How to clear the content of an IFRAME?

Question

How do I clear the content of my IFRAME element, using javascript, without loading a blank page into it?

I can figure out to do this: iframe_element.src = "blank.html", but there must be a better, instant, method.

Answer 1

Or you can do this :

var iframe_element = window.frames['iframe_name'];
iframe_element.document.open();
iframe_element.document.close();

Answer 2

function getContentFromIframe(iFrameName)
{
    var myIFrame = document.getElementById(iFrameName);
    var content = myIFrame.contentWindow.document.body.innerHTML;

    //Do whatever you need with the content    
}

Answer 3

// First I get the window from its Id.

var my_content = document.getElementById('my_iframe').contentWindow.document;

// Then I clear it by setting the body tag inner HTML to an empty string.

my_content.body.innerHTML="";

// Now when I write my new content it does not get appended to the end of the body and the iframe body will contain only fresh content.

my_content.write(new_content);

Answer 4

Just get the Iframe and remove the documentElement from it. The Iframe will be blank

 var frame = document.getElementById("YourFrameId"),
 frameDoc = frame.contentDocument || frame.contentWindow.document;
 frameDoc.removeChild(frameDoc.documentElement);

Answer 5

Your technique is the most robust. Its the one I use myself. At times content may be delivered over HTTPS and the use of about:blank can cause warning messages to appear to the effect of "do you want to include content from unsecure location" or some such thing.

Something being instant is a matter of perception however if you have a single Blank.html file on your site configured with a long cache expiry the client will only ever fetch the page once (at the most once per-session).

Answer 6

I have had difficulties with "about:blank" on pages with many IFrames. It does not seem to be a valid location in every browser (I never found out for sure, though). Anyway, I am happy with javascript:void(0);