I would like to select text on the page by simulating a left mouse button down and drag it to a specified x,y location (in pixels)
Can this be done with JavaScript?
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2 Answers
I don't think its possible to control the mouse in this way using JavaScript.
However, you can select parts of a document directly using JavaScript. For example:
var h3s = document.getElementsByTagName("h3");
var range = document.createRange();
range.selectNode(h3s[0]);
window.getSelection().addRange(range);
would select the first h3 element.
Also see: http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/range_intro.html for more info about building ranges.
To select the entire body of a document, you can use:
var body = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
var range = document.createRange();
range.selectNode(body);
window.getSelection().addRange(range);
To select the 3rd character of, say, the 4th paragraph in a document, try:
var p4 = document.getElementsByTagName("p")[3].firstChild;
var range = document.createRange();
range.setStart(p4, 2);
range.setEnd(p4, 3);
window.getSelection().addRange(range);
1 Comment
thedp
Can I also select until the middle of the element.. like, letter #3? Also, is your example capable to select lets say a body element, that contains various divs, fonts, etc. ?
/**
* Select text between 2 elements. Support selection of continuous elements.
* @param {Object} element1 begin element.
* @param {Object} element2 end element.
*/
function selectBetweenTwoElements(element1, element2) {
if (window.getSelection) {
/* all browsers, except IE 8 and IE 7 */
var selection = window.getSelection();
selection.removeAllRanges();
var range = document.createRange();
range.setStart(element1, 0);
range.setEnd(element2, 1);
selection.addRange(range);
} else {
/* works fine in IE 8 / IE 7 */
if (document.body.createControlRange) {
var range1 = document.body.createTextRange();
range1.moveToElementText(element1);
var range2 = document.body.createTextRange();
range2.moveToElementText(element2);
var range = document.body.createTextRange();
range.setEndPoint("StartToStart", range1);
range.setEndPoint("EndToEnd", range2);
range.select();
}
}
}
