Ok .. this is a strange one as I have NOT seen this before. I have an application that is strictly a Service ... no browser involved ... and all I want to do is use alert(); for debugging. The only problem is that it causes an Object Expected error even if it is a simple alert("Show me!");

Remember ... this code is not attached to any form or browser. So what am I missing? I thought I could use the alert call at any time in Javascript ... Please folks, help a poor programmer out!

Thank you in advance, Eric

Ok .. this is a strange one as I have NOT seen this before. I have an application that is strictly a Service ... no browser involved ... and all I want to do is use alert(); for debugging. The only problem is that it causes an Object Expected error even if it is a simple alert("Show me!");

Remember ... this code is not attached to any form or browser. So what am I missing? I thought I could use the alert call at any time in Javascript ... Please folks, help a poor programmer out!

Thank you in advance, Eric

• javascript
• runtime
• alert

Share Improve this question Follow asked Mar 6, 2013 at 20:50 Eric OlsonEric Olson 9311 silver badge1313 bronze badges 5

• What is running the code if not a browser? Is this node or something? – Stop Slandering Monica Cellio Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 20:59
• It's a service type of call. The code on the front side of things is a form scraper for information to pass into the javascript guts of the service so to speak. I am trying to debug it using alert but it is not working .... – Eric Olson Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 21:02
• 1 Once again, can you clarify the environment you're working in? If you're not running in a browser, alert likely doesn't exist. You may be able to use console.log to the same effect. When you execute this code, how are you running it? Is there an application you're executing? Is it node? PhantomJS? – Max Pollack Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 21:33
• Environment is not your text editor. Javascript isn't piled; by its nature it has to be executed by another application. Are you opening the javascript file on a web page in a browser? Are you running an executable on your local machine? When you're testing it you must be executing it in SOME environment... we need to know what that environment is. Are you running a batch file? Can you open it and paste the contents? There has to be some way to find out what is executing your code. – Max Pollack Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 21:43
• Batch file executes the javascript files. I have figured a way to debug it ... although it is very convoluted. I have to write out the information I want to see to a text file ... – Eric Olson Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 21:49

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5 Answers 5

Sorted by: Reset to default 7

Like praneeth already suggested in his reply, it is a Windows WScript thing, or rather just context in which the script is being run in.

This also works and isn't quite as verbose as what praneeth offered:

WScript.Echo("Hello");

if you are executing this script on a windows machine you can do like this in javascript/Jscript

Var Shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell"); Shell.Popup("Your Debug message");

The alert() method is one of the JavaScript browser Window object's methods which displays an alert box with a message and an OK button.

The window object represents an open window in a browser. If a document contain frames, the browser creates one window object for the HTML document and one additional window object for each frame.

I believe that in the specified case, the error means that the Window expected object has not been found.

Have you tried window.alert("show me");?

Since alert() is a Window object method.

If you're not running in a browser, you might have better luck using the console.log method - again, it's very hard to tell you specifically what to do without any detail of what environment you're executing the script in.