CSS - Stretch a child div to the full height of its parent that is overflowed

Question

I have a div (container) that is overflowed. It contains a child (layer) that should fill all the available height and width of its parent, including the hidden part. In a real application, the layer is a semi-transparent div that overlaps all the elements inside the container to prevent interaction with them. It also requires the container to be scrollable.

.body{
 height: 200px; 
 overflow-y: auto;  
}
.container{
  position: relative;  
  width: 200px;
  height: 300px;  
  overflow-y: auto;  
}
.layer{
  position: absolute;
  top:0;
  width: inherit;
  height: inherit;
  background: #aaccff99;     
}

<div class="body">
<div class="container">
<div class="layer"></div>
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.
</div>
</div>

As you can see, the layer overlaps its parent only in the visible area. How do I make it fill the entire parent area using only CSS? Thank you in advance.

Base on your code, the parent of the `layer` is `container` and it is currently filling it's parent by inheriting the size of the parent. — Francis G, Aug 20 '21 at 01:19

ProgramistaZaDyche · Answer 1 · 2021-09-12T01:19:59.990

I think that you can remove the layer and just block the selection. There are more ways to do this. More info here and here

.body{
 height: 200px; 
 overflow-y: auto;  
 pointer-events: none;
}
.container{
  position: relative;  
  width: 200px;
  height: 300px;  
  overflow-y: auto;  
  
}
*{
  user-select: none;
}
*::selection {
  background: none;
}
*::-moz-selection {
  background: none;
}

<div class="body">
<div class="container">

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.
</div>
</div>

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 12 '21 at 06:54

As i can see, in your case needs to create another class and wraping the container. Copy all styles from the .container to the .wrapper and into the .container set min-height: 100%. Finally to stretch the .layer add bottom: 0.

.body {
  height: 200px;
  overflow-y: auto;
}
/* New class */
.wrapper {
  width: 200px;
  height: 300px;
  overflow-y: auto;
}
.container {
  position: relative;
  width: inherit; /* changed */ 
  min-height: 100%; /* New line */
  /* height: 300px; */
  /* overflow-y: auto; */
}
.layer {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  bottom: 0; /* New line */
  width: inherit;
  /* height: inherit; */
  background: #aaccff99;
}

    <div class="body">
      <div class="wrapper">
        <div class="container">
          <div class="layer"></div>
          Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece
          of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard
          McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the
          more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the
          cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum
          comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes
          of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of
          ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum
          dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32. The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum
          used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and
          1.10.33 from "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact
          original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>

CSS - Stretch a child div to the full height of its parent that is overflowed

2 Answers2