Selecting text in mobile Safari on iPhone

Posted by Goldy on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Goldy
Published on 2009-12-14T07:18:13Z Indexed on 2010/04/21 17:23 UTC
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I'm trying to make it easy for an iphone user to copy some text to the clipboard in mobile safari. As in the usual "touch-hold-copy". There is a specific bit of text I want to a user to copy. I have full choice of the html markup in which to wrap the text. How can I make it easy, rather than abitrary? For instance:

  • Is there a way to "select all" the text upon touch-down using javascript? Then a user could just continue to touch-hold and then choose copy?

  • Is there a way to bring up the "select all" option? Like you can when typing in a text box? After which they can choose copy?

  • If there's no javascript solution, how can I arrange the html to help Safari select the right bit of text easily? As opposed to just a word, or a wrapping div?

I've tried onFocus="this.select()" for various elements, none seem to work. Also tried onClick.

Those who have tried to port a site that uses ZeroClipboard to the iPhone might have some ideas.

Cheers

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