CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascripthtmlcssdynamic-css
Aleris
Aleris

Reputation: 8059

Wait cursor over entire html page

Is it possible to set the cursor to 'wait' on the entire html page in a simple way? The idea is to show the user that something is going on while an ajax call is being completed. The code below shows a simplified version of what I tried and also demonstrate the problems I run into:

  1. if an element (#id1) has a cursor style set it will ignore the one set on body (obviously)
  2. some elements have a default cursor style (a) and will not show the wait cursor on hover
  3. the body element has a certain height depending on the content and if the page is short, the cursor will not show below the footer

The test:

<html>
    <head>
        <style type="text/css">
            #id1 {
                background-color: #06f;
                cursor: pointer;
            }

            #id2 {
                background-color: #f60;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="id1">cursor: pointer</div>
        <div id="id2">no cursor</div>
        <a href="#" onclick="document.body.style.cursor = 'wait'; return false">Do something</a>
    </body>
</html>

Later edit...
It worked in firefox and IE with: 

div#mask { display: none; cursor: wait; z-index: 9999; 
position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100%; 
width: 100%; background-color: #fff; opacity: 0; filter: alpha(opacity = 0);}

<a href="#" onclick="document.getElementById('mask').style.display = 'block'; return false">
Do something</a>

The problem with (or feature of) this solution is that it will prevent clicks because of the overlapping div (thanks Kibbee)

Later later edit...
A simpler solution from Dorward:

.wait, .wait * { cursor: wait !important; }

and then 

<a href="#" onclick="document.body.className = 'wait'; return false">Do something</a>

This solution only shows the wait cursor but allows clicks.

Upvotes: 103

Views: 100919

Answers (16)

djvg
djvg

Reputation: 14255

Lots of good answers already, but none of them mentions the <dialog> element.

Using this element we can create a solution similar to the masking <div>.

Here we use showModal() to "hide" elements, and we use ::backdrop to set the cursor style to wait on the entire page:

function showWaitDialog() {
    document.getElementById('id_dialog').showModal();
}
#id_dialog, #id_dialog::backdrop {
    cursor: wait;
}
<button onclick="showWaitDialog()">click me</button>
<dialog id="id_dialog">busy...</dialog>

The dialog is hidden by default, and can be shown using either the show() method, or the showModal() method, which prevents clicking outside the dialog.

The dialog can be forced to close using the close() method, if necessary. However, if your button links to another page, for example, then the dialog will disappear automatically as soon as the new page is loaded.

Note that the dialog can also be closed at any time by hitting the Esc key.

CSS can be used to style the dialog however you like.

The example uses the html onclick attribute, just for simplicity. Obviously, addEventListener() could also be used.

Upvotes: 0

Francisco Jesus
Francisco Jesus

Reputation: 83

Late to the party but simply give the Html tag an id by targeting

document.documentElement

and in the CSS place at the top

html#wait * {
    cursor: wait !important;
}

and simply remove it when you want to stop this cursor.

Upvotes: -1

javocity
javocity

Reputation: 19

This pure JavaScript seems to work pretty well ... tested on FireFox, Chrome, and Edge browsers.

I'm not sure about the performance of this if you had an overabundance of elements on your page and a slow computer ... try it and see.

Set cursor for all elements to wait:

Object.values(document.querySelectorAll('*')).forEach(element => element.style.cursor = "wait");

Set cursor for all elements back to default:

Object.values(document.querySelectorAll('*')).forEach(element => element.style.cursor = "default");

An alternative (and perhaps a bit more readable) version would be to create a setCursor function as follows:

function setCursor(cursor)
{
    var x = document.querySelectorAll("*");

    for (var i = 0; i < x.length; i++)
    {
        x[i].style.cursor = cursor;
    }
}

and then call

setCursor("wait");

and

setCursor("default");

to set the wait cursor and default cursor respectively.

Upvotes: 1

Peter J. de Bruin
Peter J. de Bruin

Reputation: 170

To set the cursor from JavaScript for the whole window, use:

document.documentElement.style.cursor = 'wait';

From CSS:

html { cursor: wait; }

Add further logic as needed.

Upvotes: 2

indiaaditya
indiaaditya

Reputation: 73

My Two pence:

Step 1: Declare an array. This will be used to store the original cursors that were assigned:

var vArrOriginalCursors = new Array(2);

Step 2: Implement the function cursorModifyEntirePage

 function CursorModifyEntirePage(CursorType){
    var elements = document.body.getElementsByTagName('*');
    alert("These are the elements found:" + elements.length);
    let lclCntr = 0;
    vArrOriginalCursors.length = elements.length; 
    for(lclCntr = 0; lclCntr < elements.length; lclCntr++){
        vArrOriginalCursors[lclCntr] = elements[lclCntr].style.cursor;
        elements[lclCntr].style.cursor = CursorType;
    }
}

What it does: Gets all the elements on the page. Stores the original cursors assigned to them in the array declared in step 1. Modifies the cursors to the desired cursor as passed by parameter CursorType

Step 3: Restore the cursors on the page

 function CursorRestoreEntirePage(){
    let lclCntr = 0;
    var elements = document.body.getElementsByTagName('*');
    for(lclCntr = 0; lclCntr < elements.length; lclCntr++){
        elements[lclCntr].style.cursor = vArrOriginalCursors[lclCntr];
    }
}

I have run this in an application and it works fine. Only caveat is that I have not tested it when you are dynamically adding the elements.

