How to get selected textnode in contentEditable di

Question

I am attempting to create a simple texteditor with HTML5 contenteditable on a div tag. As you know, selected text is handled quite differently in IE.

    this.retrieveAnchorNode = function() {
      var anchorNode;
      if (document.selection)
        anchorNode = document.selection.createRange().parentElement();
      else if (document.getSelection)
        anchorNode = window.getSelection().anchorNode;
    }

I am looking for a way to get the selected textnode (not the text itself), like I can do with "anchorNode" and "focusNode" on other browsers. The only alternative on IE I have found is the "parentElement()" function, which only manages to select the contenteditable div itself.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Here's my version of the function you need from IERange, with my comments:

function getChildIndex(node) {
  var i = 0;
  while( (node = node.previousSibling) ) {
    i++;
  }
  return i;
}

function getTextRangeBoundaryPosition(textRange, isStart) {
  var workingRange = textRange.duplicate();
  workingRange.collapse(isStart);
  var containerElement = workingRange.parentElement();
  var workingNode = document.createElement("span");
  var comparison, workingComparisonType = isStart ?
    "StartToStart" : "StartToEnd";

  var boundaryPosition, boundaryNode;

  // Move the working range through the container's children, starting at
  // the end and working backwards, until the working range reaches or goes
  // past the boundary we're interested in
  do {
    containerElement.insertBefore(workingNode, workingNode.previousSibling);
    workingRange.moveToElementText(workingNode);
  } while ( (comparison = workingRange.compareEndPoints(
    workingComparisonType, textRange)) > 0 && workingNode.previousSibling);

  // We've now reached or gone past the boundary of the text range we're
  // interested in so have identified the node we want
  boundaryNode = workingNode.nextSibling;
  if (comparison == -1 && boundaryNode) {
    // This must be a data node (text, comment, cdata) since we've overshot.
    // The working range is collapsed at the start of the node containing
    // the text range's boundary, so we move the end of the working range
    // to the boundary point and measure the length of its text to get
    // the boundary's offset within the node
    workingRange.setEndPoint(isStart ? "EndToStart" : "EndToEnd", textRange);

    boundaryPosition = {
      node: boundaryNode,
      offset: workingRange.text.length
    };
  } else {
    // We've hit the boundary exactly, so this must be an element
    boundaryPosition = {
      node: containerElement,
      offset: getChildIndex(workingNode)
    };
  }

  // Clean up
  workingNode.parentNode.removeChild(workingNode);

  return boundaryPosition;
}

var textRange = document.selection.createRange();
var selectionStart = getTextRangeBoundaryPosition(textRange, true);
// selectionStart has properties 'node' and 'offset'

Answer 2

My answer is derived from Tim Down' solution. Thanks a lot to Tim!

However, there's two problems with Tim's solution when working on IE. (1) the offset as calculated is incorrect, and (2) too complex, lots of code.

See my demonstration below.

For problem 1, if you click somewhere at about the last line of the text, for example somewhere in "shoulder pork loin shankle turducken shank cow. Bacon ball tip sirloin ham.", you can notice the offset calculation is different with IE (original solution) and IE method 2 (my solution). Also, the results from IE method 2 (my solution) and from Chrome, Firefox are the same.

My solution is also much simpler. The trick is, after use TextRange to make selection at the absolute X/Y position, get a type of IHTMLSelection by calling document.getSelection(). This does not work for IE<9 but if that's OK for you, this method is much simpler. Another caveat is, with IE the method's side effect (same as the original method) is change of selection (i.e. losing user's original selection).

  // Internet Explorer method 2
  if (document.body.createTextRange) {
          elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML+("*************** IE, Method 2 **************<br/>");
      range = document.body.createTextRange();
      range.moveToPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY);
      range.select();
      var sel = document.getSelection();
      textNode = sel.anchorNode;
      offset = sel.anchorOffset;
      elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML + "IE M2 ok, result: [" + escapeHtml(textNode.nodeName) + "]/[" + escapeHtml(textNode.textContent) + "] @" + offset + "</br>";
  }  

function escapeHtml(unsafe) {
  return unsafe
    .replace(/&/g, "&")
    .replace(/</g, "&lt;")
    .replace(/>/g, "&gt;")
    .replace(/"/g, "&quot;")
    .replace(/'/g, "&#039;");
}

// REF: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3127369/how-to-get-selected-textnode-in-contenteditable-div-in-ie
function getChildIndex(node) {
  var i = 0;
  while( (node = node.previousSibling) ) {
    i++;
  }
  return i;
}

// All this code just to make this work with IE, OTL
// REF: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3127369/how-to-get-selected-textnode-in-contenteditable-div-in-ie
function getTextRangeBoundaryPosition(textRange, isStart) {
  var workingRange = textRange.duplicate();
  workingRange.collapse(isStart);
  var containerElement = workingRange.parentElement();
  var workingNode = document.createElement("span");
  var comparison, workingComparisonType = isStart ?
    "StartToStart" : "StartToEnd";

  var boundaryPosition, boundaryNode;

