ISSUE-47 - Public View

responseText is not always accessible when readyState < 3

State:

CLOSED

Product:

XMLHttpRequest

Raised by:

Ian Davis

Opened on:

2006-03-20

Description:

The draft at
http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/2006/webapi/XMLHttpRequest/publish/XMLHttpRequest.html?rev=1.6&content-type=text/html;%20charset=iso-8859-1#idl-attr-XMLHttpRequest-responseText
 states that for responseText "If the readyState attribute has a value other
than 3 (Receiving) or 4 (Loaded), it MUST be the empty string."

I tested this in IE6/WinXP and an exception is thrown for readyStates 1 and 2:

"The data necessary to complete this operation is not yet available."

This is thrown when the responseText attribute is accessed.

I have tested FF1.5/WinXP also: this doesn't throw an exception.

Propose the draft text be changed to "If the readyState attribute has a value
other than 3 (Receiving) or 4 (Loaded), the value of responseText is not defined
and accessing the attribute may cause an error."

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Related emails:

1. ISSUE-47: responseText is not always accessible when readyState < 3 (from dean+cgi@w3.org on 2006-03-20)
2. Re: ISSUE-47: responseText is not always accessible when readyState < 3 (from annevk@opera.com on 2006-03-20)
3. Re: ISSUE-47: responseText is not always accessible when readyState < 3 (from ian.davis@talis.com on 2006-03-20)
4. Re: ISSUE-47: responseText is not always accessible when readyState < 3 (from annevk@opera.com on 2006-04-24)

Related notes: