How do I escape a string inside JavaScript code inside an onClick handler?

Question

Maybe I\'m just thinking about this too hard, but I\'m having a problem figuring out what escaping to use on a string in some JavaScript code inside a link\'s onClick handle

Answer 1

First, it would be simpler if the onclick handler was set this way:

<a id="someLinkId"href="#">Select</a>
<script type="text/javascript">
  document.getElementById("someLinkId").onClick = 
   function() {
      SelectSurveyItem('<%itemid%>', '<%itemname%>'); return false;
    };

</script>

Then itemid and itemname need to be escaped for JavaScript (that is, " becomes \", etc.).

If you are using Java on the server side, you might take a look at the class StringEscapeUtils from jakarta's common-lang. Otherwise, it should not take too long to write your own 'escapeJavascript' method.