Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

[stephenirving]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post here, I have been using Alpha Anywhere at work now for about 3 weeks. For the web application project I am working on, we need to put a fairly standard type of link at the bottom of the page, a simple anchor that sends the user back to the top of the page. Now on any normal website or web application I have made before, this is incredibly simple. I would just make a normal link like this:

<a href="#">Back To Top</a>

This should also work:

<a href="#top">Back To Top</a>

In modern browsers, both of these should work without having to take an element that is at the top of the page and give it the ID of top, but I tried that was well, giving a container at the top of the page a "top_of_page" ID and then linking to it in the same way as above. None of these 3 things worked so I went into the developer debugging in the browser and inspected the link to find that once the page was created, the link changed itself to

<a href="a5res:#top_of_page">

Now I'm just guessing, but what it seems like is happening is that Alpha thinks I am trying to link to an actual page I created in Alpha named #top_of_page.a5w or something like that, and is trying to resolve (res = resolve here maybe? that's why I thought this, but again, guessing) to that page and failing. Obviously this is such a common thing for a developer on the web to need to do that I find it doubtful that there isn't a way to do it within alpha, but I have not found anything in the documentation about this or anyone else who has encountered this problem after a couple hours of searching and reading. Now I could probably make the link to the page itself, but that is going to just act like a reload of the page, which is not what I want/what is called for. If anyone here can help me out so I can fix this for my boss this weekend and not look incompetent, I'd really appreciate it. I would really rather crawl into a hole and die than have to tell him I can't figure out how to make a damn link to the top of the page. Thanks in advance.

[CharlesParker]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

something like
document.getElementById('txt1').focus();
on a button click

is what I think you need, but you'll need to look at the debugger for your actual control. Someone else might be able to give you an exact answer but I think that's what you might be able to do

[Davidk]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

Hi Stephen, welcome to the Alpha Forum.

What kind of page are you working with? .html,.a5w., a UX? Where are you putting the link... and what control are you putting it into? There are so many ways to get the same thing done in Alpha... could you supply a sample of what you're working with?

[Davidk]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

Without knowing your specifics, have a look at this.

Your link could call a Javascript function...

<a onclick="goToTop()" href="#">Back To Top</a>

function goToTop(){

	var panel = {dialog.object}.panelGetActive();
	var id = {dialog.object}.panelGetId(panel,'body');
	A5.u.element.setScroll(id,0,0,{animation: {allow: true, duration: 3000}});	
	
}

Here is the doc for A5.u.element.setScroll...

https://documentation.alphasoftware....l%20Method.xml

[stephenirving]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

Thanks for the replies everyone, DavidK your solution and provided documentation was exactly what I needed. Thanks so much, I really appreciate the help! You're right that there really are a ton of different ways to do things within Alpha, which is certainly a double edged sword but I am enjoying learning the platform. Anyway, thank you again for your time and help, this is my first big job out of school and I'm really nervous about proving myself at work (going well so far but I really didn't want to get hung up on something so small).

[stephenirving]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

Two more questions David,
Just to be sure, where do you recommend I put the goToTop() function? The page I am working on is a .a5wcmp UX file. Should I create a separate .js file and then go to the Properties section of the page and add it under Javascript Linked Files, or is there somewhere else I should put it that is a better practice for something like this?

Also, in your code is there somewhere I need to insert the names of my own objects, or can I use that code verbatim? Thanks again in advance.

[Davidk]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

We now know you're working with a UX... so... you'd put the Javascript code into the Javascript functions section. You'll find that on the left side of your UX while editing... in the same area as Control, Properties, Data Binding, etc.

You could use the code as is, if your controls are inside a PanelCard. The code is getting the Active PanelCard, then getting it's ID, then using that for scrolling.

Try not to be so nervous about proving yourself. You've already done that to some extent by actually getting the job. I'd rather work a bit slower and a bit smarter... and test my work... rather than do anything else.

Getting hung up on the small stuff is what eats away at everyone's time. Doing big stuff always seems to work out... but the little things are, for some reason, tough to do. Maybe that's because the big things are well documented... and the little things get ignored.

[stephenirving]

Re: Cannot figure out how to create anchor links (Top of Page link)

Thanks for the advice David, I am sure that you are right. got your code example working in the project, you really saved me a lot of time and bother - I appreciate it