cannot get string length in javascript

Over 1 hour on this. This is javascript code inside my in开发者_C百科dex.php file.

function dostuff()
{

   var thepath = document.location.search.substring(1);
   alert('the path is ' + thepath + " (that's the full path)");
   alert(thepath);

       // TRIED THESE ALL -- NONE OF THEM WORK.
   //var pathLen = String.length("thepath");
   //var pathLen = String.length(thepath);
   //var pathLen = thepath.length();
   var pathLen = String.length(document.location.search.substring(1));
   alert('pathLen is ' + pathLen);
}

The symptom: the first 2 alert boxes appear no problem and both show 'thepath' has a valid pathname in it, and it is the correct, expected path too.

But no matter what I try -- see the 4 different attempts, tried one at a time -- the final alert() box NEVER shows up. Why is alert('pathLen is ' + pathLen) not showing up?

(The other thing is -- I'm using XDEBUG and xampp and Netbeans and the debugger will not let me put a breakpoint in this javascript code, so I can't even step into it to see what's happening, hence the use of the alert()'s in the code. I know the XDEBUG debugger I'm using in Netbeans works -- I've been using it all night to debug PHP code in a different.PHP file. When I set a breakpoint though in any Javascript code, a 'broken breakpoint' icon appears and I cannot find what that means in Netbeans documentation.)

I've never seen that syntax before. You might want to try:

var pathLen = thepath.length;

(You'd be best off debugging with Firebug)

var pathLen = thepath.length;

Length is a property of the string, not a function, so no need for the ().

The length is a property of your string rather than a method. You should be able to access it via the following:

var pathLen = thepath.length;

When you say the alert box never shows up do you mean it never appears at all? If you're using FF you can open the error console from the Tools menu and clear it then refresh your page. It should highlight any JS errors you have in your code. That's the only reason I know of that the alert wouldn't show at all. (I don't think there is a class method for String.length() which is probably where the error is coming from.)

As for XDebug, as far as I know it's a PHP debugger only I don't think it can debug JS.

pathLen.length

No (). length is a property; if you add the (), it tries to use the value of the property as a function to call, resulting in an exception.