How do you get the rendered height of an element?
Let's say you have a <div> element with some content inside. This content inside is going to stretch the height of the <div>. How do you get the "rendered" height when you haven't explicitly set the height. Obviously, I tried:
var h = document.getElementById('someDiv').style.height;
Is there a trick for doing this? I am using jQuery if that helps.
Try one of:
var h = document.getElementById('someDiv').clientHeight;
var h = document.getElementById('someDiv').offsetHeight;
var h = document.getElementById('someDiv').scrollHeight;
clientHeight includes the height and vertical padding.
offsetHeight includes the height, vertical padding, and vertical borders.
scrollHeight includes the height of the contained document (would be greater than just height in case of scrolling), vertical padding, and vertical borders.
It should just be
$('#someDiv').height();
with jQuery. This retrieves the height of the first item in the wrapped set as a number.
Trying to use
.style.height
only works if you have set the property in the first place. Not very useful!
NON JQUERY since there were a bunch of links using elem.style.height in the top of these answers...
INNER HEIGHT:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element.clientHeight
document.getElementById(id_attribute_value).clientHeight;
OUTER HEIGHT:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement.offsetHeight
document.getElementById(id_attribute_value).offsetHeight;
Or one of my favorite references: http://youmightnotneedjquery.com/
I use this to get the height of an element (returns float):
document.getElementById('someDiv').getBoundingClientRect().height
It also works when you use the virtual DOM. I use it in Vue like this:
this.$refs['some-ref'].getBoundingClientRect().height
For a Vue component:
this.$refs['some-ref'].$el.getBoundingClientRect().height
You can use .outerHeight() for this purpose.
It will give you full rendered height of the element. Also, you don't need to set any css-height of the element. For precaution you can keep its height auto so it can be rendered as per content's height.
//if you need height of div excluding margin/padding/border
$('#someDiv').height();
//if you need height of div with padding but without border + margin
$('#someDiv').innerHeight();
// if you need height of div including padding and border
$('#someDiv').outerHeight();
//and at last for including border + margin + padding, can use
$('#someDiv').outerHeight(true);
For a clear view of these function you can go for jQuery's site or a detailed post here.
it will clear the difference between .height() / innerHeight() / outerHeight()
style = window.getComputedStyle(your_element);
then simply: style.height
Definitely use
$('#someDiv').height() // to read it
or
$('#someDiv').height(newHeight) // to set it
I'm posting this as an additional answer because theres a couple important things I just learnt.
I almost fell into the trap just now of using offsetHeight. This is what happened :
I used the good old trick of using a debugger to 'watch' what properties my element has
I saw which one has a value around the value I was expecting
It was offsetHeight - so I used that.
Then i realized it didnt work with a hidden DIV
I tried hiding after calculating maxHeight but that looked clumsy - got in a mess.
I did a search - discovered jQuery.height() - and used it
found out height() works even on hidden elements
just for fun I checked the jQuery implementation of height/width
Here's just a portion of it :
Math.max(
Math.max(document.body["scroll" + name], document.documentElement["scroll" + name]),
Math.max(document.body["offset" + name], document.documentElement["offset" + name])
)
Yup it looks at BOTH scroll and offset. If that fails it looks even further, taking into account browser and css compatibility issues. In other words STUFF I DONT CARE ABOUT - or want to.
But I dont have to. Thanks jQuery!
Moral of the story : if jQuery has a method for something its probably for a good reason, likely related to compatibilty.
If you haven't read through the jQuery list of methods recently I suggest you take a look.
I think the best way to do this in 2020 is to use vanilla js and getBoundingClientRect().height;
Here's an example
let div = document.querySelector('div');
let divHeight = div.getBoundingClientRect().height;
console.log(`Div Height: ${divHeight}`);
<div>
How high am I? 🥴
</div>
On top of getting height this way, we also have access to a bunch of other stuff about the div.
let div = document.querySelector('div');
let divInfo = div.getBoundingClientRect();
console.log(divInfo);
<div>What else am I? 🥴</div>
I made a simple code that doesn't even need JQuery and probably gonna help some people.
