why isContentEditable always returns me false ?

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I am checking the event's keyCode for backspace

C#

var element = document.activeElement;
if (!element.isContentEditable){
    if (event.keyCode == 8) {
        return false;
    }

This code works fine with IE, but not with chrome as isContentEditable is always return false. anyone knows the answer, why?

Posted 8-Oct-14 20:56pm

bitsmax

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Oct-14 3:46am

You don't really need this check. Mozilla and Chrome behave as I described. I did not check up documentation/standards, but usually, in the cases of such differences, IE is doing wrong.
—SA

bitsmax 9-Oct-14 4:18am

I check it because i want to avoid backspace on any alert/message box . Becouse alert or message box is not editable so i am checking whether the current selection/active element is editable or not.
while i am entering username in username text box , the active element is text box , and it should be editable.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Oct-14 10:58am

What elements are you checking up? "alert" and "message box" are not HTML elements.
Text box will give you false. You simply need to assume it is always editable, in your sense. The property you are using is just useless for this purpose (it is related to attribute contentEditable, nothing else), forget it. If it is disabled or something (hidden, etc.), check it up.

—SA

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2014-10-08T21:40:00

This is because your element is never editable. As simple as that.

You need to know two things here:
http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/prop_html_iscontenteditable.asp[^],
http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/prop_html_contenteditable.asp[^].

Now, some background:

This property has nothing to do with "normal" input control. It is related to the attribute contentEditable which allows you to edit formatted content of something like div or p.

Compare behavior of the div and input control on this example:

XML

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Example</title>
    </head>
<body>

<input type="text" id="text"/>
<div contentEditable="true" id="div">some content</div>

<script>
   text = document.getElementById("text");
   div = document.getElementById("div");
   alert("Editable: text: "
      + text.isContentEditable + "; div: "
      + div.isContentEditable);
</script>

</body>
</html>

First, you will see that you are able to edit the element with the text "some content", even though this is the regular markup. This is how HTML editors are created. You will see that only this element is considered editable.

—SA