Dynamic iframe not loaded occasionally in Firefox

Question

I have some JavaScript code that dynamically injects an iframe in a given HTML page. Unfortunately, in Firefox, and only in Firefox, although the iframe is created from time to time the relevant URL isn't loaded into it.

I know it wasn't loaded because the relevant URL doesn't appear in the Firebug Net tab, and when I inspect the iframe I don't see any expected HTML code in there (when the iframe is on the same domain as the outlying page). I don't see any JavaScript or network errors either.

Here's a code snippet, I've checked all the relevant variables are correct:

    var iframe = document.createElement("iframe");
    iframe.width = options["w"];
    iframe.height = options["h"];
    iframe.scrolling = "no";
    iframe.marginWidth = 0;
    iframe.marginHeight = 0;
    iframe.frameBorder = 0;
    iframe.style.borderWidth = 0;

    if (node.childNodes.length > 0) 
        node.insertBefore(iframe, node.childNodes[0]);
    else 
        node.appendChild(iframe);

    iframe.contentWindow.location = iframeSrc + "?" + querystring;

Here's an example URL that is set for the iframe (the issue also recreates when the URL points to an external server, had to omit the 'http://' at the beginning otherwise I couldn't post the question):

127.0.0.1:8000/widget/iframe/index.html?style=slide-top-to-bottom&culture_code=en_us&c=26&sc=1324&title=Top%20News&caption=Top%20Stories&order=relevance&count=20&w=250&h=300&timestamp=true&scrollbar=false&theme=ui-lightness&className=8815455464592103&referrer=http%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A8000%2Fwidget%2Fbuilder%2Findex.html

Doing some research on the web, I found this unfixed Firefox bug which seems related to this issue: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=279048

After reading the bug, I tried several solutions none of which solved the issue:

Setting iframe.src instead of iframe.contentWindow.location
Adding a random parameter to the querystring
Adding the '#' symbol with a random number at the end of the URL
Giving the iframe a random name

Does anyone have a workaround for this annoying Firefox bug? Or is the issue I'm describing unrelated to the bug and has a different solution?

Oh also - install the Firefox "TamperData" plugin and see if you can tell whether an HTTP request is being made for the frame. — Pointy
When this issue reproduces, there is no HTTP request for that frame. When it doesn't reproduce, then there is an HTTP request. — Ido Schacham

Olical Olical · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-17T14:35:41

What happens if you add this to the bottom of your script?

iframe.contentWindow.location.reload(true);

Perhaps it will stop the need to reload in FF.

EDIT

Fixed the example

Dynamic iframe not loaded occasionally in Firefox

2 Answers

EDIT