Insert an HTML element in a contentEditable element

Question

I have a contentEditable div where I want to insert HTML tags (a simple span element).

Is there a cross browser solution that allows me to insert those tags over my div

Answer 1

Here is a kickstart

// get the selection range (or cursor     position)
var range = window.getSelection().getRangeAt(0); 
// create a span
var newElement = document.createElement('span');
newElement.id = 'myId';
newElement.innerHTML = 'Hello World!';

// if the range is in #myDiv ;)
if(range.startContainer.parentNode.id==='myDiv') {
   // delete whatever is on the range
   range.deleteContents();
   // place your span
   range.insertNode(newElement);
}

I don't have IE but works fine on firefox, chrome and safari. Maybe you want to play with range.startContainer to proceed only if the selection is made on the contentEditable div.

EDIT: According to quirksmode range intro you have to change the window.getSelection() part to be IE compatible.

var userSelection;
if (window.getSelection) {
    userSelection = window.getSelection();
}
else if (document.selection) { // should come last; Opera!
    userSelection = document.selection.createRange();
}