  // Move the working range through the container's children, starting at
  // the end and working backwards, until the working range reaches or goes
  // past the boundary we're interested in
  do {
    containerElement.insertBefore(workingNode, workingNode.previousSibling);
    workingRange.moveToElementText(workingNode);
  } while ( (comparison = workingRange.compareEndPoints(
    workingComparisonType, textRange)) > 0 && workingNode.previousSibling);

  // We've now reached or gone past the boundary of the text range we're
  // interested in so have identified the node we want
  boundaryNode = workingNode.nextSibling;
  if (comparison == -1 && boundaryNode) {
    // This must be a data node (text, comment, cdata) since we've overshot.
    // The working range is collapsed at the start of the node containing
    // the text range's boundary, so we move the end of the working range
    // to the boundary point and measure the length of its text to get
    // the boundary's offset within the node
    workingRange.setEndPoint(isStart ? "EndToStart" : "EndToEnd", textRange);

    boundaryPosition = {
      node: boundaryNode,
      offset: workingRange.text.length
    };
  } else {
    // We've hit the boundary exactly, so this must be an element
    boundaryPosition = {
      node: containerElement,
      offset: getChildIndex(workingNode)
    };
  }

  // Clean up
  workingNode.parentNode.removeChild(workingNode);

  return boundaryPosition;
}

function onClick(event) {
  var elt = document.getElementById('info');
  elt.innerHTML = "";
  var textNode;
  var offset;
  // Internet Explorer
  if (document.body.createTextRange) {
		  elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML+("*************** IE **************<br/>");
      range = document.body.createTextRange();
      range.moveToPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY);
      range.select();
      range = getTextRangeBoundaryPosition(range, true);

      textNode = range.node;
      offset = range.offset;
      elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML + "IE ok, result: [" + escapeHtml(textNode.nodeName) + "]/[" + escapeHtml(textNode.textContent) + "] @" + offset + "</br>";

  }
  
  // Internet Explorer method 2
  if (document.body.createTextRange) {
		  elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML+("*************** IE, Method 2 **************<br/>");
      range = document.body.createTextRange();
      range.moveToPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY);
      range.select();
			var sel = document.getSelection();
      textNode = sel.anchorNode;
      offset = sel.anchorOffset;
      elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML + "IE M2 ok, result: [" + escapeHtml(textNode.nodeName) + "]/[" + escapeHtml(textNode.textContent) + "] @" + offset + "</br>";
  }  

  // Firefox, Safari
  // REF: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/caretPositionFromPoint
  if (document.caretPositionFromPoint) {
		  elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML+("*************** Firefox, Safari **************<br/>");  
    range = document.caretPositionFromPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY);
    textNode = range.offsetNode;
    offset = range.offset;
    elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML + "caretPositionFromPoint ok, result: [" + escapeHtml(textNode.nodeName) + "]/[" + escapeHtml(textNode.textContent) + "] @" + offset + "</br>";
    // Chrome
    // REF: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/document/caretRangeFromPoint
  }
  if (document.caretRangeFromPoint) {
		  elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML+("*************** Chrome **************<br/>");  
    range = document.caretRangeFromPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY);
    textNode = range.startContainer;
    offset = range.startOffset;
    elt.innerHTML = elt.innerHTML + "caretRangeFromPoint ok, result: [" + escapeHtml(textNode.nodeName) + "]/[" + escapeHtml(textNode.textContent) + "] @" + offset + "</br>";
  }
}

document.addEventListener('click', onClick);

#info {
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 0;
  background-color: cyan;
}

<div class="parent">
  <div class="child">SPACE&nbsp;SPACE Bacon ipsum dolor amet <span>SPAN SPANTT SPOOR</span> meatball bresaola t-bone tri-tip brisket. Jowl pig picanha cupim SPAXE landjaeger, frankfurter spare ribs chicken. Porchetta jowl pancetta drumstick shankle cow spare ribs jerky
    tail kevin biltong capicola brisket venison bresaola. Flank sirloin jowl andouille meatball venison salami ground round rump boudin turkey capicola t-bone. Sirloin filet mignon tenderloin beef, biltong doner bresaola brisket shoulder pork loin shankle
    turducken shank cow. Bacon ball tip sirloin ham.
  </div>
  <div id="info">Click somewhere in the paragraph above</div>
</div>

Answer 3

Your best bet for this at the moment is IERange. This library will return you a DOM Range-like object in IE, with the selection provided in terms of nodes and offsets.

Answer 4

I have come up with a solution. It isn't perfect, but it's able to select the element containing the text node (most often p, h1 etc.). We can get the position of the selection with the TextRange function getBoundingClientRect(), and with document.elementFromPoint(x, y) we are able to get the element containing the text. Example:

var textRange = document.selection.createRange();
var x = textRange.getBoundingClientRect().left;
var y = textRange.getBoundingClientRect().top;
var element = document.elementFromPoint(x, y);

If anyone has a better solution, please share it.