Question

I have a <td> which I am turning into a textArea once I click on a button. This works fine. I also have a characterCounterEdit function which also works. The only thing is the character counter only works when I click the cursor in the textarea. I want to trigger the character counter function soon as I jump into the editCommentToggle().

JavaScript:

function editCommentToggle( id )
{
    theRow = document.getElementById("id"+id);
    //user = theRow.cells[0].innerHTML;
    //date = theRow.cells[1].innerHTML;
    com = theRow.cells[2].innerText ;


    idx = 2;
    maxlength = 250;

        // Comment field
        cell = theRow.cells[idx];
        while( cell.childNodes.length > 0 ) cell.removeChild(cell.childNodes[0]);

        spanTag = document.createElement("span"); 
        spanTag.innerHTML = "You have <strong><span id='commentsCounter'>"+maxlength+"</span></strong> characters left.<br/>"; 
        cell.appendChild(spanTag);
        element = document.createElement("textarea");
        element.id="commentsTextArea-"+id;
        element.rows="3";
        element.value = com;
        element.style.width = "400px";
        element.maxLength = "250";
        element.onfocus = element.onkeydown = element.onkeyup = function(){return characterCounterEdit('commentsCounter', maxlength, this);}; 
        cell.appendChild(element);

        $(function()
                {
                    setTimeout("syncCommentTableSizes()",0);    <%-- Run after HTC code --%>
                });

    // Actions field
    cell = theRow.cells[++idx];
    while( cell.childNodes.length > 0 ) cell.removeChild(cell.childNodes[0]);

    link = document.createElement("a");
    link.href = 'javascript:saveComment('+id+')';

    element = document.createElement( "img" );
    element.className = "smallicon edit"; // check if we need this changed
    element.src="../images/icon_save.gif";
    element.border="0";
    element.alt = "Save";

    link.appendChild( element );

    cell.appendChild(link);
    cell.appendChild( document.createTextNode("  ") );

    link = document.createElement("a");
    link.href = 'javascript:cancelCommentEdit('+id+')';

    element = document.createElement( "img" );
    element.className = "smallicon delete"; // check if we need this changed
    element.src="../images/icon_cancel.gif";
    element.border="0";
    element.alt = "Cancel";

    link.appendChild(element);
    cell.appendChild(link);
}



function characterCounterEdit(id, maxLen, inputElement)
{
    spanId = document.getElementById(id);

    if (spanId)
    {
        // Update the counter the user sees.
        var whatIsLeft = maxLen - inputElement.value.length;

        if ( whatIsLeft < 0 ) whatIsLeft = 0;
        spanId.innerText = whatIsLeft;
    }

    // Restrict user from entering more than the maxlen.
    if ( inputElement.value.length > maxLen )
    {
        inputElement.value = inputElement.value.substring( 0, maxLen );
    }
}

Answer 1

Why not just call the required method inside the editCommentToggle(). You seem to suggest this is what you want to do, but im not really sure why you haven’t done it?

function editCommentToggle( id )
{
   //code to get the element here first as pointed out by a comment below.

   characterCounterEdit('commentsCounter', maxlength, element);

   .... rest of the function

}