Question

How can I create a loop out of this function:

window.onload = function makeHalo() {
    document.getElementById("d1").onmouseover = function() {
        this.id ="d1On";
        this.className="hover";
        document.getElementById("menu1").style.color="#6DC5E6";
    };
    document.getElementById("menu1").onmouseover = function() {
        this.style.color="#6DC5E6";
        document.getElementById("d1").className="hover";
        document.getElementById("d1").id="d1On";
    };
    
    document.getElementById("d1").onmouseout = function() {
        this.id ="d1";
        this.className="";
        document.getElementById("menu1").style.color="#FFFFFF";
    };
    document.getElementById("menu1").onmouseout = function() {
        this.style.color="#FFFFFF";
        document.getElementById("d1On").className="";
        document.getElementById("d1On").id="d1";
    };
    
    document.getElementById("d2").onmouseover = function() {
        this.id ="d2On";
        this.className="hover";
        document.getElementById("menu2").style.color="#6DC5E6";
    };
    document.getElementById("menu2").onmouseover = function() {
        this.style.color="#6DC5E6";
        document.getElementById("d2").className="hover";
        document.getElementById("d2").id="d2On";
    };
    
    document.getElementById("d2").onmouseout = function() {
        this.id ="d2";
        this.className="";
        document.getElementById("menu2").style.color="#FFFFFF";
    };
    document.getElementById("menu2").onmouseout = function() {
        this.style.color="#FFFFFF";
        document.getElementById("d2On").className="";
        document.getElementById("d2On").id="d2";
    };
}

The function pretty much learns the ID of an image when its hovered, changes the ID of that element, adds a class to the element, and changes the color of another element

The second part learns the ID of a list item when its hovered, changes its color, and changes the ID of the other image element and adds a class to that element as well.

The onmouseout simply resets everything.

On the actual HTML page, it is a menu page with lists. Below there a continent map, which is a background image. When you hover over a list item, it swaps out a point on a map with another picture for an indicator. You can also hover the points on the map to change the color of the links on the lists.

I tried doing something like this, but the loop only goes to the last iteration for some of the elements. The links change color fine, but it will only swap the picture for "d43" regardless of what link I hover over.

window.onload = function makeHalo() {
    var i = 1;
    for (i=1; i<44; i++) {
        var menu = "menu"+i;
        var d = "d"+i;
        var On = "d"+i+"On";
        document.getElementById(d).onmouseover = function() {
            this.id = On;
            this.className="hover";
            document.getElementById(menu).style.color="#6DC5E6";
        };
        document.getElementById(menu).onmouseover = function() {
            this.style.color="#6DC5E6";
            document.getElementById(d).className="hover";
            document.getElementById(d).id=On;
        };

        document.getElementById(d).onmouseout = function() {
            this.id = d;
            this.className="";
            document.getElementById(menu).style.color="#FFFFFF";
        };
        document.getElementById(menu).onmouseout = function() {
            this.style.color="#FFFFFF";
            document.getElementById(On).className="";
            document.getElementById(On).id=d;
        };
    }
}

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The primary technical issue you’re facing is that you’re creating closures in a loop. Each one of those callbacks closes over the same i variable, whose value will be the same for each of the callbacks (its value after the final iteration). This is fixed by wrapping the body of the loop in its own function that receives i as an argument, thus creating a local copy on each iteration.

There are a number of style and performance issues, as well:

• The bodies of those callbacks are in many cases exactly the same (the mouseover and mouseout pairs end up dong the same work in each block).
• You’re retrieving the same elements by ID repeatedly. This is unnecessary; you should save a reference.
• You’re identifying the state of an element by changing its ID. This isn’t generally how you want to handle this. An ID shouldn’t change.

I would write it more like this (addressing the closure issue and the first two bullet items above (not addressing the ID problem)):

for (var i = 1; i <= 2; i++) {
    (function(i) {
        var d = document.getElementById("d" + i);
        var menu = document.getElementById("menu" + i);
        d.onmouseover = menu.onmouseover = function() { 
            d.id = "d" + i + "On"; 
            d.className = "hover";
            menu.style.color = "#6DC5E6";
        };
        d.onmouseout = menu.onmouseout = function() { 
            d.id = "d" + i; 
            d.className = "";
            menu.style.color = "#FFFFFF";
        };
    })(i);
}

This handles just two elements; simply change the loop max to make it work for more.

You can see a working demo here:

• http://jsfiddle.net/ezYtq/