Upvotes: 1

ungalcrys
ungalcrys

Reputation: 5610

I used a adaptation of Eric Wendelin's solution. It will show a transparent, animated overlay wait-div over the whole body, the click will be blocked by the wait-div while visible:

css:

div#waitMask {
    z-index: 999;
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    cursor: wait;
    background-color: #000;
    opacity: 0;
    transition-duration: 0.5s;
    -webkit-transition-duration: 0.5s;
}

js:

// to show it
$("#waitMask").show();
$("#waitMask").css("opacity"); // must read it first
$("#waitMask").css("opacity", "0.8");

...

// to hide it
$("#waitMask").css("opacity", "0");
setTimeout(function() {
    $("#waitMask").hide();
}, 500) // wait for animation to end

html:

<body>
    <div id="waitMask" style="display:none;">&nbsp;</div>
    ... rest of html ...

Upvotes: 1

Dani
Dani

Reputation: 1276

If you use this slightly modified version of the CSS you posted from Dorward,

html.wait, html.wait * { cursor: wait !important; }

you can then add some really simple jQuery to work for all ajax calls:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $(document).ajaxStart(function () { $("html").addClass("wait"); });
    $(document).ajaxStop(function () { $("html").removeClass("wait"); });
});

or, for older jQuery versions (before 1.9):

$(document).ready(function () {
    $("html").ajaxStart(function () { $(this).addClass("wait"); });
    $("html").ajaxStop(function () { $(this).removeClass("wait"); });
});

Upvotes: 117

kofifus
kofifus

Reputation: 19285

Here is a more elaborate solution that does not require external CSS:

function changeCursor(elem, cursor, decendents) {
    if (!elem) elem=$('body');

    // remove all classes starting with changeCursor-
    elem.removeClass (function (index, css) {
        return (css.match (/(^|\s)changeCursor-\S+/g) || []).join(' ');
    });

    if (!cursor) return;

    if (typeof decendents==='undefined' || decendents===null) decendents=true;

    let cname;

    if (decendents) {
        cname='changeCursor-Dec-'+cursor;
        if ($('style:contains("'+cname+'")').length < 1) $('<style>').text('.'+cname+' , .'+cname+' * { cursor: '+cursor+' !important; }').appendTo('head');
    } else {
        cname='changeCursor-'+cursor;
        if ($('style:contains("'+cname+'")').length < 1) $('<style>').text('.'+cname+' { cursor: '+cursor+' !important; }').appendTo('head');
    }

    elem.addClass(cname);
}

with this you can do:

changeCursor(, 'wait'); // wait cursor on all decendents of body
changeCursor($('#id'), 'wait', false); // wait cursor on elem with id only
changeCursor(); // remove changed cursor from body

Upvotes: 1

kulNinja
kulNinja

Reputation: 524

BlockUI is the answer for everything. Give it a try.

http://www.malsup.com/jquery/block/

Upvotes: 0

redbmk
redbmk

Reputation: 4796

css: .waiting * { cursor: 'wait' }

jQuery: $('body').toggleClass('waiting');

Upvotes: 4

pasx
pasx

Reputation: 2975

I have been struggling with this problem for hours today. Basically everything was working just fine in FireFox but (of course) not in IE. In IE the wait cursor was showing AFTER the time consuming function was executed.

I finally found the trick on this site: http://www.codingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-37185.html

Code:

//...
document.body.style.cursor = 'wait';
setTimeout(this.SomeLongFunction, 1);

//setTimeout syntax when calling a function with parameters
//setTimeout(function() {MyClass.SomeLongFunction(someParam);}, 1);

//no () after function name this is a function ref not a function call
setTimeout(this.SetDefaultCursor, 1);
...

function SetDefaultCursor() {document.body.style.cursor = 'default';}

function SomeLongFunction(someParam) {...}

My code runs in a JavaScript class hence the this and MyClass (MyClass is a singleton).

I had the same problems when trying to display a div as described on this page. In IE it was showing after the function had been executed. So I guess this trick would solve that problem too.

Thanks a zillion time to glenngv the author of the post. You really made my day!!!

Upvotes: 7

jere_hr
jere_hr

Reputation: 284

Easiest way I know is using JQuery like this:

$('*').css('cursor','wait');

Upvotes: 4

GameFreak
GameFreak

Reputation: 2931

Try the css:

html.waiting {
cursor: wait;
}

It seems that if the property body is used as apposed to html it doesn't show the wait cursor over the whole page. Furthermore if you use a css class you can easily control when it actually shows it.

Upvotes: 1

Kibbee
Kibbee

Reputation: 66112

This seems to work in firefox

<style>
*{ cursor: inherit;}
body{ cursor: wait;}
</style>

The * part ensures that the cursor doesn't change when you hover over a link. Although links will still be clickable.

Upvotes: 12

Eric Wendelin
Eric Wendelin

Reputation: 44349

I understand you may not have control over this, but you might instead go for a "masking" div that covers the entire body with a z-index higher than 1. The center part of the div could contain a loading message if you like.

Then, you can set the cursor to wait on the div and don't have to worry about links as they are "under" your masking div. Here's some example CSS for the "masking div":

body { height: 100%; }
div#mask { cursor: wait; z-index: 999; height: 100%; width: 100%; }

Upvotes: 34

unexist
unexist

Reputation: 2528

Why don't you just use one of those fancy loading graphics (eg: http://ajaxload.info/)? The waiting cursor is for the browser itself - so whenever it appears it has something to do with the browser and not with the page.

Upvotes: 2

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