CKEditor instance already exists

Question

I am using jquery dialogs to present forms (fetched via AJAX). On some forms I am using a CKEditor for the textareas. The editor displays fine on the first load.

When the user cancels the dialog, I am removing the contents so that they are loaded fresh on a later request. The issue is, once the dialog is reloaded, the CKEditor claims the editor already exists.

uncaught exception: [CKEDITOR.editor] The instance "textarea_name" already exists.

The API includes a method for destroying existing editors, and I have seen people claiming this is a solution:

if (CKEDITOR.instances['textarea_name']) {
CKEDITOR.instances['textarea_name'].destroy();
}
CKEDITOR.replace('textarea_name');

This is not working for me, as I receive a new error instead:

TypeError: Result of expression 'i.contentWindow' [null] is not an object.

This error seems to occur on the "destroy()" rather than the "replace()". Has anyone experienced this and found a different solution?

Is is possible to 're-render' the existing editor, rather than destroying and replacing it?

UPDATED Here is another question dealing with the same problem, but he has provided a downloadable test case.

Answer 1

var e= CKEDITOR.instances['sample'];
e.destroy();
e= null;

Answer 2

I am in the situation where I have to controls that spawn dialogs, each of them need to have a ckeditor embedded inside these dialogs. And it just so happens the text areas share the same id. (normally this is very bad practice, but I have 2 jqGrids, one of assigned items and another of unassigned items.) They share almost identical configuration. Thus, I am using common code to configure both.

So, when I load a dialog, for adding rows, or for editing them, from either jqGrid; I must remove all instances of CKEDITOR in all textareas.

$('textarea').each(function()
{
    try 
    {
        if(CKEDITOR.instances[$(this)[0].id] != null)
        {
            CKEDITOR.instances[$(this)[0].id].destroy();
        }
    }
    catch(e)
    {

    }
});

This will loop over all textareas, and if there is a CKEDITOR instance, then destroy it.

Alternatively if you use pure jQuery:

$('textarea').each(function()
{
    try 
    {
        $(this).ckeditorGet().destroy();
    }
    catch(e)
    {

    }
});

Answer 3

I learned that

delete CKEDITOR.instances[editorName];

by itself, actually removed the instance. ALL other methods i have read and seen, including what was found here at stackoverflow from its users, did not work for me.

In my situation, im using an ajax call to pull a copy of the content wrapped around the and 's. The problem happens to be because i am using a jQuery .live event to bind a "Edit this document" link and then applying the ckeditor instance after success of the ajax load. This means, that when i click another link a link with another .live event, i must use the delete CKEDITOR.instances[editorName] as part of my task of clearing the content window (holding the form), then re-fetching content held in the database or other resource.

Answer 4

For those using the jquery "adapter" and having trouble (as I was), as super hackish yet working solution is to do something like this:

// content editor plugin
(function($){
    $.fn.contentEditor = function( params ) {
        var xParams = $.extend({}, $.fn.contentEditor.defaultParams, params);
        return this.each( function() {   
            var $editor = $(this);
            var $params = $.extend({}, xParams, $editor.data());

            // if identifier is set, detect type based on identifier in $editor
            if( $params.identifier.type ) {
                $params.type = $editor.find($params.identifier.type).val();
            }

            $editor.data('type', $params.type);

            // edit functionality
            editButton = $('<button>Edit Content</button>').on('click',function(){
                // content container
                var $cc = $('#' + $editor.data('type'));

                // editor window
                var $ew = $('<form class="editorWindow" />');
                $ew.appendTo('body');

                // editor content
                $ec = $('<textarea name="editorContent" />').val($cc.html());
                $ec.appendTo($ew);
                $ec.ckeditor();


                //$ec.ckeditorGet().setMode('source');


                $ew.dialog({
                    "autoOpen": true,
                    "modal": true,
                    "draggable": false,
                    "resizable": false,
                    "width": 850,
                    "height": 'auto',
                    "title": "Content Editor",
                    "buttons": { 
                        'Save': function() {                            
                            $cc.html( $ec.val() );
                            $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy(); 
                            $ew.remove();
                        },
                        'Cancel / Close': function() { 

                            $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy();                        
                            $ew.remove();
                        }
                    },
                    'close': function() {
                        $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy(); 
                    },
                    'open': function() {
                        $ew.find('a.cke_button_source').click();

                        setTimeout(function(){
                            $ew.find('a.cke_button_source.cke_on').click();
                        }, 500);
                    }
                });

                return false;
            });

            editButton.appendTo( $editor );

        });
    }

    // set default option values
    $.fn.contentEditor.defaultParams = {
        'identifier': {
            'type': 'input[name="type"]'
        }
    };   

})(jQuery);   

$(function(){

    $('form.contentEditor').contentEditor();

});

The key point being this part:

                'open': function() {
                    $ew.find('a.cke_button_source').click();

                    setTimeout(function(){
                        $ew.find('a.cke_button_source.cke_on').click();
                    }, 500);
                }

This fixes the problem with the editor text not being visible the next time you open the dialog. I realise this is very hackish, but considering that most of these are going to be used for admin tools, I don't think that's as big a concern as it normally would be.. and this works, so hopefully it will save someone some time ;)

Answer 5

Try this:

for (name in CKEDITOR.instances)
{
    CKEDITOR.instances[name].destroy(true);
}

Answer 6

remove class="ckeditor" , it might have triggered ckeditor initialization