Draw a line from one element to multiple elements on click

Question

I'm trying to draw a line from an element [.identifier] to the clicked element [ A, B, C series ]. I'm able to display the line but in the other direction, not sure why it is displaying in such a direction. Here is my fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/SampathPerOxide/u2afymxs/11/ Can someone help me to display a line between ".identifier" and the respective series element?

Expected result on clicking A series: on clicking B series:

$('.seriesli').click(function() {

  function adjustLine(from, to, line) {

    var fT = from.offsetTop + from.offsetHeight / 2;
    var tT = to.offsetTop + to.offsetHeight / 2;
    var fL = from.offsetLeft + from.offsetWidth / 2;
    var tL = to.offsetLeft + to.offsetWidth / 2;

    var CA = Math.abs(tT - fT);
    var CO = Math.abs(tL - fL);
    var H = Math.sqrt(CA * CA + CO * CO);
    var ANG = 180 / Math.PI * Math.acos(CA / H);

    if (tT > fT) {
      var top = (tT - fT) / 2 + fT;
    } else {
      var top = (fT - tT) / 2 + tT;
    }
    if (tL > fL) {
      var left = (tL - fL) / 2 + fL;
    } else {
      var left = (fL - tL) / 2 + tL;
    }

    if ((fT < tT && fL < tL) || (tT < fT && tL < fL) || (fT > tT && fL > tL) || (tT > fT && tL > fL)) {
      ANG *= -1;
    }
    top -= H / 2;

    line.style["-webkit-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-moz-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-ms-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-o-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style.top = top + 'px';
    line.style.left = left + 'px';
    line.style.height = H + 'px';
  }
  adjustLine(
    document.getElementById('div1'),
    document.getElementById('div2'),
    document.getElementById('line')
  );
});

.identifier {
  width: 10px;
  height: 10px;
  background-color: red;
  position: absolute;
  right: 45%;
  top: 50%;
}

.series-div {
  position: absolute;
  right: 5%;
  bottom: 30%;
}

.series-ul li {
  list-style: none;
  color: grey;
  font-size: 1em;
  font-weight: 600;
  border: 2px solid grey;
  display: table;
  padding: 0.3em 0.1em;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 0.5em;
  cursor: pointer;
}

#line {
  position: absolute;
  width: 2px;
  margin-top: -1px;
  background-color: red;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div style="position;relative;">
  <div class="identifier" id="div2"></div>
  <div class="series-div">
    <ul class="series-ul">
      <li class="seriesli" id="div1">A series</li>

      <li class="seriesli">B series</li>
  
      <li class="seriesli">C series</li>
    
    </ul>
  </div>
   <div id="line"></div>
  <img src="https://stat.overdrive.in/wp-content/odgallery/2020/06/57263_2020_Mercedes_Benz_GLS.jpg" class="img-responsive firstcar-detail" style="width: 100%;">

</div>

Can you expand the variable names? Variables like `fT`, `tT`, etc are hard to make sense of. — Pikamander2, Jul 19 '21 at 05:56
Those are just short forms, fT- fromTop, tT - toTop, fL - fromLet, tL - toLeft, etc. I took the code from this answer - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19382872/how-to-connect-html-divs-with-lines/36045181#36045181 — Sampath, Jul 19 '21 at 06:19
Your image is responsive, but the .identifier is positioned absolutely. Is the .identifier supposed to point to a specific point on the car image? — Jeffhowcodes, Jul 19 '21 at 12:50
Yes, the '.identifier' is supposed to point the car front window. — Sampath, Jul 19 '21 at 12:54

Leftium · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-19T13:12:27.857

I fixed your fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/c4ju6a0p/

Code changes:

// Get actual position relative to viewport.
// See https://stackoverflow.com/a/11396681/117030
fromBCR = from.getBoundingClientRect();
toBCR   = to.getBoundingClientRect();

var fT = fromBCR.top + from.offsetHeight / 2;
var tT = toBCR.top + to.offsetHeight / 2;

// Don't add offsetWidth. This connects to the middle, not the left edge.
var fL = fromBCR.left //+ from.offsetWidth / 2;
var tL = toBCR.left + to.offsetWidth / 2;

The problem was the line was being calculated with the incorrect position due to relative positioning. This can be seen more clearly when the relative CSS is commented out: https://jsfiddle.net/vust5nxf/
Also, don't add the offsetWidth if you want the line to go to the left edge.

