Abstract

This document is a preliminary draft of a specification for the Selection API and selection related functionality. It replaces a couple of old sections of the HTML specification, the selection part of the old DOM Range specification.

Status of This Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

Since this specification is intended to be charted by the Web Applications Working Group, any feedback or discussion of this specification should be posted to public-webapps mailing list with "[Selection API]" in the subject.

This specification is based on the HTML Editing API specification edited by Aryeh Gregor and published by the W3C Editing APIs Community Group. Copyright © 2011-2014 the Contributors to the HTML Editing APIs Specification, published by the W3C Editing APIs Community Group under the W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA).

This document was published by the Web Applications Working Group as a First Public Working Draft. This document is intended to become a W3C Recommendation. If you wish to make comments regarding this document, please send them to public-webapps@w3.org (subscribe, archives). All comments are welcome.

Publication as a First Public Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

This document is governed by the 14 October 2005 W3C Process Document.

Table of Contents

1. Background

This section is non-normative.

IE9 and Firefox 6.0a2 allow arbitrary ranges in the selection, which follows what this spec originally said. However, this leads to unpleasant corner cases that authors, implementers, and spec writers all have to deal with, and they don't make any real sense. Chrome 14 dev and Opera 11.11 aggressively normalize selections, like not letting them lie inside empty elements and things like that, but this is also viewed as a bad idea, because it takes flexibility away from authors.

So I changed the spec to a made-up compromise that allows some simplification but doesn't constrain authors much. See discussion. Basically it would throw exceptions in some places to try to stop the selection from containing a range that had a boundary point other than an Element or Text node, or a boundary point that didn't descend from a Document.

But this meant getRangeAt() had to start returning a copy, not a reference. Also, it would be prone to things failing weirdly in corner cases. Perhaps most significantly, all sorts of problems might arise when DOM mutations transpire, like if a boundary point's node is removed from its parent and the mutation rules would place the new boundary point inside a non-Text/Element node. And finally, the previously-specified behavior had the advantage of matching two major implementations, while the new behavior matched no one. So I changed it back.

Note

See bug 15470. IE9, Firefox 12.0a1, Chrome 17 dev, and Opera Next 12.00 alpha all make the range initially null.

2. Definition

Every document ([DOM4]) with a browsing context ([HTML5]) has a unique Selection object associated with it. Selection objects are known as selections.

Note

This is a requirement of the HTML spec. IE9 and Opera Next 12.00 alpha seem to follow it, while Firefox 12.0a1 and Chrome 17 dev seem not to. See Mozilla bug, WebKit bug.

This one selection must be shared by all the content of the document (though not by nested documents), including any editing hosts in the document. Editing hosts (defined in [HTML5]) that are not inside a document cannot have a selection

Each selection can be associated with a single range (defined in [DOM4]). When there is no range associated with the selection, the selection is empty. The selection must be initially empty.

Note

A document's selection is a singleton object associated with that document, so it gets replaced with a new object when Document.open() is called. See bug 15470. IE9 and Opera Next 12.00 alpha allow the user to reset the range to null after the fact by clicking somewhere; Firefox 12.0a1 and Chrome 17 dev do not. We follow Gecko/WebKit, because it lessens the chance of getRangeAt(0) throwing.

Once a selection is associated with a given range, it must continue to be associated with that same range until this specification requires otherwise.

Note

For instance, if the DOM changes in a way that changes the range's boundary points, or a script modifies the boundary points of the range, the same range object must continue to be associated with the selection. However, if the user changes the selection or a script calls addRange(), the selection must be associated with a new range object, as required elsewhere in this specification.

If the selection's range is not null and is collapsed ([DOM4]), then the caret position must be at that range's boundary point. When the selection is not empty, this specification does not define the caret position; user agents should follow platform conventions in deciding whether the caret is at the start of the selection, the end of the selection, or somewhere else.

Note

This short-changes Mac users. See bug 13909.

Each selection has a direction, forwards, backwards, or directionless. If the user creates a selection by indicating first one boundary point of the range and then the other (such as by clicking on one point and dragging to another), and the first indicated boundary point is after ([DOM4]) the second, then the corresponding selection must initially be backwards. If the first indicated boundary point is before ([DOM4]) the second, then the corresponding selection must initially be forwards. Otherwise, it must be directionless.

