whilst a framework generally contains multiple libraries and performs a complete set of duties.)

The examples above have been reproduced below using jQuery, probably the most commonly used JavaScript library (though there are others worth investigating too).

(Note that $ here is the jQuery object.)

Changing Classes with jQuery:

$('#MyElement').addClass('MyClass');

$('#MyElement').removeClass('MyClass');

if ( $('#MyElement').hasClass('MyClass') )

In addition, jQuery provides a shortcut for adding a class if it doesn't apply, or removing a class that does:

$('#MyElement').toggleClass('MyClass');

### Assigning a function to a click event with jQuery:

$('#MyElement').click(changeClass);

or, without needing an id:

$(':button:contains(My Button)').click(changeClass);