ExtJS 2 and 3 installation guidelines suggest hosting the image yourself, while ExtJS 4 has replaced the image with a data uri scheme (
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAID/AMDAwAAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
). This indicates that it is likely not a tracking image, but rather used for measurement purposes.
The ExtJS 4 documentation provides a clearer explanation:
URL to a 1x1 transparent gif image
utilized by Ext to generate inline icons
using CSS background images. In older
versions of IE, this defaults to
"http://extjs.com/s.gif" and should be changed to a URL on your server. For other browsers, it utilizes an
inline data URL
This is utilized in functions like setIconCls, where an <img>
tag is created with Ext.DomHelper with BLANK_IMAGE_URL as src and the actual icon as background. This simplifies scaling, measuring, and adding dimensions compared to using a <div>
or <span>
and manipulating their positioning extensively.
// Ext.Panel.setIconClass
setIconClass : function(cls){
// Snip ...
Ext.DomHelper.insertBefore(hdspan.dom, {
tag:'img',
alt: '',
src: Ext.BLANK_IMAGE_URL,
cls:'x-panel-inline-icon '+cls
});
// Snip ...
}