How do I call a JavaScript function on page load?

285
votes

Traditionally, to call a JavaScript function once the page has loaded, you'd add an onload attribute to the body containing a bit of JavaScript (usually only calling a function)

<body onload="foo()">

When the page has loaded, I want to run some JavaScript code to dynamically populate portions of the page with data from the server. I can't use the onload attribute since I'm using JSP fragments, which have no body element I can add an attribute to.

Is there any other way to call a JavaScript function on load? I'd rather not use jQuery as I'm not very familiar with it.

8
javascriptonload
btw: it's Javascript; Java being a language and Javascript another. There is no such thing as Java script. FYI - Yanick Rochon
Can you either verify that Kevin's edit to your question is still asking the same question, or rephrase it to make sure we understand? (Are you trying to find an alternative to onload?) - STW
Does this answer your question? How to make JavaScript execute after page load? - T.Todua

8 Answers

456
votes

If you want the onload method to take parameters, you can do something similar to this:

window.onload = function() {
  yourFunction(param1, param2);
};

This binds onload to an anonymous function, that when invoked, will run your desired function, with whatever parameters you give it. And, of course, you can run more than one function from inside the anonymous function.

87
votes

Another way to do this is by using event listeners, here how you use them:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
  you_function(...);
});

Explanation:

DOMContentLoaded It means when the DOM Objects of the document are fully loaded and seen by JavaScript, also this could have been "click", "focus"...

function() Anonymous function, will be invoked when the event occurs.

55
votes

Your original question was unclear, assuming Kevin's edit/interpretation is correct then this first option doesn't apply

The typical options is using the onload event:

<body onload="javascript:SomeFunction()">
....

You can also place your javascript at the very end of the body; it won't start executing until the doc is complete.

<body>
  ...
  <script type="text/javascript">
    SomeFunction();
  </script>
</body>

And, another options, is to consider using a JS framework which intrinsically does this:

// jQuery
$(document).ready( function () {
  SomeFunction();
});
41
votes
function yourfunction() { /* do stuff on page load */ }

window.onload = yourfunction;

Or with jQuery if you want:

$(function(){
   yourfunction();
});

If you want to call more than one function on page load, take a look at this article for more information:

9
votes

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Test</title>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
        <script type="text/javascript">
        function codeAddress() {
            alert('ok');
        }
        window.onload = codeAddress;
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
    
    </body>
</html>
9
votes

You have to call the function you want to be called on load (i.e., load of the document/page). For example, the function you want to load when document or page load is called "yourFunction". This can be done by calling the function on load event of the document. Please see the code below for more detail.

Try the code below:

<script src="js/jquery-1.11.0.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">

    $(document).ready(function () {
        yourFunction();
    });
    function yourFunction(){
      //some code
    }
</script>
5
votes

here's the trick (works everywhere):

r(function(){
alert('DOM Ready!');
});
function r(f){/in/.test(document.readyState)?setTimeout('r('+f+')',9):f()}
1
votes

For detect loaded html (from server) inserted into DOM use MutationObserver or detect moment in your loadContent function when data are ready to use

let ignoreFirstChange = 0;
let observer = (new MutationObserver((m, ob)=>
{
  if(ignoreFirstChange++ > 0) console.log('Element added on', new Date());
}
)).observe(content, {childList: true, subtree:true });


// TEST: simulate element loading
let tmp=1;
function loadContent(name) {  
  setTimeout(()=>{
    console.log(`Element ${name} loaded`)
    content.innerHTML += `<div>My name is ${name}</div>`; 
  },1500*tmp++)
}; 

loadContent('Senna');
loadContent('Anna');
loadContent('John');
<div id="content"><div>