Selections also have an anchor and a focus. If the selection's range is null, its anchor and focus are both null. If the selection's range is not null and its direction is forwards, its anchor is the range's start, and its focus is the end. Otherwise, its focus is the start and its anchor is the end.

interface Selection {
    readonly    attribute Node?         anchorNode;
    readonly    attribute unsigned long anchorOffset;
    readonly    attribute Node?         focusNode;
    readonly    attribute unsigned long focusOffset;
    readonly    attribute boolean       isCollapsed;
    readonly    attribute unsigned long rangeCount;
    Range       getRangeAt (unsigned long index);
    void        addRange (Range range);
    void        removeRange (Range range);
    void        removeAllRanges ();
    void        collapse (Node node, unsigned long offset);
    void        collapseToStart ();
    void        collapseToEnd ();
    void        extend (Node node, unsigned long offset);
    void        setBaseAndExtent (Node anchorNode, unsigned long anchorOffset, Node focusNode, unsigned long focusOffset);
    void        selectAllChildren (Node node);
    void        deleteFromDocument ();
    boolean     containsNode (Node node, boolean allowPartialContainment);
    stringifier DOMString ();
};

2.1 Attributes

anchorNode of type Node, readonly , nullable

The attribute must return the anchor node ([DOM4]) of the context object ([DOM4]), or null if the anchor is null.

anchorOffset of type unsigned long, readonly

The attribute must return the anchor offset ([DOM4]) of the context object, or 0 if the anchor is null.

focusNode of type Node, readonly , nullable

The attribute must return the focus node of the context object, or null if the anchor is null.

focusOffset of type unsigned long, readonly

The attribute must return the focus offset of the context object, or 0 if the focus is null.

isCollapsed of type boolean, readonly

The attribute must return true if and only if the anchor and focus are the same (including if both are null). Otherwise it must return false.

rangeCount of type unsigned long, readonly

The attribute must return 0 if the context object's range is empty, and must return 1 otherwise.

2.2 Methods

DOMString
See W3C bug 10583.
No parameters.
Return type: stringifier
addRange

The method must set the context object's range to range by a strong reference (not by making a copy) if the root ([DOM4]) of the range's boundary points are the document associated with context object. Otherwise, this method must do nothing.

Note

Since range is added by reference, subsequent calls to getRangeAt(0) returns the same object, and any changes that a script makes to range after it is added must be reflected in the selection, until something else removes or replaces the context object's range. In particular, the selection will contain b as opposed to a after running the following code: var r = document.createRange(); r.selectNode(a); getSelection().addRange(r); r.selectNode(b);

Note

IE9 and Firefox 4.0 store a reference, as described here. Chrome 12 dev and Opera 11.10 appear to store a copy, so changes don't affect the selection.

Chrome 15 dev seems to ignore addRange() if there's already a range. IE9 replaces the existing range. Firefox 9.0a2, of course, just gives you a multi-range selection. IE is likely to behave closest to Firefox, and is also more useful than silent failure, so the spec goes with that.

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
rangeRange✘✘
Return type: void
collapse

The method must follow these steps:

  1. The method must throw an IndexSizeError exception if if offset is negative or longer than node's length ([DOM4]) and abort these steps.
  2. If node's root is not the document associated with the context object, abort these steps.
  3. Otherwise, let newRange be a new range.
  4. Set ([DOM4]) the start and the end of newRange to (node, offset).
  5. Set the context object's range to newRange.
ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
nodeNode✘✘
offsetunsigned long✘✘
Return type: void
collapseToEnd

The method must throw InvalidStateError exception if the context object is empty. Otherwise, it must create a new range, set both its start and end to the end of the context object's range, and then set the context object's range to the newly-created range.

No parameters.
Return type: void
collapseToStart

The method must throw InvalidStateError ([DOM4]) exception if the context object is empty. Otherwise, it must create a new range, set both its start and end to the start of the context object's range, and then set the context object's range to the newly-created range.

Note

For collapseToStart/End, IE9 mutates the existing range, while Firefox 9.0a2 and Chrome 15 dev replace it with a new one. The spec follows the majority and replaces it with a new one, leaving the old Range object unchanged.

No parameters.
Return type: void
containsNode

The method must return false if the context object is empty or if node's root is not the document associated with the context object.

Otherwise, if allowPartialContainment is false, the method must return true if and only if start of its range is before or visually equivalent to the first boundary point in the node and end of its range is after or visually equivalent to the last boundary point in the node.

If allowPartialContainment is true, the method must return true if and only if start of its range is before or visually equivalent to the first boundary point in the node or end of its range is after or visually equivalent to the last boundary point in the node.

