Keydown event gives incorrrect character count

Question

4.50/5 (2 votes)

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Hi there,
I m using the Keydown event of a multiline text box to call a javascript function which gets the length of the text in the text box and displays it on a label.
But when i type one letter the character count is displayed as 0 and when i type 2 letter it shows 1.
Can anyone please help me understand why it is behaving this way n how i can fix it?

The javascript function

XML

var length = document.getElementById('<%= txtMessage.ClientID %>').value.length;
         document.getElementById('<%= lblChar1.ClientID%>').innerText = length  + " characters of 160 used";

Thank You.
Ann

Posted 8-Jun-11 20:05pm

AnnSJ

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Comments

walterhevedeich 9-Jun-11 2:27am

Are you using master page?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jun-11 2:43am

It does not matter really, it's just the event handler... Please see my code sample -- it works.
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jun-11 2:32am

It's even worse than that. I'm just trying to test it and see strange behavior. My 5 for the question.
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jun-11 2:41am

Oh no, not a big deal -- I found it. Please see my code sample.
--SA

2 solutions

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RakeshMeena · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08T20:30:00

Solution 1

Got your problem: You are using KeyDown event which is fired when the key is pressed but till you release the key, the character doesn't become the part of the textbox. Try using KeyUp event instead.
Try below JQuery code:

$(document).ready(function() {
            $("#txtSignature").keyup(function(event) {
                alert($(this).val().length);
            });
        });

Posted 8-Jun-11 20:30pm

RakeshMeena

Updated 8-Jun-11 20:52pm

v2

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jun-11 2:39am

It looks like that is the problem, my 5.
I created a work-around in code and tested it on a simple sample. Please see my solution -- it works correctly.
--SA

AnnSJ 9-Jun-11 2:47am

thanks .. thats sorted..
Now ,there are buttons which allow user to insert text into this text box. But when thathappens, the character count is not updated.
after text is added , I do call the function to recalculate the text box length and display the character count, but it stays the same. It only changes if i press a key after the text insert.
:?

AnnSJ 9-Jun-11 2:51am

sorry.. its was silly mistake from myside.. sorted..thanks for the help.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08T20:38:00

Solution 2

Here is the work-around:

HTML

<html>
   <head>
      <script type="text/javascript"><!--
         function counter(eventInstance) {
            tarea = document.getElementById("tarea");
            output = document.getElementById("output");
            output.innerHTML = tarea.value.length + " typed";
         } //filterOut
      --></script>
   </head>
<body">

<textarea id="tarea" onkeyup="counter(event);" onkeydown="counter(event);"></textarea>
<div id="output" />

</body>
</html>

I tested it — it works correctly.

—SA

Posted 8-Jun-11 20:38pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 8-Jun-11 20:41pm

v3

Comments

AnnSJ 9-Jun-11 2:52am

thank you. i modified my code to a logic similar to urs..

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jun-11 3:10am

I understand. Is your problem solved by now?
Thanks for accepting the answer.
Good luck, call again.
--SA

AnnSJ 9-Jun-11 3:26am

yes...it is ..