Drag & Drop on Safari iOS: Won't drag, won't respond to drop on desktop/iPad

Question

I am coding a webpage to be viewed on iPad. It uses Safaris/Webkits drag & drop. I have exactly copied Safari's example drag & drop code but it won't work.

My Problem: The ondrop event is never triggered when I run the webpage (HTML, CSS & Javascript) on Safari Desktop or on Safari on an iPad. On ipad I cannot even drag the elements (the microscope thingie appears & it won't drag when I hold & move my finger over the element). The drag does work on desktop though.

What's going wrong?

The small code example can be found at the very bottom of this page: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/SafariJSProgTopics/DragAndDrop.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
  <title>Drag-and-Drop</title>

  <script>
    <!--
    var dragitem = undefined;

    function setdragitem(item, evt) {
      dragitem = item;
      // alert('item: '+item);
      // item is an HTML DIV element.
      // evt is an event.

      // If the item should not be draggable, enable this next line.
      // evt.preventDefault();

      return true;
    }

    function cleardragitem() {
      dragitem = undefined;
      // alert('item: '+item);
    }

    function dodrag() {
      // alert('item: '+dragitem);
    }

    // This is required---used to tell WebKit that the drag should
    // be allowed.
    function handledragenter(elt, evt) {
      evt.preventDefault();
      return true;
    }

    function handledragover(elt, evt) {
      evt.preventDefault();
      return true;
    }


    function handledragleave(elt, evt) {

    }

    function handledrop(elt, evt) {
      // alert('drop');
      dragitem.style.display = "none";
      var newid = dragitem.id + '_dest';
      var dest = document.getElementById(newid);
      dest.innerHTML = dragitem.innerHTML;
    }


    // -->
  </script>

  <style>
    <!-- .wordbox {
      border: 1px solid black;
      text-align: center;
      width: 50px;
      float: left;
      -webkit-user-drag: element;
      -webkit-user-select: none;
    }
    
    .spacer {
      clear: both;
    }
    
    .target {
      margin-top: 30px;
      padding: 30px;
      width: 70px;
      border: 1px solid black;
      background: #c0c0ff;
      margin-bottom: 30px;
      -webkit-user-drop: element;
    }
    
    .word {
      margin: 30px;
      min-height: 30px;
      border-bottom: 1px solid black;
      width: 50px;
      float: left;
    }
    
    -->
  </style>

</head>

<body>

  <p>Drop words onto target area to put them in their places.</p>

  <div class='wordbox' id='this' ondragstart='setdragitem(this, event);' ondrag='dodrag();' ondragend='cleardragitem();'>This</div>
  <div class='wordbox' id='is' ondragstart='setdragitem(this, event);' ondrag='dodrag();' ondragend='cleardragitem();'>is</div>
  <div class='wordbox' id='a' ondragstart='setdragitem(this, event);' ondrag='dodrag();' ondragend='cleardragitem();'>a</div>
  <div class='wordbox' id='test' ondragstart='setdragitem(this, event);' ondrag='dodrag();' ondragend='cleardragitem();'>test</div>

  <div class='spacer'></div>
  <div class='target' ondragenter='handledragenter(this, event);' ondragover='handledragover(this, event);' ondragleave='handledragleave(this, event);' ondrop='handledrop(this, event);'>TARGET</div>

  <div class='words'>
    <div class='word' id='this_dest'></div>
    <div class='word' id='is_dest'></div>
    <div class='word' id='a_dest'></div>
    <div class='word' id='test_dest'></div>
  </div>


</body>

</html>

Here is the JSFiddle (remember the drag & drop is Webkit so only for Safari-this webpage is for ipad only): https://jsfiddle.net/eyM3y/

i don't get your problem. I have just tested with Chrome (16.0.912.75) Safari (5.1.2 (7534.52.7)), and my iPad running iOS 5.0.1 and it works fine, handledrop is called. What is missing that I can't reproduce this? — Daniel Kurka, Jan 09 '12 at 00:05
@DanielKurka It doesn't work on safari version 5.1.2(7534.52.7). Nor does it work on my ipad. Are u on windows or macOS? — sazr, Jan 09 '12 at 00:14
I don't get what you are trying to accomplish. I get an alert every time I drag something, I just don't get anything in the spaces. — nmagerko, Jan 09 '12 at 00:18
@DanielKurka: I'm on Windows 7 Professional & it doesn't work for me — sazr, Jan 09 '12 at 00:51
This seems to be an unknown bug in some cases: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7002832/safari-5-1-broke-html-native-drag-and-drop Have had the same problem myself, never figure it out. — zatatatata, Jan 09 '12 at 12:23

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 13 '12 at 18:11

9

Working alternative :

Firstly, use jquery UI http://jqueryui.com/demos/ for drag and drop functionality

and then add this script https://github.com/furf/jquery-ui-touch-punch for playing it in Ipad or Iphone.

Hope it helps.

answered Jan 13 '12 at 18:11

Mandeep Pasbola

2,631
2
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50

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 12 '12 at 18:11

Did you read the top of the page you linked to in Apple's documentation? It says:

Note: This technology is supported only on desktop versions of Safari. For iOS, use DOM Touch, described in Handling Events (part of Safari Web Content Guide) and Safari DOM Additions Reference.

DOM Touch link

Safari DOM Additions link

I believe you may want to listen for the touchmove and touchend events instead of on drag and on drop. :)

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 13 '12 at 20:52

1

I had a similar issue with one of my project but it can be resolved by following tutorial: http://popdevelop.com/2010/08/touching-the-web/ . It works for me I hope you will like it.

answered Jan 13 '12 at 20:52

Sam Jelveh

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Drag & Drop on Safari iOS: Won't drag, won't respond to drop on desktop/iPad

3 Answers3

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