Placeholder for contenteditable div

Question

I have the following: FIDDLE

The placeholder works fine and dandy until you type something, ctrl + A, and delete. If you do that, th

Answer 1

I have this function, and I always use to prevent this kind of things.

I use my function in this way:

var notEmpty = {}

    notEmpty.selector = ".no-empty-plz"
    notEmpty.event = "focusout"
    notEmpty.nonEmpty = "---"


    neverEmpty(notEmpty)

And I just add the no-empty-plz to the Elements I that don't want to be empty.

/**
     * Used to prevent a element have a empty content, made to be used 
when we want to edit the content directly with the contenteditable=true 
because when a element is completely empty, it disappears U_U
     * 
     * @param selector
     * @param event
     * @param nonEmpty:
     *        String to be put instead empty
     */
function neverEmpty(params) {

    var element = $(params.selector)



    $(document).on(params.event, params.selector, function() {

        var text = $(this).html()
        text = hardTrim(text)

        if ($.trim(text)  == "") {
            $(this).html(params.nonEmpty)
        }
    });
}

params is actually a json, so selector = params.selector as you can see

And hardTrim is also another fucntion I created is like a trim but includs &nbsp and <br/>, etc

function hardTrim(text) {

    if (!exists(text)) {
        return ""
    }
    text = text.replace(/^\&nbsp\;|<br?\>*/gi, "").replace(/\&nbsp\;|<br?\>$/gi, "").trim();

    return text
}

Answer 2

I've created a live demo: "Placeholder for content-editable divs", by HTML & CSS.
Also, Codepen: https://codepen.io/fritx/pen/NZpbqW
Ref: https://github.com/fritx/vue-at/issues/39#issuecomment-504412421

.editor {
  border: solid 1px gray;
  width: 300px;
  height: 100px;
  padding: 6px;
  overflow: scroll;
}
[contenteditable][placeholder]:empty:before {
  content: attr(placeholder);
  position: absolute;
  color: gray;
  background-color: transparent;
}

<textarea class="editor"
  placeholder="Textarea placeholder..."
></textarea>
<br/>
<br/>
<div class="editor"
  contenteditable
  placeholder="Div placeholder..."
  oninput="if(this.innerHTML.trim()==='<br>')this.innerHTML=''"
></div>

Answer 3

This solution worked for me. I'd converted this solution from angular to pure javaScript

In .html

<div placeholder="Write your message.." id="MyConteditableElement" onclick="clickedOnInput = true;" contenteditable class="form-control edit-box"></div>

In .css

.holder:before {
    content: attr(placeholder);
    color: lightgray;
    display: block;
    position:absolute;    
    font-family: "Campton", sans-serif;
}

in js.

clickedOnInput:boolean = false;
charactorCount:number = 0;
let charCount = document.getElementsByClassName('edit-box')[0];

if(charCount){
this.charactorCount = charCount.innerText.length;
}

if(charactorCount > 0 && clickedOnInput){
document.getElementById("MyConteditableElement").classList.add('holder');
}

if(charactorCount == 0 && !clickedOnInput){
document.getElementById("MyConteditableElement").classList.remove('holder');
}

getContent(innerText){
  this.clickedOnInput = false;
}

Answer 4

some fixes:

1) $element.text().trim().length - it solved problems with <div><br/></div> and  

2) data-placeholder attr instead of placeholder - it is true way

3) common selector $("[contenteditable]") - it is true way

4) display: inline-block; - fix for Chrome and Firefox

JavaScript:

jQuery(function($){
    $("[contenteditable]").blur(function(){
        var $element = $(this);
        if ($element.html().length && !$element.text().trim().length) {
            $element.empty();
        }
    });
});

HTML:

<div data-placeholder="Type something..." contenteditable="true"></div>

CSS:

[contenteditable]:empty:before {
    content: attr(data-placeholder);
    color: grey;
    display: inline-block;
}

Answer 5

<div id="write_comment" contenteditable="true"></div>

var placeholderCommentText = 'Comment...',
    placeholderComment = $('#write_comment').attr('placeholder', placeholderCommentText);

$('#write_comment').text(placeholderCommentText);

$('[contenteditable]').bind({
    focus: function(){
        if ($('#write_comment').text().length == 0 || $('#write_comment').text() == $('#write_comment').attr('placeholder')) {
            $(this).empty();
        }
        $(this).keyup(function(){
            if ($('#write_comment').text() == $('#write_comment').attr('placeholder')){
                $('#write_comment').attr('placeholder','');
            } else if ($('#write_comment').text().length == 0 ) {
                $('#write_comment').attr('placeholder', placeholderCommentText);
            }
        });
    },
    focusout: function(){
        if ($('#write_comment').text().length == 0) { 
            $(this).text($(this).attr('placeholder'));
        }
    }
});

Answer 6

Updating Christian Brink's answer, you could/should check for more events. You can do so by simply doing:

// More descriptive name
var $input = $(".placeholder");
function clearPlaceHolder() {
  if ($input.text().length == 0) {
    $input.empty();
    }
  }

// On each click
$input.keyup(clearPlaceHolder);

// Probably not needed, but just in case
$input.click(clearPlaceHolder);

// Copy/paste/cut events http://stackoverflow.com/q/17796731
$input.bind('input', (clearPlaceHolder));

// Other strange events (javascript modification of value?)
$input.change(clearPlaceHolder);

Finally, the updated JSFiddle