Inserting a text where cursor is using Javascript/jquery

user_49153 0
Viewed 171331

I have a page with a lot of textboxes. When someone clicks a link, i want a word or two to be inserted where the cursor is, or appended to the textbox which has the focus.

For example, if the cursor/focus is on a textbox saying 'apple' and he clicks a link saying '[email]', then i want the textbox to say, 'apple bob@example.com'.

How can I do this? Is this even possible, since what if the focus is on a radio/dropdown/non textbox element? Can the last focused on textbox be remembered?

jquery javascript
13 Answers

Use this, from here:

function insertAtCaret(areaId, text) {
  var txtarea = document.getElementById(areaId);
  if (!txtarea) {
    return;
  }

  var scrollPos = txtarea.scrollTop;
  var strPos = 0;
  var br = ((txtarea.selectionStart || txtarea.selectionStart == '0') ?
    "ff" : (document.selection ? "ie" : false));
  if (br == "ie") {
    txtarea.focus();
    var range = document.selection.createRange();
    range.moveStart('character', -txtarea.value.length);
    strPos = range.text.length;
  } else if (br == "ff") {
    strPos = txtarea.selectionStart;
  }

  var front = (txtarea.value).substring(0, strPos);
  var back = (txtarea.value).substring(strPos, txtarea.value.length);
  txtarea.value = front + text + back;
  strPos = strPos + text.length;
  if (br == "ie") {
    txtarea.focus();
    var ieRange = document.selection.createRange();
    ieRange.moveStart('character', -txtarea.value.length);
    ieRange.moveStart('character', strPos);
    ieRange.moveEnd('character', 0);
    ieRange.select();
  } else if (br == "ff") {
    txtarea.selectionStart = strPos;
    txtarea.selectionEnd = strPos;
    txtarea.focus();
  }

  txtarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;
}
<textarea id="textareaid"></textarea>
<a href="#" onclick="insertAtCaret('textareaid', 'text to insert');return false;">Click Here to Insert</a>

user_1285460

using @quick_sliv answer:

function insertAtCaret(el, text) {
    var caretPos = el.selectionStart;
    var textAreaTxt = el.value;
    el.value = textAreaTxt.substring(0, caretPos) + text + textAreaTxt.substring(caretPos);
};
user_61649840

How to insert some Text to current cursor position of a TextBox through JQuery and JavaScript

Process

  1. Find the Current Cursor Position
  2. Get the Text to be Copied
  3. Set the Text Over there
  4. Update the Cursor position

Here I have 2 TextBoxes and a Button. I have to Click on a certain position on a textbox and then click on the button to paste the text from the other textbox to the the position of the previous textbox.

Main issue here is that getting the current cursor position where we will paste the text.

//Textbox on which to be pasted
<input type="text" id="txtOnWhichToBePasted" />

//Textbox from where to be pasted
<input type="text" id="txtFromWhichToBePasted" />


//Button on which click the text to be pasted
<input type="button" id="btnInsert" value="Insert"/>


<script type="text/javascript">

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('#btnInsert').bind('click', function () {
            var TextToBePasted = $('#txtFromWhichToBePasted').value;
            var ControlOnWhichToBePasted = $('#txtOnWhichToBePasted');

            //Paste the Text
            PasteTag(ControlOnWhichToBePasted, TextToBePasted);
        });
    });

//Function Pasting The Text
function PasteTag(ControlOnWhichToBePasted,TextToBePasted) {
    //Get the position where to be paste

    var CaretPos = 0;
    // IE Support
    if (document.selection) {

        ControlOnWhichToBePasted.focus();
        var Sel = document.selection.createRange();

        Sel.moveStart('character', -ctrl.value.length);

        CaretPos = Sel.text.length;
    }
    // Firefox support
    else if (ControlOnWhichToBePasted.selectionStart || ControlOnWhichToBePasted.selectionStart == '0')
        CaretPos = ControlOnWhichToBePasted.selectionStart;

    //paste the text
    var WholeString = ControlOnWhichToBePasted.value;
    var txt1 = WholeString.substring(0, CaretPos);
    var txt2 = WholeString.substring(CaretPos, WholeString.length);
    WholeString = txt1 + TextToBePasted + txt2;
    var CaretPos = txt1.length + TextToBePasted.length;
    ControlOnWhichToBePasted.value = WholeString;

    //update The cursor position 
    setCaretPosition(ControlOnWhichToBePasted, CaretPos);
}

function setCaretPosition(ControlOnWhichToBePasted, pos) {

    if (ControlOnWhichToBePasted.setSelectionRange) {
        ControlOnWhichToBePasted.focus();
        ControlOnWhichToBePasted.setSelectionRange(pos, pos);
    }
    else if (ControlOnWhichToBePasted.createTextRange) {
        var range = ControlOnWhichToBePasted.createTextRange();
        range.collapse(true);
        range.moveEnd('character', pos);
        range.moveStart('character', pos);
        range.select();
    }
}

</script>
user_13167940

I think you could use the following JavaScript to track the last-focused textbox:

<script>
var holdFocus;

function updateFocus(x)
{
    holdFocus = x;
}

function appendTextToLastFocus(text)
{
    holdFocus.value += text;
}
</script>

Usage:

<input type="textbox" onfocus="updateFocus(this)" />
<a href="#" onclick="appendTextToLastFocus('textToAppend')" />

A previous solution (props to gclaghorn) uses textarea and calculates the position of the cursor too, so it may be better for what you want. On the other hand, this one would be more lightweight, if that's what you're looking for.

user_1289770

This question's answer was posted so long ago and I stumbled upon it via a Google search. HTML5 provides the HTMLInputElement API that includes the setRangeText() method, which replaces a range of text in an <input> or <textarea> element with a new string:

element.setRangeText('abc');

The above would replace the selection made inside element with abc. You can also specify which part of the input value to replace:

element.setRangeText('abc', 3, 5);

The above would replace the 4th till 6th characters of the input value with abc. You can also specify how the selection should be set after the text has been replaced by providing one of the following strings as the 4th parameter:

  • 'preserve' attempts to preserve the selection. This is the default.
  • 'select' selects the newly inserted text.
  • 'start' moves the selection to just before the inserted text.
  • 'end' moves the selection to just after the inserted text.

Browser compatibility

The MDN page for setRangeText doesn't provide browser compatibility data, but I guess it'd be the same as HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange(), which is basically all modern browsers, IE 9 and above, Edge 12 and above.

user_19451850

you can only focus required textbox an insert the text there. there is no way to find out where focus is AFAIK (maybe interating over all DOM nodes?).

check this stackoverflow - it has a solution for you: How do I find out which DOM element has the focus?

user_560660
Related