WTV ARCHIVES: JS CODE READER
Updated 12-15-99
This page, and the uninformed speculations contained within, © 1999 ulTRAX@webtv.net


NOTE: The JS Code Reader was designed for use with the WTV Browser but it can work on a ewb page. Typically it has been installed in WTV pages. In its original form it was used in the NG Search Box. It must also be noted as of this writing, it's not clear if there's any location in the WTV Browser where the Code Reader can be used! While it can be installed in several loactions, just because you can create the HTML forms does NOT mean the JS is activated. However, it may function well enough on a webpage to provide you with enough experience to use it should the day come when a new location is found. To that end I have provided several Turtorials. The first is here.

THE JAVASCRIPT CODE READER: Idiotic/Aug '98
As a Tool, the Javascript (JS) Code Reader is probaby unequaled. Maybe it deserves a different name. It seems to have been named after the most common use it was put to: reading source code off of WTV pages. Idioic first posted the Code in August '98. For many it slipped by unnoticed. As was mentioned earlier, it was originally designed to be used the NG Search Box.

 <form>Javacript:<br><input id=js rows=2 cols=60 onChange="txt.value=eval(this.value)"><br>Resuts:<br><textarea id=txt rows=2 cols=60></textarea><br>Notes:<br><textarea rows=15 cols=60></textarea></form><iframe id=ifr src="URL_OF_YOUR_CHOICE_GOES_HERE" width=400 height=400> n2play

Since the technique required a valid NG name to install, the Code Reader code included the name "n2play" at the end.

In fact, the Code Reader did much more than merely read codes. It restored the manual JS functions WNI removed from the GoTo back during the Summer '98 "upgrade". Up until that point we were able to use JS commands in the GoTo window. In fact the Code Reader makes some of those functions much easier. Where before all we could do was get incomplete Cookie code in an alert pop-up, now we can get that entire code. Prior to the Summer '97 Upgrade, JS had also been available in mail and NGs. WNI has claimed that JS was not an officially supported function of the browser and felt free to shut it off. Privately, WNI has admitted that JS, and thus the Code Reader, posed security threats to the network.

Since then, finding places where JS still works has been made more difficult. One notable success was in the spring of '99 when JS was found to be active in Mail/Post Subject lines. Commands were then activated when a user hit "RECENT". This technique was killed because it was being abused for the so-called "Amnesia Bomb"... which unregistered a User's box. Even then, while the Code Reader could be installed into the Recent's Panel, one could not see it all.

Back in the fall of '98 I had planned to work the Code Reader into the fabric of this Site. I designed my Main Code Index Page so one could either view the lists of URLs and Commands... or click on a JS link which automatically set up Mailto form with the Code Reader with the page the visitor selected embeded into it. Once it was set up they could click on any URL in the embeded page and use the Code Reader to dissect and analyize it. About 1/3 of the URLs/Commands at this Site were discovered this way. Then as part of the November '98 FUNK upgrade, WNI killed the maito technique. It was a devestating setback.

JS CODE READER CODE This is the code for the Code Reader. Be sure to add a URL to embed before installing the Reader. Don't worry, if you can find a place for it to work, typically you reinstall the Reader for every Page you wish to study. More on this later.

<form>Javascript:<br><input id=js rows=2 cols=60 onChange="txt.value=eval(this.value)"><br>Results:<br><textarea id=txt rows=2 cols=60></textarea><br>Notes:<br><textarea rows=15 cols=60></textarea></form><iframe id=ifr src="URL_GOES_HERE" width=400 height=400>
MASTERDON Created a varient:
<iframe id=ifr src="WTV-HOME:/HOME" width=400 height=400> <form>Javascript:<br><input id=js rows=2 cols=60 onChange="txt.value=eval(this.value)" autoactivate value="ifr.document."><br>Results:<br><textarea id=txt rows=2 cols=60></textarea> <iframe id=ifr src="URL_GOES_HERE" width=400

JS CODE READER TOUR: Below is the basic layout of the Code Reader. It contains three form boxes. NOTE: THIS CODE READER IS NOT FUNCTIONAL!!
INPUT BOX: where you enter JS commands. These commands can take TWO forms: 1:ifr.commands tend to work on the embeded page
2:plain JS commands tend to work on the main page.

RESULTS: where you get Results.
NOTE PAD: You can C&P the Results here so they can be later removed.
When a URL embed is chosen and the Code Reader is installed, the page you selected will also appear at the bottom of the three boxes.

JAVASCRIPT INPUT: Commands go in this box:

RESULTS: C&P and transfer to Note Pad

NOTE PAD: collect data here


TO TRY A WEB-BASED CODE READER CLICK HERE..

INSTALLING THE CODE READER To install the code reader there are several considerations.

First, it must be installed into a form... such as a search box.

Second: it must be in a part of the browser where JS is active. While WNI is constantly trying to kill JS and prevent our direct access to WTV URLs, this may be a fool's errand. This selective sabotage of key browser functions but only in certain areas of the browser may always be doomed to fail.

Third: Another key consideration is whether the form you are using has a limit on text characters. Some forms have text limits of 15 characters, some 80, some 150, some unlimited.

PICKING AN EMBED One of the main uses of the Code Reader was in analyzing WebTV pages for their links and form elements/action codes. This use has diminished in importance since PCs have been able to get so much WTV Page source code... not that everyone has access to these page codes.

The second key use for the Code Reader was that it might provide quick access to WTV URLs on web pages... such as those in my Code Section.


USEFUL JAVASCRIPT COMMANDS These commands are to be used in top box. Codes can be used in either of two ways: 1: with an "ifr." prefix for the embeded page
2: as they are written for the main page.