javascript pattern to determine when someone is selecting text on a page

Question

I'm looking for a way to determine if someone has selected text on a page.

There are two ways I can see to select text. Double-click on it (which automatically selects the text) or click-and-drag to select text.

jQuery is preferred

This answer might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3731328/on-text-highlight-event — InvisibleBacon, Sep 06 '13 at 20:54
Also this one: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3454152/cross-browser-selection-range-library — RienNeVaPlu͢s, Sep 06 '13 at 20:55

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

0

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

answered Sep 06 '13 at 20:55

Robert

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

In IE and WebKit browsers, there is a selectionchange event that fires on document nodes which sounds like what you want:

document.onselectionchange = function() {
    console.log("Selection changed!");
};

Otherwise, you'll need to detect mouse and key events and inspect the selection object when they fire.

2 Answers2