Email conversation
| From | Kris Wallsmith |
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| To | Me |
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| Subject | TextArea and iFrame code editor - help |
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| Date | 17 May 2005 00:44 |
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Hi,
Your site is very helpful. Thank you.
I am coding a simple web based code editor using Javascript. Similar to
Dreamweaver, it has a Code and a Preview mode, although the Preview mode is
not editable, which is fine. I simply dump the TextArea into an iFrame using
document.write() when the user switches to Preview.
The one element I would like to add is syntax highlighting for HTML in the
Code view. I have not been able to find a way to do this within a TextArea,
so it looks like I am going to have to use the JavaScript/hidden
input/iFrame process used by most TTW WYSIWYG editors I've come across for
the Code view.
Do you know of a tutorial that covers the basic concept of this process? Do
you have a straight-forward explanation? I'd really appreciate any help or
links you have.
I need help filling the gap between the user's keyboard and the iFrame ...
Thanks,
Kris Wallsmith
| From | Me |
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| To | Kris Wallsmith |
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| Subject | Re: TextArea and iFrame code editor - help |
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| Date | 17 May 2005 19:45 |
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Kris,
The most easy to understand is the one that used to be on Netscape DevEdge.
It is temporarily held on
http://devedge-temp.mozilla.org/viewsource/2003/midas/01/index_en.html
I suggest you grab a copy in case the docs are forced to go offline again.
Note that Safari 1.3+ also supports it now. I am hoping that maybe Opera
will follow soon.
As for how to do what you want (syntax highlighting), I don't actually know
how to do that, since I have not yet done any work on rich text editing. At
a guess, you will have to wait for changes, and after each one, re-read the
innerText of the iframe body, and re-do the highlighting. This could become
processor intensive ....
Anyway, hope this is useful.
Mark 'Tarquin' Wilton-Jones - author of http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/