Tips for retrieving the clicked word in JavaScript

Is it possible to retrieve the word that was right-clicked on along with its x, y coordinates? I attempted the following code:document.onclick=getTextOnClick;

function getTextOnClick(e)
{
    console.log(e);
    if (window.getSelection) {
        txt = window.getSelection();
            console.log(">>>"+txt);
    } else if (document.getSelection) {
        // FireFox 
        txt = document.getSelection();
            console.log(txt);
    } else if (document.selection) {
        // IE 6/7 
        txt = document.selection.createRange().text;
            console.log(txt);
    }
}

This code successfully captures selected text, but is there a way to achieve the same result when simply right-clicking or clicking on a specific word? The event object provides click coordinates - can these be modified to give coordinates of the clicked word instead? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer №1

If your container includes only "simple" words, you can achieve this using just JavaScript:

window.onload = function() {
    var oDiv = document.getElementById("Container");
    var rawHTML = oDiv.innerHTML;
    var arrWords = rawHTML.split(" ");
    oDiv.innerHTML = "";
    for (var i = 0; i < arrWords.length; i++) {
        var curWord = arrWords[i];
        var curSpan = document.createElement("span");
        curSpan.innerHTML = curWord;
        if (i < (arrWords.length - 1))
            curSpan.innerHTML += " ";
        curSpan.onclick = WordClicked;
        curSpan.oncontextmenu = WordClicked;
        oDiv.appendChild(curSpan);
    }
};

function WordClicked() {
    var word = this.innerHTML;
    alert("You clicked: " + word);
    return false;
}

Check out the live test case - it works for both left and right clicks.

Answer №2

One suggestion is to enclose each word within a separate span tag. However, achieving consistent performance across all browsers may present challenges.

Answer №3

Why not give this a try?

Check out this text:

<div id="bar">Greetings! I am words on a screen, serving a mysterious purpose. Although unsure of my significance, I do offer notable phrases and other curious elements.</div>

Using jQuery:

$('#bar').contents().each(function(_, node) {
    var list = node.textContent.split(/\s/).map(function( word ) {
        return $('<span>', {
            text: word + ' ',
            click: function() {
                alert( $(this).text() );
            }
        }).get(0);
    });

    $('#bar').empty().append(list);
});

See it in action here: http://jsfiddle.net/mQpuC/

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