dynamically count characters in a textarea as you type

[beary]

Since php seems to be able to do pretty much anything, is it possible for it to calculate the number of characters or words in a textarea as the user types?

Eg. there is a 300 word limit, and as the user types, a box changes the number of words remaining to the user after each word is typed.

[eg. after typing the above sentence, the box would say 272.]

Possible with php?

[pritipshah]

Hey beary

You can put Javascript to call function below the text area.and pass NAME/ID of text area and max limit for the textarea in passing value of that funtion.

Here is a function for count the limit for the text area.

function displaylimit(thename, theid, thelimit){
var theform=theid!=""? document.getElementById(theid) : thename
var limit_text='<b><span id="'+theform.toString()+'">'+thelimit+'</span></b> characters remaining on your input limit'
if (document.all||ns6)
document.write(limit_text)
if (document.all){
eval(theform).onkeypress=function(){ return restrictinput(thelimit,event,theform)}
eval(theform).onkeyup=function(){ countlimit(thelimit,event,theform)}
}
else if (ns6){
document.body.addEventListener('keypress', function(event) { restrictinput(thelimit,event,theform) }, true); 
document.body.addEventListener('keyup', function(event) { countlimit(thelimit,event,theform) }, true); 
}
}

[beary]

Hey beary

You can put Javascript to call function below the text area.and pass NAME/ID of text area and max limit for the textarea in passing value of that funtion.

Here is a function for count the limit for the text area.

Hey pritipshah, Thanks for replying! I must admit I'm much better at php than js. Here's what I have: in the head of the page

<script type="text/javascript">
...your function as given...
</script>

Then I have <textarea name=comments id=counter etc>
Then below that I have

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaS cript" TYPE="TEXT/JAVASCRIPT">
displaylimit(co mments, counter, 100);
</SCRIPT>

But nothing happens. In FF, there's just nothing. In IE6, there's a little yellow thing at the bottom left, which I think means something wrong. I'm sure it's something I've done wrong. Could you point me in the right direction please?

Many thanks,

[RuthC]

Hi beary,

Try This ..

<script language="javascript">
// to set lenth of text area 
function imposeMaxLength(Object, MaxLen)
{
  return (Object.value.length <= (MaxLen));
}
// to display the text areas length 
function len_display(Object,MaxLen,element){
	var len_remain = MaxLen-Object.value.length;
	if(len_remain >=0){
	document.getElementById(element).value=len_remain; }
}
</script>

<textarea class="textarea1" cols="75" rows="10" name="long_desc" onkeypress="return imposeMaxLength(this, 1024);" onKeyUp="len_display(this,1024,'long_len')"></textarea>
<input type="text" id="long_len" value="1024" class="len"> Charecters

Regards
Ruth

[beary]

Hi beary,

Try This ..

<script language="javascript">
// to set lenth of text area 
function imposeMaxLength(Object, MaxLen)
{
  return (Object.value.length <= (MaxLen));
}
// to display the text areas length 
function len_display(Object,MaxLen,element){
	var len_remain = MaxLen-Object.value.length;
	if(len_remain >=0){
	document.getElementById(element).value=len_remain; }
}
</script>

<textarea class="textarea1" cols="75" rows="10" name="long_desc" onkeypress="return imposeMaxLength(this, 1024);" onKeyUp="len_display(this,1024,'long_len')"></textarea>
<input type="text" id="long_len" value="1024" class="len"> Charecters

Regards
Ruth

My goodness that's nice! Thanks heaps Ruth. Exactly what I need. Thanks again.