how the linkedin js is a valid javascript

Question

LinkedIn Javascript integration is done with:

<script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript">
   api_key: 9XXXXXXX
   authorize: true
</script>

What I do not understand, how this is a valid javascript? How come the api_key is not quoted.

@Utkanos: He did have code in the post, but it was not marked up as code so didn't show up. — Eric J., Jul 05 '12 at 00:59
Aha - I'd have edited it if I'd realised. Undoing the downvote... — Mitya, Jul 05 '12 at 01:00

score 8 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

The body of a script tag with a src is never executed. However, the loaded script can access its contents like the contents of any other element. So it's a nice place to store metadata related to the script that was loaded.

Actually, it was a nice place for it before data- attributes got introduced. Using them would be more appropriate, but the linkedin api is probably older than data- attributes or they simply wanted to keep it simple.

A possible way to access the tag is putting the following code in the .js file:

var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script');
var thisScriptTag = scripts[scripts.length - 1];

^Source

You can then use the textContent or innerText property to access whatever is in the tag.

That's a really interesting way to access the current script tag--it works because script tags execute in order, correct? — Purag, Jul 05 '12 at 01:06

how the linkedin js is a valid javascript

1 Answers1

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