capture selected text from inputTextArea primefaces jsf - ajax

Question

I want to capture selected text from inputTextArea on ajax dblclick or select event.How can I do this ?
The code below selects everything in the text area (which I don't want). Thank you very much.
<h:form id="form">
<p:panel header="Select Text">
<h:panelGrid columns="3" cellpadding="5">
<h:outputText value="Text: " />
<p:inputTextarea id="textarea"
value="#{selectedTextBean.selectedText}">
<p:ajax event="select" update="selectedText" />
</p:inputTextarea>
<h:outputText id="selectedText"
value="#{selectedTextBean.selectedText}" />
</h:panelGrid>
</p:panel>
</h:form>
Here is SelectedTextBean
#ManagedBean
#ViewScoped
public class SelectedTextBean {
public SelectedTextBean() {
}
private String selectedText;
public String getSelectedText() {
return selectedText;
}
public void setSelectedText(String selectedText) {
this.selectedText = selectedText;
}
}

Answer 1

You can use this plugin jquery-textrange.
xhtml
<p:inputTextarea onselect="setSelectedText()" />
<p:remoteCommand name="setSelectedTextCommand"
actionListener="#{mainBean.setSelectedText()}"
update="currentSelectedText" />
Selected Text is:
<h:outputText value="#{mainBean.selectedTextInArea}"
id="currentSelectedText" />
<h:outputScript library="js" name="jquery-textrange.js" />
<script>
function setSelectedText() {
var range = $('.ui-inputtextarea').textrange();// general selector
setSelectedTextCommand([{name: 'selectedText', value: range.text}]);
}
</script>
Bean
private String selectedTextInArea;
public void setSelectedText() {
FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
Map map = context.getExternalContext().getRequestParameterMap();
selectedTextInArea = (String) map.get("selectedText");
}
public String getSelectedTextInArea() {
return selectedTextInArea;
}
public void setSelectedTextInArea(String selectedTextInArea) {
this.selectedTextInArea = selectedTextInArea;
}
And Here's a live demo on Primefaces TextArea Selection, and on github.

Answer 2

You can do that sending a parameter to a remote command as follows:
The View
<h:form id="form">
<p:panel header="Select Text">
<h:panelGrid columns="3" cellpadding="5">
<h:outputText value="Text: " />
<h:panelGroup>
<p:inputTextarea id="textarea"
value="#{selectedTextBean.selectedText}" onselect="processSelection();" />
<p:remoteCommand name="sendSelection" actionListener="#{selectedTextBean.onSelect}" update="selectedText" process="#this" />
</h:panelGroup>
<h:outputText id="selectedText"
value="#{selectedTextBean.selectedText}" />
</h:panelGrid>
</p:panel>
</h:form>
<script>
function processSelection() {
var selectedText = (!!document.getSelection) ? document.getSelection() :
(!!window.getSelection) ? window.getSelection() :
document.selection.createRange().text;
sendSelection([{name: 'selectedText', value: selectedText}]);
}
</script>
Note that the text selection changes depending on the browser.
The Bean
import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
#ManagedBean
#ViewScoped
public class SelectedTextBean implements Serializable {
public SelectedTextBean() {
}
private String selectedText;
public void onSelect() {
FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
Map map = context.getExternalContext().getRequestParameterMap();
selectedText = (String) map.get("selectedText");
}
public String getSelectedText() {
return selectedText;
}
public void setSelectedText(String selectedText) {
this.selectedText = selectedText;
}
}