Home/ Questions/Q 9170105
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-06-17T15:58:15+00:00

I’m trying to build a simple hangouts app which uses a canvas. The issue

  • 0

I’m trying to build a simple hangouts app which uses a canvas. The issue I have is that whenever I try to get the height and width of the canvas I get 0. When I copy the exact same code in a test file (test.html) everything seems to work fine. This is my code, I’ve put all the css and html in one place to make it easier to read:

<script src="https://hangoutsapi.talkgadget.google.com/hangouts/_/api/hangout.js?v=1.2"> </script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script> 
<div id="canvasDiv"></div>
<style>
#canvasDiv {
    width:100%;
    height:100%;
    position:relative;
}
</style>
<script>
$(window).load(function(){
    var canvasDiv = document.getElementById('canvasDiv'); 
    canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
    canvas.style.width='100%';
    canvas.style.height='100%';
    canvasDiv.appendChild(canvas);
    console.log($('#canvasDiv').height());
    canvas.width = $('#canvasDiv').width();
    canvas.height = $('#canvasDiv').height();

In the previous code the console.log prints 0 in the google hangouts iframe, but prints the correct number in the test file.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Setting percentages is iffy at best. In my experience I much rather prefer just to use a JavaScript function to get the page width and height, and set the div dimensions to pixels, not percents.

    var viewportwidth;
var viewportheight;

function resize() {
    // the more standards compliant browsers (mozilla/netscape/opera/IE7) use window.innerWidth and window.innerHeight

    if (typeof window.innerWidth != 'undefined') {
        viewportwidth = window.innerWidth,
        viewportheight = window.innerHeight
    }

    // IE6 in standards compliant mode (i.e. with a valid doctype as the first line in the document)

    else if (typeof document.documentElement != 'undefined' && typeof document.documentElement.clientWidth != 'undefined' && document.documentElement.clientWidth != 0) {
        viewportwidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth,
        viewportheight = document.documentElement.clientHeight
    }

    // older versions of IE

    else {
        viewportwidth = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].clientWidth,
        viewportheight = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].clientHeight
    }

    canvas.style.width=viewportwidth+"px";
    canvas.style.height=viewportheight+"px";
}

    This function will get the height and width of the browser. Replace your <body> tag with

    <body onload="resize()" onresize="resize()">

    and this function will be called when the page loads and called again every time the page is resized (to update the dimensions of the <div>.) In this way you’ll have actual pixels for the dimensions, not percentages.

    Try it and let me know if you have problems. I’ve used this script many times in my coding history, and it’s become one of my favorites and most used.

    • 0