update: didn't notice the code snippet... applied changes there, too. I also made one more change:

You need to pass the element that was clicked to adjustLine(), otherwise currently the line is drawn between the same two elements every time because the elements are hardcoded with ids.
As a style note: I would move the definition of function adjustLine() outside the click handler. This will make the code easier to read, and the function will only be created once, instead of every time a click is handled.

adjustLine(
  this, // Element that was clicked.
  document.getElementById('div2'),
  document.getElementById('line')
);

$('.seriesli').click(function() {

  function adjustLine(from, to, line) {

    // Get actual position relative to viewport.
    // See https://stackoverflow.com/a/11396681/117030
    fromBCR = from.getBoundingClientRect();
    toBCR   = to.getBoundingClientRect();
    
    var fT = fromBCR.top + from.offsetHeight / 2;
    var tT = toBCR.top + to.offsetHeight / 2;
    
    // Don't add offsetWidth. This connects to the middle, not the left edge.
    var fL = fromBCR.left //+ from.offsetWidth / 2;
    var tL = toBCR.left + to.offsetWidth / 2;

    var CA = Math.abs(tT - fT);
    var CO = Math.abs(tL - fL);
    var H = Math.sqrt(CA * CA + CO * CO);
    var ANG = 180 / Math.PI * Math.acos(CA / H);

    if (tT > fT) {
      var top = (tT - fT) / 2 + fT;
    } else {
      var top = (fT - tT) / 2 + tT;
    }
    if (tL > fL) {
      var left = (tL - fL) / 2 + fL;
    } else {
      var left = (fL - tL) / 2 + tL;
    }

    if ((fT < tT && fL < tL) || (tT < fT && tL < fL) || (fT > tT && fL > tL) || (tT > fT && tL > fL)) {
      ANG *= -1;
    }
    top -= H / 2;

    line.style["-webkit-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-moz-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-ms-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-o-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style["-transform"] = 'rotate(' + ANG + 'deg)';
    line.style.top = top + 'px';
    line.style.left = left + 'px';
    line.style.height = H + 'px';
  }
  adjustLine(
    this, // Element that was clicked.
    document.getElementById('div2'),
    document.getElementById('line')
  );
});

.identifier {
  width: 10px;
  height: 10px;
  background-color: red;
  position: absolute;
  right: 45%;
  top: 50%;
}

.series-div {
  position: absolute;
  right: 5%;
  bottom: 30%;
}

.series-ul li {
  list-style: none;
  color: grey;
  font-size: 1em;
  font-weight: 600;
  border: 2px solid grey;
  display: table;
  padding: 0.3em 0.1em;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 0.5em;
  cursor: pointer;
}

#line {
  position: absolute;
  width: 2px;
  margin-top: -1px;
  background-color: red;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div style="position;relative;">
  <div class="identifier" id="div2"></div>
  <div class="series-div">
    <ul class="series-ul">
      <li class="seriesli" id="div1">A series</li>

      <li class="seriesli">B series</li>
  
      <li class="seriesli">C series</li>
    
    </ul>
  </div>
   <div id="line"></div>
  <img src="https://stat.overdrive.in/wp-content/odgallery/2020/06/57263_2020_Mercedes_Benz_GLS.jpg" class="img-responsive firstcar-detail" style="width: 100%;">

</div>

Hey @Leftium, the code is perfectly working alone, but when I'm trying to integrate the code, the lines are generating at different place, the coordinates of the elements are not identifying properly, I used position relative to parent elements to align few elements, is it because of that the lines are disturbed when I embed the code in my page? Please have a look at my fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/SampathPerOxide/jdyoz3r4/ — Sampath, Jul 20 '21 at 06:50
@Sampath I'm not sure. There were a lot of changes. I suggest starting with the working version, and keep adding one new element at a time to isolate the problem. — Leftium, Jul 20 '21 at 07:10
I tried with working version and added each element and figured out that few div's are causing the issue, I commented out those HTML div's and it's working fine, but not sure why those other div's are causing the issue. Here is the fiddle with commented HTML: https://jsfiddle.net/SampathPerOxide/kqfjvs04/ .Can you check why the lines are disturbing with those div's? — Sampath, Jul 20 '21 at 11:46

Draw a line from one element to multiple elements on click

1 Answers1