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@jlong
Last active February 27, 2020 08:39
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Autogrow Textareas in jQuery
/*
* jquery.autogrow.js
*
* A plugin written for UserVoice that makes it easy to create textareas
* that automatically resize to fit their contents.
*
* Based on Scott Moonen's original code for Prototype.js:
*
* <http://scottmoonen.com/2008/07/08/unobtrusive-javascript-expandable-textareas/>
*
* Author: John W. Long <[email protected]>
*
*/
;(function($) {
var properties = ['-webkit-appearance', '-moz-appearance', '-o-appearance', 'appearance', 'font-family', 'font-size', 'font-weight', 'font-style', 'border', 'border-top', 'border-right', 'border-bottom', 'border-left', 'box-sizing', 'padding', 'padding-top', 'padding-right', 'padding-bottom', 'padding-left', 'min-height', 'max-height', 'line-height']
, escaper = $('<span />')
;
function escape(string) {
return escaper.text(string).text().replace(/\n/g, '<br>');
}
$.fn.autogrow = function() {
return this.filter('textarea').each(function() {
if (!$(this).data('autogrow-applied')) {
var textarea = $(this)
, initialHeight = textarea.innerHeight()
, expander = $('<div />')
, timer = null
;
// Setup expander
expander.css({'position': 'absolute', 'visibility': 'hidden', 'top': '-99999px'})
$.each(properties, function(i, p) { expander.css(p, textarea.css(p)); });
textarea.after(expander);
// Setup textarea
textarea.css({'overflow-y': 'hidden', 'resize': 'none', 'box-sizing': 'border-box'});
// Sizer function
function sizeTextarea() {
clearTimeout(timer);
timer = setTimeout(function() {
var value = escape(textarea.val()) + '<br>z';
expander.text(value);
expander.css('width', textarea.innerWidth() + 2 + 'px');
textarea.css('height', Math.max(expander.innerHeight(), initialHeight) + 2 + 'px');
}, 100); // throttle by 100ms
}
// Bind sizer to IE 9+'s input event and Safari's propertychange event
textarea.on('input.autogrow propertychange.autogrow', sizeTextarea);
// Set the initial size
sizeTextarea();
// Record autogrow applied
textarea.data('autogrow-applied', true);
}
});
};
}(jQuery));
@jlong
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jlong commented Sep 15, 2014

@murtaugh Throttle is just being a nice JS citizen. Admittedly not needed on newer browsers with fast computers, but it helps on older...

@charlie-eth
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Hello, just wondering how you could get the height of the current textarea as it changes?

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