I'm writing HTML code for a java servlet. i first write the code in html/js so i can debug what im working on, and then ill make it a java string and put it in my servlet. My problem is that the code is working fine when i view it in ff from a local html file, but when i view it on my java servlet, it doesnt work because the js isnt getting called.

what I did was format the html that my servlet generated so that its not all on a single line and ran the code again. This time it worked. I copied this working code into a browser address bar so that it will all be on a single line, and copied that code back into the script in my html file. Now, when the previously working code is on a single line, it doesnt work.

Here's the formatted JS:

    var sMax
var holder;
var preSet;
var rated;

var request;

function rating(num){
    sMax = 0;
    for(n=0; n<num.parentNode.childNodes.length; n++){
        if(num.parentNode.childNodes[n].nodeName == "A"){
            sMax++;
        }
    }

    if(!rated){
        s = num.id.replace("_", '');
        a = 0;
        for(i=1; i<=sMax; i++){
            if(i<=s){
                document.getElementById("_"+i).className = "on";
                document.getElementById("rateStatus").innerHTML = num.title;
                holder = a+1;
                a++;
            }else{
                document.getElementById("_"+i).className = "";
            }
        }
    }
}

function off(me){
    if(!rated){
        if(!preSet){
            for(i=1; i<=sMax; i++){
                document.getElementById("_"+i).className = "";
                document.getElementById("rateStatus").innerHTML = me.parentNode.title;
            }
        }else{
            rating(preSet);
            document.getElementById("rateStatus").innerHTML = document.getElementById("ratingSaved").innerHTML;
        }
    }
}


function rateIt(me){
    if(!rated){
        document.getElementById("rateStatus").innerHTML = document.getElementById("ratingSaved").innerHTML + " "+me.title;
        preSet = me;
        rated=1;
        sendRate(me);
        rating(me);
    }
}


function sendRate(sel){

    alert("Your rating was: "+sel.title);

    addRating("rating", "?truck=kogibbq?rating="+ sel.id);
}



function addRating(servletName, servletArguments){
    var servlet = servletName;
    var arg = servletArguments
    var req = servlet + arg;
    alert(req);
    addrequest(req);
    request.onreadystatechange = function(){

        alert("response received");
    }
}

function addrequest(req) {
    try {
        request = new XMLHttpRequest();
    }catch (e) {

        try {
            request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        }catch (e) {
            alert("XMLHttpRequest error: " + e);
        }
    }

    request.open("GET", element, true);
    request.send(null);
    return request;
}

Thanks.