how to get selection inside a div using jquery/javascript

Solution 1:

This is slightly verbose because of long-winded boundary comparisons and because IE takes a different approach from other browsers, but does the job in all major browsers. It also handles multiple selections in Firefox.

jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/Q982A/2/

Code:

function getSelectedTextWithin(el) {
    var selectedText = "";
    if (typeof window.getSelection != "undefined") {
        var sel = window.getSelection(), rangeCount;
        if ( (rangeCount = sel.rangeCount) > 0 ) {
            var range = document.createRange();
            for (var i = 0, selRange; i < rangeCount; ++i) {
                range.selectNodeContents(el);
                selRange = sel.getRangeAt(i);
                if (selRange.compareBoundaryPoints(range.START_TO_END, range) == 1 && selRange.compareBoundaryPoints(range.END_TO_START, range) == -1) {
                    if (selRange.compareBoundaryPoints(range.START_TO_START, range) == 1) {
                        range.setStart(selRange.startContainer, selRange.startOffset);
                    }
                    if (selRange.compareBoundaryPoints(range.END_TO_END, range) == -1) {
                        range.setEnd(selRange.endContainer, selRange.endOffset);
                    }
                    selectedText += range.toString();
                }
            }
        }
    } else if (typeof document.selection != "undefined" && document.selection.type == "Text") {
        var selTextRange = document.selection.createRange();
        var textRange = selTextRange.duplicate();
        textRange.moveToElementText(el);
        if (selTextRange.compareEndPoints("EndToStart", textRange) == 1 && selTextRange.compareEndPoints("StartToEnd", textRange) == -1) {
            if (selTextRange.compareEndPoints("StartToStart", textRange) == 1) {
                textRange.setEndPoint("StartToStart", selTextRange);
            }
            if (selTextRange.compareEndPoints("EndToEnd", textRange) == -1) {
                textRange.setEndPoint("EndToEnd", selTextRange);
            }
            selectedText = textRange.text;
        }
    }
    return selectedText;
}

Alternatively, you could use my Rangy library, and the code becomes:

function getSelectedTextWithin(el) {
    var selectedText = "";
    var sel = rangy.getSelection(), rangeCount = sel.rangeCount;
    var range = rangy.createRange();
    range.selectNodeContents(el);
    for (var i = 0; i < rangeCount; ++i) {
        selectedText += sel.getRangeAt(i).intersection(range);
    }
    return selectedText;
}

Solution 2:

You can use:

var node = window.getSelection ?        
       window.getSelection().focusNode.parentNode:
       document.selection.createRange().parentElement();

to get the element in which the selection end.

Then you can determine if that element is inside your div.

Solution 3:

You can achieve this by using the Text select plugin - http://plugins.jquery.com/node/7411

In the binding code you can then interrogate the event target to see if it is within the element you require.

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function() {
        $(document).bind('textselect', function(e) {
            if ($(e.target).attr("id") == "myPara") {
                alert(e.text);
            }
        });   
    });
</script>

<p id="myPara">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer Lorem sapien hendrerit elit Cum. Morbi Curabitur convallis sagittis vitae sem parturient augue orci tortor eget. Et porttitor eros id consectetuer est molestie tellus fames netus nec. Ullamcorper id Nam eros sed nascetur Maecenas turpis at laoreet eleifend. Lorem id parturient dapibus Aenean cursus congue justo auctor pharetra orci. Hac amet.</p>

<p id="noSelect">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer Lorem sapien hendrerit elit Cum. Morbi Curabitur convallis sagittis vitae sem parturient augue orci tortor eget. Et porttitor eros id consectetuer est molestie tellus fames netus nec. Ullamcorper id Nam eros sed nascetur Maecenas turpis at laoreet eleifend. Lorem id parturient dapibus Aenean cursus congue justo auctor pharetra orci. Hac amet.</p>