It gets the total height of 'ID1' after loaded and use it on 'ID2'
function anyName(){
var varname=document.getElementById('ID1').offsetHeight;
document.getElementById('ID2').style.height=varname+'px';
}
Then just set the body to load it
<body onload='anyName()'>
document.querySelector('.project_list_div').offsetHeight;
Hm we can get the Element geometry...
var geometry;
geometry={};
var element=document.getElementById(#ibims);
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
this.geometry.top=rect.top;
this.geometry.right=rect.right;
this.geometry.bottom=rect.bottom;
this.geometry.left=rect.left;
this.geometry.height=this.geometry.bottom-this.geometry.top;
this.geometry.width=this.geometry.right-this.geometry.left;
console.log(this.geometry);
How about this plain JS ?
So is this the answer?
"If you need to calculate something but not show it, set the element to visibility:hidden and position:absolute, add it to the DOM tree, get the offsetHeight, and remove it. (That's what the prototype library does behind the lines last time I checked)."
I have the same problem on a number of elements. There is no jQuery or Prototype to be used on the site but I'm all in favor of borrowing the technique if it works. As an example of some things that failed to work, followed by what did, I have the following code:
// Layout Height Get
function fnElementHeightMaxGet(DoScroll, DoBase, elementPassed, elementHeightDefault)
{
var DoOffset = true;
if (!elementPassed) { return 0; }
if (!elementPassed.style) { return 0; }
var thisHeight = 0;
var heightBase = parseInt(elementPassed.style.height);
var heightOffset = parseInt(elementPassed.offsetHeight);
var heightScroll = parseInt(elementPassed.scrollHeight);
var heightClient = parseInt(elementPassed.clientHeight);
var heightNode = 0;
var heightRects = 0;
//
if (DoBase) {
if (heightBase > thisHeight) { thisHeight = heightBase; }
}
if (DoOffset) {
if (heightOffset > thisHeight) { thisHeight = heightOffset; }
}
if (DoScroll) {
if (heightScroll > thisHeight) { thisHeight = heightScroll; }
}
//
if (thisHeight == 0) { thisHeight = heightClient; }
//
if (thisHeight == 0) {
// Dom Add:
// all else failed so use the protype approach...
var elBodyTempContainer = document.getElementById('BodyTempContainer');
elBodyTempContainer.appendChild(elementPassed);
heightNode = elBodyTempContainer.childNodes[0].offsetHeight;
elBodyTempContainer.removeChild(elementPassed);
if (heightNode > thisHeight) { thisHeight = heightNode; }
//
// Bounding Rect:
// Or this approach...
var clientRects = elementPassed.getClientRects();
heightRects = clientRects.height;
if (heightRects > thisHeight) { thisHeight = heightRects; }
}
//
// Default height not appropriate here
// if (thisHeight == 0) { thisHeight = elementHeightDefault; }
if (thisHeight > 3000) {
// ERROR
thisHeight = 3000;
}
return thisHeight;
}
which basically tries anything and everything only to get a zero result. ClientHeight with no affect. With the problem elements I typically get NaN in the Base and zero in the Offset and Scroll heights. I then tried the Add DOM solution and clientRects to see if it works here.
29 Jun 2011,
I did indeed update the code to try both adding to DOM and clientHeight with better results than I expected.
1) clientHeight was also 0.
2) Dom actually gave me a height which was great.
3) ClientRects returns a result almost identical to the DOM technique.
Because the elements added are fluid in nature, when they are added to an otherwise empty DOM Temp element they are rendered according to the width of that container. This get weird, because that is 30px shorter than it eventually ends up.
I added a few snapshots to illustrate how the height is calculated differently.
The height differences are obvious. I could certainly add absolute positioning and hidden but I am sure that will have no effect. I continued to be convinced this would not work!
(I digress further) The height comes out (renders) lower than the true rendered height. This could be addressed by setting the width of the DOM Temp element to match the existing parent and could be done fairly accurately in theory. I also do not know what would result from removing them and adding them back into their existing location. As they arrived through an innerHTML technique I will be looking using this different approach.
* HOWEVER * None of that was necessary. In fact it worked as advertised and returned the correct height!!!
When I was able to get the menus visible again amazingly DOM had returned the correct height per the fluid layout at the top of the page (279px). The above code also uses getClientRects which return 280px.
This is illustrated in the following snapshot (taken from Chrome once working.)
