Override browser "Find" feature

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+2 Q:

Override browser "Find" feature

I'm wondering whether it's possible to use JavaScript to intercept or prevent the user from using the browser's "Find" feature to find text on the page. (Trust me, I have a good reason!) I'm guessing the answer is "no," beyond the obvious intercepting Cmd/Ctrl+F.

A second-best solution would be to intercept the text highlighting that the browser performs during a Find. Is there any way to do this, in any browser?

+4 A:

Not without the help of a browser-specific extension I think, if at all. This is a process that is entirely outside the JavaScript context.

Pekka 2010-05-03 19:54:22

And thanks god!

doublep 2010-05-03 19:55:30

You're sure there aren't any events fired when a browser Find highlights some text on the page? In any browser? Since you can copy the selected text to the clipboard, I would think there would be a change in the selected text property somewhere, which you could distinguish from a mouse or keyboard event that would normally select text.

Trevor Burnham 2010-05-04 21:15:23

@Trevor in Firefox, the "find" selection is different from the standard selection. It can not be copy+pasted, nor deleted. I'm 99% sure this is not a normal selection and the selected text property will not change. (I can't test it in depth right now but I'd be surprised if I turned out to be wrong.) In IE 8, though, it looks like the normal selection is manipulated. You may be successful there.

Pekka 2010-05-04 21:22:46

@Trevor Pretty definite for FF, I tested http://api.jquery.com/select/ the example doesn't work in IE either but that may be down to a text input specific behaviour.

Pekka 2010-05-04 21:26:48

+1 A:

If you really, absolutely have to do that - then there's a (really bad) solution: Render the page as an image.

Chris Lercher 2010-05-03 19:59:06

catpcha rules ;)

Jhonny D. Cano -Leftware- 2010-05-03 20:06:07

No, I need to preserve other behaviors; for instance, I want the user to be able to select text with the mouse, and enter text. I just want to avoid them selecting it with Find.

Trevor Burnham 2010-05-04 21:07:09

ansaurus

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Override browser "Find" feature

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