"Select all text in iframe" button?

Question

I have an iframe on a webpage. This iframe is sourced to (that is, shows the contents of) a .txt file on my server.

I would like to implement a button (that sits outside of the iFrame, of course) that, when clicked, Selects All the text in the iFrame.

Is this possible? (For example, via jQuery/JavaScript.)

The code found at the bottom of this webpage does not work: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20699826/Selecting-all-text-within-an-iframe.html — Crickets, Dec 22 '17 at 07:54

mac · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-22T08:21:45.823

3

there is a DOM property for iframes called contentDocument which returns the document object generated by a frame or iframe element.

HTML

<iframe id="frame" src="file.txt"></iframe>
<!-- points to the text file -->

<button id="selectText">Copy Text</button>
<!-- button to copy the text -->

JS

var selButtom = document.getElementById('selectText'); //store the button value in a variable
var frame = document.getElementById('frame'); // store iframe in variable

selButtom.addEventListener("click", function(){
    var frameContent = frame.contentDocument; // get content of iframe
    frameContent.execCommand('selectAll'); // execute select command
},false);

edited Dec 22 '17 at 08:21

answered Dec 22 '17 at 08:02

mac

114
7

I couldn't get this code to work on JSFiddle.net, but when I implemented it on my actual website, it worked amazingly. Thanks! – Crickets Dec 22 '17 at 10:16
glad i could help – mac Dec 22 '17 at 13:29
Do you know how to make this "Select All" code work on iOS? – Crickets Dec 24 '17 at 13:26
no sorry...could i get an upvote if my answer was helpful ? – mac Jan 02 '18 at 16:11
I have not been granted the privilege of upvoting; I have not accumulated the sufficient number of reputation points. I am only permitted to accept an answer. – Crickets Jan 02 '18 at 17:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '17 at 08:05

Use iFrameName.window you can use any method of iframe page.

To select text, you can try https://code.google.com/p/rangy/ . Just simple replace all document.body to iFrameName.window.document.body.

Or a simple alternative way: just use iFrameName.window.document.execCommand("selectAll") .

"Select all text in iframe" button?

2 Answers2