CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjqueryhtml
Simon
Simon

Reputation: 2538

Replace characters in textarea with html tags

I'm building an app that has a textarea that needs formatting. I don't want to use a contenteditable div, so I think the next best solution is to use a normal textarea and replace characters with a tag afterwards.

The formatting is similar to Reddit or Slack..

$( '.actionBtn' ).on('click', function(){
  var cursorPos = $('#text').prop('selectionStart');
  var cursorPosEnd = $('#text').prop('selectionEnd');
  var v = $('#text').val();
  var textBefore = v.substring(0,  cursorPos );
  var textSelected  = v.substring( cursorPos, cursorPosEnd );
  if(textSelected == "") {
  	textSelected = "text here"
  }
  var textAfter  = v.substring( cursorPosEnd, v.length );
  $('#text').val( textBefore + $(this).val() + textSelected + $(this).val() + textAfter );
});

$( '#submitBtn' ).on('click', function(){
//TODO: switch to tags
  	 // * becomes <b></b>
     // _ becomes <i></i>
     // #c# becomes <span class="myClass"> </span>
  $('#result').html($('#text').val())
});
.myClass {
  color: #FF0;
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<form>
    <div>
      <textarea id="text" cols="40" rows="3"></textarea>
    </div>
    <div>
      <input class="actionBtn" type="button" value="*" />
      <input class="actionBtn" type="button" value="_" />
      <input class="actionBtn" type="button" value="#c#" />
    </div>
    <div>
      <input id="submitBtn" type="button" value="Submit" />
    </div>
    <p id="result">
    
    </p>
</form>

So from this example, when Submit is pressed I would need:

* becomes <b></b>
_ becomes <i></i>
#c# becomes <span class="myClass"> </span>

How could I do this? Thank you

Upvotes: 0

Views: 371

Answers (2)

Kubwimana Adrien
Kubwimana Adrien

Reputation: 2531

This does more:

var tags = {
    "*": ["<b>", "</b>"],
    "_": ["<span class='myClass'>", "</span>"]
}
    
var el = document.getElementById("editor"),
    val = htmlize(el.value),
    display = document.getElementById("display");
    
display.innerHTML = val;
    
el.addEventListener("change", function(){
    val = htmlize(el.value);
    display.innerHTML = val;
});
    
function htmlize(content){
    for(var i in tags){
        var reg = "\\"+i+"\\s?(\\w+)";
        reg = new RegExp(reg, "g");
        content = content.replace(reg, function(match, w){       
            return tags[i][0]+w+tags[i][1];
        });                 
    }
    return content;
}
<textarea id="editor">
I'm so great * awesome dude and _ fantastic person. You * Should know this
</textarea>
<p id="display"></p>

Upvotes: 1

Denys Rusov
Denys Rusov

Reputation: 620

You can easily replace even / odd occurrences of a string in a string with regular expressions. For example:

const regex = /\_(.*?)\_/gm;
const str = `Lorem _ipsum_ dolor sit amet, _consectetur adipiscing_ elit, sed 
do _eiusmod_ tempor `;
const subst = `<em>$1</em>`;

// The substituted value will be contained in the result variable
const result = str.replace(regex, subst);
console.log('Substitution result: ', result);

Check it online

Upvotes: 1

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