Open Select using Javascript/jQuery?

Question

Hello! Is there a way to open a select box using Javascript (and jQuery)?

<select style="width:150px;">
    <option value="1">1</option>
    <option value="2">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc arcu nunc, rhoncus ac dignissim at, rhoncus ac tellus.</option>
    <option value="3">3</option>
</select>

I have to open my select, cause of ie bug. All versions of IE (6,7,8) cut my options. As far as I know, there is no css bugfix for this. At the moment I try to do the following:

var original_width = 0;
var selected_val = false;

if (jQuery.browser.msie) {
    $('select').click(function(){
        if (selected_val == false){
            if(original_width == 0)
                original_width = $(this).width();

            $(this).css({
                'position' : 'absolute',
                'width' : 'auto'
            });
        }else{
            $(this).css({
                'position' : 'relative',
                'width' : original_width
            });
            selected_val = false;
        }
    });

    $('select').blur(function(){
        $(this).css({
            'position' : 'relative',
            'width' : original_width
        });
    });

    $('select').blur(function(){
        $(this).css({
            'position' : 'relative',
            'width' : original_width
        });
    });

    $('select').change(function(){
        $(this).css({
            'position' : 'relative',
            'width' : original_width
        });
    });

    $('select option').click(function(){
        $(this).css({
            'position' : 'relative',
            'width' : original_width
        });

        selected_val = true;
    });

}

But clicking on my select the first time will change the width of the select but I have to click again to open it.

Answer 1

I think that you need to return true from your event handlers (click, blur, etc.) so after your handler executes, the browser continues to propagate the event and open the select.

It is similar with href links, if they have an onclick handler and the handler returns false, the link is not followed (the browser stops the event after your handler executes).

EDIT: Based on your comment and answer, it seems that your handler gets the first chance to execute only after the browser decides to open the box.
I suggest that you try the focus event handler, it might get a chance to run earlier than the click handler and perhaps before the browser actually opens the box. It is also more consistent (applies both to mouse and keyboard navigation).

Answer 2

If you are trying to simulate a left click on the select field I'm not sure that is possible. See here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/360431/can-i-open-a-dropdownlist-using-jquery

If you are trying to expand the width of the select after it is clicked I'll have to do some more digging.

Answer 3

I prefer to set my CSS in a CSS file and then "addClass" but even so, your code (portion)

   $('select').blur(function(){ 
        $(this).css({ 
            'position' : 'relative', 
            'width' : original_width 
        }); 
    }); 

    $('select').blur(function(){ 
        $(this).css({ 
            'position' : 'relative', 
            'width' : original_width 
        }); 
    }); 

seems to be a duplicate

I would make it:

$('select').blur().css({ 
        'position' : 'relative', 
        'width' : original_width 
}); 

Not sure you really even need the .blur() here what with the .change() event (try taking it out see see if that addresses your issue...I use select often on IE and do not seem to have an issue.

Answer 4

Instead of using click, you could use the mousedown handler to capture the mousedown event. mousedown fires before click, so you could call stopPropogation to break the event queue.

Answer 5

Okay, I found another way fixing this problem. Here is the fix:

Please give me feedback! I'm kind of proud on myself ;)

$(document).ready(function() {
    if (jQuery.browser.msie) {
            select_init();
    }
});


function select_init () {
    var selects = $('select');
    for (var i = 0; i < selects.length; i++) {
        _resizeselect.init(selects[i]);
    }
}


var _resizeselect = {
    obj : new Array(),
    init : function (el) {
        this.obj[el] = new resizeselect (el);
    }
}

function resizeselect (el) {

    this.el = el;
    this.p = el.parentNode;
    this.ht = el.parentNode.offsetHeight;
    var obj = this;
    this.set = false;

    el.onmousedown = function () {
        obj.set_select("mousedown");
    }
    el.onblur = function () {
        obj.reset_select("blur");
    }
    el.onchange = function () {
        obj.reset_select("change");
    }

}

resizeselect.prototype.set_select = function (str) {

    if (this.set) {
        this.set = false;
        return;
    }

    this.el.style.width = "auto";
    this.el.style.position = "absolute";
    this.p.style.height = this.ht + "px";
    this.p.style.zIndex = 100;
    this.set = true;
    this.el.focus();
}

resizeselect.prototype.reset_select = function (str) {
    this.el.style.width = "";
    this.el.style.position = "";
    this.p.style.height = "";
    this.p.style.zIndex = 1;
    this.set = false;
    window.focus();
}

Answer 6

First of all, I feel the pain of this limitation in IE - bleh! Just thought I'd also share this as it seems to be working for me. I've taken almost the same approach, but on a per select element. In my case I know which lists could have long data.

Instead of making the select elements absolute, I've kept them inline and wrap them in a DIV with a hidden overflow as appearance needed to be consistent, also it only applies this 'hack' if it is IE and the expanded width is greater than the current width.

To use this for all select boxes you could use something like:

$("select").each(function(){ 
        $(this).IELongDropDown(); 
     });

Or obviously on a per element bases by id. Here's the jquery plugin:

(function($) {
    $.fn.IELongDropDown = function(cln) {
        if (jQuery.browser.msie) { //only IE has problems with long select boxes
            var el = this;
            var previousWidth = el.width();
            var divWrapper = "<div style='padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden;width:"+ previousWidth +"px'></div>";
            el.wrap(divWrapper);
            var newWidth = el.width("auto").width();
            el.width(previousWidth);
            if(newWidth > previousWidth) {
                el.bind("mousedown", function(){ return el.width("auto").focus(); }); 
                el.bind("blur", function(){ return el.width(previousWidth); });
                el.bind("change", function(){ return el.width(previousWidth); });
            }
        }
        return this;
    };
})(jQuery);

Hope this helps someone