Now I have noooooo idea why that prototype trick works, but it seems to. Alternatively, getClientRects also works.
I suspect the cause of all this trouble with these particular elements was the use of innerHTML instead of appendChild, but that is pure speculation at this point.
offsetHeight, usually.
If you need to calculate something but not show it, set the element to visibility:hidden and position:absolute, add it to the DOM tree, get the offsetHeight, and remove it. (That's what the prototype library does behind the scenes last time I checked).
Sometimes offsetHeight will return zero because the element you've created has not been rendered in the Dom yet. I wrote this function for such circumstances:
function getHeight(element)
{
var e = element.cloneNode(true);
e.style.visibility = "hidden";
document.body.appendChild(e);
var height = e.offsetHeight + 0;
document.body.removeChild(e);
e.style.visibility = "visible";
return height;
}
If you are using jQuery already, your best bet is .outerHeight() or .height(), as has been stated.
Without jQuery, you can check the box-sizing in use and add up various paddings + borders + clientHeight, or you can use getComputedStyle:
var h = getComputedStyle(document.getElementById('someDiv')).height;
h will now be a string like a "53.825px".
And I can't find the reference, but I think I heard getComputedStyle() can be expensive, so it's probably not something you want to call on each window.onscroll event (but then, neither is jQuery's height()).
With MooTools:
$('someDiv').getSize().y
If i understood your question correctly, then maybe something like this would help:
function testDistance(node1, node2) {
/* get top position of node 1 */
let n1Pos = node1.offsetTop;
/* get height of node 1 */
let n1Height = node1.clientHeight;
/* get top position of node 2 */
let n2Pos = node2.offsetTop;
/* get height of node 2 */
let n2Height = node2.clientHeight;
/* add height of both nodes */
let heightTogether = n1Height + n2Height;
/* calculate distance from top of node 1 to bottom of node 2 */
let actualDistance = (n2Pos + n2Height) - n1Pos;
/* if the distance between top of node 1 and bottom of node 2
is bigger than their heights combined, than there is something between them */
if (actualDistance > heightTogether) {
/* do something here if they are not together */
console.log('they are not together');
} else {
/* do something here if they are together */
console.log('together');
}
}
Have you set the height in the css specifically? If you haven't you need to use offsetHeight; rather than height
var h = document.getElementById('someDiv').style.offsetHeight;
I'm having a little trouble with my jQuery/JS code.
Whenever the window resizes, the "stretch" function should be run.
Now, I tried this:
function stretch() {
var stretch_elem = $('.stretch');
if (stretch_elem.length) {
var h = $(document).height() - stretch_elem.offset().top - 70;
stretch_elem.height(h);
}
}
$(window).resize(stretch);
But something strange is happening, when I resize the window. The element I'm stretching is just getting longer and longer, even if I upsize the window and the document height is getting lower.
What am I doing wrong here?
Thanks in advance.
Just fixed it. Had to add stretch_elem.height(0); before setting the new height. Didn't think I needed to do that. But it's working now.
I think I'm going mad!
I'm starting to write a little exercise for myself where I am going to have some divs that I can drag on the rightborder to increase or decrease the Div width. I also have a container Div that has a set width and I'm going to use this to determine a percentage - basically I'm going to be making some kind of bar-chart / histogram that you can edit.
I'm started writing my code and I thought I'd just make sure I could output the percentage.
Here's the perliminary code....
<style>
#container{width:500px;}
#dragDiv{border:1px solid #000;background-color:pink;width:100px;height:100px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="container">
<div id="dragDiv"></div>
</div>
<script>
function dragOneSide(innDiv, outDiv){
if(document.getElementById(innDiv) && document.getElementById(outDiv)){
var iDiv = document.getElementById(innDiv),
oDiv = document.getElementById(outDiv);
// write out the width as a percentage
var iDivWidth = parseInt(iDiv.style.width),
oDivWidth = parseInt(oDiv.style.width);
//alert(document.getElementById("dragDiv").style.width);
iDiv.innerHTML = ((iDivWidth / oDivWidth) * 100);
}
}
window.onload = function(){
dragOneSide("dragDiv", "container");
}
</script>
Now the value in the iDiv was NaN? I found that rather odd. When trying to alert width I was getting a blank, literally an empty string! Rather odd I thought, especially as I wasn't trying to do anything complicated. I used firebug, set a breakpoint and observed the watch window. There was no value for the Div's width. I then put an inline style on the DIV like so...
