How to get the logged on users name from a SharePoint page using javascript

OPTION 1 Using Javascript to find the ‘zz8_Menu’ element in HTML

Choosing this method will only get the users name and won’t make a call to external services to find out who is viewing the page. If you only need the name of the user, i’d recommend this option since there isn’t a need to make an unncessary call to the server.

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*** JAVASCRIPT METHOD ***

< script language="javascript">

var whoami = document.getElementById("zz8_Menu").innerHTML;

var end = whoami.indexOf("< ");

var nameOnly = whoami.substring(8, end);

alert(whoami);

< /script>

OPTION 2 Using the SPServices jQuery Library

This option will query the SharePoint web services to get user information, including the user id and other properties.

view sourceprint?

*** jQUERY METHOD ***

var userName = $().SPServices.SPGetCurrentUser({

fieldName: "Title",

debug: false

});

This option is best and will provide less room for error and more information.