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
nodeNode✘✘
allowPartialContainmentboolean✘✘
Return type: boolean
deleteFromDocument

The method must invoke deleteContents() ([DOM4]) on the context object's range if the context object is not empty. Otherwise the method must do nothing.

Note

This is the one method that actually mutates the range instead of replacing it. This matches IE9 and Firefox 12.0a1. (Chrome 17 dev and Opera Next 12.00 alpha can't be tested, because getRangeAt() returns a copy anyway.)

No parameters.
Return type: void
extend

The method must follow these steps:

  1. If node's root is not the document associated with the context object, abort these steps.
  2. If the context object is empty, throw an InvalidStateError exception and abort these steps.
  3. Let oldAnchor and oldFocus be the context object's anchor and focus, and let newFocus be the boundary point (node, offset).
  4. Let newRange be a new range.
  5. If node's root is not the same as the context object's range's root, set newRange's start and end to newFocus.
  6. Otherwise, if oldAnchor is before or equal to newFocus, set newRange's start to oldAnchor, then set its end to newFocus.
  7. Otherwise, set newRange's start to newFocus, then set its end to oldAnchor.
  8. Set the context object's range to newRange.
  9. If newFocus is before oldAnchor, set the context object's direction to backwards. Otherwise, set it to forwards.
Note

Reverse-engineered circa January 2011. IE doesn't support it, so I'm relying on Firefox (implemented extend() sometime before 2000) and WebKit (implemented extend() in 2007). I'm mostly ignoring Opera, because gsnedders tells me its implementation isn't compatible. Firefox 12.0a1 seems to mutate the existing range. IE9 doesn't support extend(), and it's impossible to tell whether Chrome 17 dev or Opera Next 12.00 alpha mutate or replace, because getRangeAt() returns a copy anyway. Nevertheless, I go against Gecko here, to be consistent with collapse().

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
nodeNode✘✘
offsetunsigned long✘✘
Return type: void
getRangeAt

The method must throw an IndexSizeError ([DOM4]) exception if index is not 0, or if the context object is empty. Otherwise, it must return a reference to (not a copy of) the context object's range.

Note

Thus subsequent calls of this method returns the same range object if nothing has removed the context object's range in the meantime. In particular, getSelection().getRangeAt(0) === getSelection().getRangeAt(0) evaluates to true if the selection is not empty.

Note

IE9 and Firefox 4.0 return the same object every time, as the spec says. Chrome 12 dev and Opera 11.10 return a different object every time.

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
indexunsigned long✘✘
Return type: Range
removeAllRanges

The method must make the context object empty by disassociating its range if the context object's range is range. Otherwise, it must do nothing.

No parameters.
Return type: void
removeRange

The method must make the context object empty by disassociating its range if the context object's range is range. Otherwise, it must do nothing.

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
rangeRange✘✘
Return type: void
selectAllChildren

The method must follow these steps:

  1. If node's root is not the document associated with the context object, abort these steps.
  2. Let newRange be a new range and nodeLength be the length of node.
  3. Set newRange's start to (node, 0).
  4. Set newRange's end to (node, nodeLength).
  5. Set the context object's range to newRange.
  6. Set the context object's direction to forwards.
Note

Based mostly on Firefox 9.0a2. It has a bug that I didn't reproduce, namely that if you pass a Document as the argument, the end offset becomes 1 instead of the number of children it has. It also throws a RangeException instead of DOMException, because its implementation predated their merging.

IE9 behaves similarly but with glitches. It throws "Unspecified error." if the node is detached or display:none, and apparently in some random other cases too. It throws "Invalid argument." for detached comments (only!). Finally, if you pass it a comment, it seems to select the whole comment, unlike with text nodes.

Chrome 16 dev behaves as you'd expect given its Selection implementation. It refuses to select anything that's not visible, so it's almost always wrong. Opera 11.50 just does nothing in all my tests, as usual.

The new range replaces any existing one, doesn't mutate it. This matches IE9 and Firefox 12.0a1. (Chrome 17 dev and Opera Next 12.00 alpha can't be tested, because getRangeAt() returns a copy anyway.)

ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
nodeNode✘✘
Return type: void
setBaseAndExtent

The method must follow these steps:

  1. If anchorOffset is negative or longer than anchorNode's length or if focusOffset is negative or longer than focusNode's length, throw an IndexSizeError exception and abort these steps.
  2. If the roots of anchorNode or focusNode are not the document associated with context object, abort these steps.
  3. Let anchor be the boundary point (anchorNode, anchorOffset) and let focus be the boundary point (focusNode, focusOffset).
  4. Let newRange be a new range.
  5. If anchor is before focus, set the newRange's start to anchor and its end to focus. Otherwise, set them to focus and anchor respectively.
  6. Set the context object's range to newRange.
  7. If focus is before anchor, set context object's direction to backwards. Otherwise, set it to forwards
ParameterTypeNullableOptionalDescription
anchorNodeNode✘✘
anchorOffsetunsigned long✘✘
focusNodeNode✘✘
focusOffsetunsigned long✘✘
Return type: void
Note

See also nsISelection.idl from Gecko. This spec doesn't have everything from there yet, in particular selectionLanguageChange() and containsNode() are missing. They are missing because I couldn't work out how to define them in terms of Ranges.

Note

Originally, the Selection interface was a Netscape feature. The original implementation was carried on into Gecko (Firefox), and the feature was later implemented independently by other browser engines. The Netscape implementation always allowed multiple ranges in a single selection, for instance so the user could select a column of a table However, multi-range selections proved to be an unpleasant corner case that web developers didn't know about and even Gecko developers rarely handled correctly. Other browser engines never implemented the feature, and clamped selections to a single range in various incompatible fashions.

This specification follows non-Gecko engines in restricting selections to at most one range, but the API was still originally designed for selections with arbitrary numbers of ranges. This explains oddities like the coexistence of removeRange() and removeAllRanges(), and a getRangeAt() method that takes an integer argument that must always be zero.

All of the members of the Selection interface are defined in terms of operations on the range object (if any) represented by the object. These operations can raise exceptions, as defined for the Range ([DOM4]) interface; this can therefore result in the members of the Selection interface raising exceptions as well, in addition to any explicitly called out below.

3. Extensions to Other Interfaces

This specification extends several interfaces to provide entry points to the interfaces defined in this specification.

3.1 Extensions to Document interface

partial interface Document {
    Selection? getSelection ();
};

3.1.1 Methods

getSelection

The method must return the selection associated with context object if the context object has an associated browsing context, and it must return null otherwise.

No parameters.
Return type: Selection, nullable
Note

If we create a Document object with no browsing context (say via document.implementation.createHTMLDocument("") and call getSelection() on it), IE9 seems to return a different Selection object. Firefox 12.0a1 and Opera Next 12.00 alpha return the same object as for the current window. Chrome 17 dev returns null. See discussion. There's no meaningful selection associated with such a document, so we follow WebKit and require returning null.

3.2 Extensions to Window interface

partial interface Window {
    Selection? getSelection ();
};

3.2.1 Methods

getSelection

The method must invoke and return the result of getSelection() on the context object's document ([HTML5]) property.

No parameters.
Return type: Selection, nullable

4. User Interactions

The user agent should allow the user to change the selection associated with the active document (defined in [HTML5]). If the user makes any modification to a selection, the user agent must create a new range with suitable start and end of the range ([DOM4]) and associate the selection with this new range (not modify the existing range), and set update selection's direction to forwards if the start is before or equal to the end, backwards if if the end is before the start, or directionless if the start and the end cannot be ordered due to the platform convention.

The user agent must not make a selection empty if it was not already empty in response to any user actions (e.g. clicking on a non-editable region).

Note

See bug 15470. IE9 and Opera Next 12.00 alpha allow the user to reset the range to null after the fact by clicking somewhere; Firefox 12.0a1 and Chrome 17 dev do not. I follow Gecko/WebKit, because it lessens the chance of getRangeAt(0) throwing.

4.1 selectstart event

When the user agent is about to associate a new range newRange to the selection in response to a user initiated action, the user agent must fire ([DOM4]) an event with the name selectstart, which bubbles and is cancelable, at the node associated with the boundary point of newRange's start prior to changing the selection.

If the event is canceled, the user agent must not change the selection.

The user agent must not fire the event when the user agent sets the selection empty.

4.2 selectionchange event

When the selection is changed either by the user or the content script, the user agent must queue a task ([HTML5]) to fire an event with the name selectionchange, which does not bubble and is not cancelable, at the document associated with the selection.

A. Acknowledgements

Many thanks to

B. References

B.1 Informative references

[DOM4]
Anne van Kesteren; Aryeh Gregor; Ms2ger; Alex Russell; Robin Berjon. W3C DOM4. 10 July 2014. W3C Last Call Working Draft. URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/dom/
[HTML5]
Robin Berjon; Steve Faulkner; Travis Leithead; Erika Doyle Navara; Edward O'Connor; Silvia Pfeiffer. HTML5. 16 September 2014. W3C Proposed Recommendation. URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/