<div id="container">
<div id="dragDiv" style="width:300px;">Hello World</div>
</div>
and low and behold I was now getting a value for the item! Now I don't like inline styles (who does) however I've never had this problem before and I've been using JavaScript and HTML for years - has anyone got an explaination for this? To retrieve the width not set by CSS do I have to use a different property like clientWidth?
Ps. I haven't included any of the dragging code yet so please don't point that out.
The call to style.width retrieves the style value, which isn't set.
http://jsfiddle.net/EC2HR/
See this example. Yes, you want to use clientWidth in this case.
The simplest way is to use offsetWidth property:
var iDivWidth = parseInt(iDiv.style.offsetWidth),
oDivWidth = parseInt(oDiv.style.offsetWidth);
style.width is a DOM api which returns the width of an element when it's set inline or via the element.style.width = n + "px";
So that it reacts the way you describe it is as designed.
The offsetWidth like ioseb refers to is a DOM api call which returns the amount of horizontal space an element takes up.
Beware of the many inconsistencies between browsers .
PM5544...
I'm trying to get div's width with javascript. Initially div's width is undefined, ie width depends on amount of text on it. Is it possible to get width of this kind of div? I'm trying to do it with following javascript code, but i'm getting width differerent from Chrome console when i'm inspecting div
var mydiv = document.getElementById("error_message");
var curr_width = mydiv.clientWidth;
alert(curr_width);
Thank you for your attention
use offsetWidth
clientWidth is calculated width, offsetWidth is the one in "Chrome inspect element" (i think)
also read the comments :P
While the OP doesn't specify one way or the other, if you happen to have jQuery available, you can always use this:
var curr_width = $('#error_message').width();
I managed to solve the problem! I was trying to create div directly in javascript, without defining div on html body. So inside of tag i've created
<div id="error_message" style="visibility:hidden;"></div>
and it's worked!
Final javascript code is:
document.write("<div id=\"error_message\">Wrong username or password!</div>");
var mydiv = document.getElementById("error_message");
var curr_width = mydiv.offsetWidth;
alert(curr_width);
When writing a Javascript a function that I had gotten help from earlier, which gets the height of an element that is hidden, someone reffered me to the Prototype function getDimensions(). In the example, they set "visibility: hidden; position: absolute; display: block;", which effectively lets us measure what the clientHeight would be if it were being displayed. Then they set it all back and you can go about your business. I haven't used prototype, but I would assume that works fine. However, when I tried to mimic the same function in my own code, the use of "position: absolute;" threw off the measurement. It works fine without it, but its use is what allows us to do this for a split second without skewing the design. My version is below, any idea why it isn't working?
var objStyle = obj[objName].style;
// Record original style values
var visibility = objStyle.visibility;
//var position = objStyle.position;
var display = objStyle.display;
// Modify object for measuring
objStyle.visibility = "hidden";
//objStyle.position = "absolute";
objStyle.display = "block";
// Measure height
height = obj[objName].clientHeight;
// Fix object
objStyle.visibility = visibility;
//objStyle.position = position;
objStyle.display = display;
// Return height
return parseInt(height);
Thanks in advance for your help.
I don't know if it works while invisible, but jQuery has some options here - in particular the height function; worth a look? Based on your example, something like:
height = $(obj[objName]).height();
Are you seeing this only on a cetain browser, or on all browsers? Prototype's getDimensions() does a check for Safari (and possibly other buggy browsers), you should try putting that in your code as well and see if it fixes the issue.
It could also be due to the fact that you're using obj[objName] as opposed to document.getElementById() - AFAIK these will return slightly different objects, which could cause the inconsistency you're seeing.
I usually measure my heights with .offsetHeight, something like:
var h = document.getElementById(divname).offsetHeight;
When I need to measure something, if it has position:absolute;
I usually run into this when I have two columns and one is absolute, and the parent needs to be pushed down by the one that's absolute if that's bigger than the other one. I'll use the offsetHeight to set the parent height if it's bigger that the height of the other column.