BUG: Internet Explorer 5.5 Fails When You Access an Element Whose Display Style Is Set to None (294984)

SYMPTOMS

If you try to modify an element that has its focus and display style set to NONE, you receive the following access violation in the browser:

The instruction at "0x011168db" referenced memory at "0x00000004". The memory could not be "read".

RESOLUTION

There are two ways to work around this problem:

Shift the focus away from the element before you set its display style to NONE.
Use the window.setTimeout method to delay execution of the code that modifies the hidden element.

NOTE: The amount of time that you must be set depends on computer's capability. If the delay time is not long enough, Internet Explorer may still fail.

MORE INFORMATION

The following code reproduces the behavior:

<html>
<head>
<script language="JavaScript">

	function test()
	{
	    thediv.style.display = "none";
	    thediv.innerHTML = "a";  
	}

        /* 
	*   Use test1() or test2() to show the workarounds.
	*   Just change the function call in the onclick
	*   event of "thediv" to either test1() or test2().
         */ 

	function test1()
	{
	    // Give focus to another element to resolve the problem.
	    inp.focus();    
	    thediv.style.display = "none";
	    thediv.innerHTML = "a";  
	}

	function test2()
	{
		thediv.style.display = "none";
		window.setTimeout("newFunction()", 1000);
	}

	function newFunction()
	{
	    thediv.innerHTML = "a";  
	}

</script>
</head>
<body>


<!-- width and height are necessary to make the div with its layout -->
<div onClick="test();" 
	 id="thediv" 
	 style="width: 500px; height: 30px; border: 1px solid red;"> 
     Click on this div and it will disappear
</div>
<input id="inp" type="text"></input>

</body>
</html>

REFERENCES

For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/

http://support.microsoft.com/iep