Counting the lines in textarea

This takes care of the character issue--just pass the name of the form and field (i.g. form1.text1) ast the lclObject, the maximum number of characters for lclMaxLength, and some user-friendly name for the field for lclCaption.

function textlength(lclObject,lclMaxlength,lclCaption)
{

var lengthvar=0

lengthvar = eval("document.other." + lclObject + ".value.length");
if (lengthvar >lclMaxlength)
     {
     alert("Please limit your response for " +lclCaption + " to approximately " + lclMaxlength/6 +" words!");
     eval('document.' + lclObject + ".focus()") ;
     return false;
     }
return true;
}


As for the number of line breaks, try countin for Line Feed: chr(10) and Enter: chr(13) to see what's going on. I could write some sample code for that if it is not clear.

Fritz the Blank

mplungjan,
I need to specify that it can be either 4 lines with each line only allowed 70 characters.  If the line exceeds 70 characters I need to replace the information with a /n break in between the text closest to the 70th character then recount.  It also must be only 280 characters for the whole textarea field.  I have increased the points to 400.  The reason behind this is because we are writing information to a pdf that has a limited amount of lines and space for each line.  

This is what I tried but did not work
function checkTextArea(boxName, length) {
     var stringLen = boxName.value;
     var newText = "";
     var stripString = "";
     var x=0,y=0,z=0;
     var maxLines = 0;
     var lineCount = 0;
     
     //70 CHAR's = 1 line

     //set stripString = text box value
     stripString = boxName.value;
     
     //Get line returns allowed
     maxLines = parseInt(length/70);
     
     //Check line returns
     for (x = 0; x < stripString.length;x++) {
     
          z += 1;
               
          checkText = stripString.substring(x,x+2);
          if (checkText.indexOf("\n") > 0) {
               y=0;
               lineCount += 1;
               z=0;
          }
     
          if (z > 2) {
               if (y == 70) {
                    y=0;
                    lineCount += 1;
               }
          }
         
          y += 1;
     }

     if ((lineCount) == maxLines) {
          alert("You have exceeded the character limit or line limit for this field.\nIf you continue the information will be truncated on the document.\n\nPlease review the information and make any necessary changes.");
     }
     boxName.value = stripString.substring(0,length);
}

Thanks.

I got it.  The problem I had is that I was forgetting to go back to the first space character.  See
if this works for you.

<SCRIPT>

function checkTextArea() {

stringVal = document.myform.mytext.value

///////////////  First Row  ///////////////////
       

     /////// Grab the first 71 characters  ///////////////
           checkText = stringVal.substring(0,70);
       
 
    /////// Locate the last space before the 70th character  
        getlast = checkText.lastIndexOf(' ',70);
   
    //If the last space is the 71st character then we add
    // the hard return to the end of the 70th characters for the first row

    if(getlast == 70)
    {
       firstrow = stringVal.substring(0,69) + "\n";
 
       // Set the next character to 70 for the second row
       nextchar = 70;
    }
    else
    {
      // If not then take up to the last space
      firstrow = stringVal.substring(0,getlast) + "\n";

      // Set the next character one after the space
      nextchar = getlast + 1;
    }

 //Verify that there are more characters to continue

 if(stringVal.length > nextchar)
 {
  ///////////////  Second Row  ///////////////////
       
     /////// Grab the next 71 characters starting w/ 'nextchar' //////
 
          checkText2 = stringVal.substring(nextchar,nextchar+71);

    /////// Locate the last space before the 70th character  
        getlast2 = checkText2.lastIndexOf(' ',70);

    //If the last space is the 71st character then we add
    // the hard return to the end of the 70th characters for the first row

    if(getlast2 == 70)
    {
       secondrow = checkText2.substring(0,69) + "\n";
 
       // Set the next character to 70 for the second row
       nextchar += 70;
    }
    else
    {
      // If not then take up to the last space
      secondrow = checkText2.substring(0,getlast2) + "\n";

      // Set the next character one after the space
      nextchar += getlast2 + 1;
    }
 }

 //Verify that there are more characters to continue

 if(stringVal.length > nextchar)
 {
  ///////////////  Third Row  ///////////////////
       
     /////// Grab the next 71 characters starting w/ 'nextchar' //////
 
          checkText3 = stringVal.substring(nextchar,nextchar+71);

    /////// Locate the last space before the 70th character  
        getlast3 = checkText3.lastIndexOf(' ',70);

    //If the last space is the 71st character then we add
    // the hard return to the end of the 70th characters for the first row

    if(getlast3 == 70)
    {
       thirdrow = checkText3.substring(0,69) + "\n";
 
       // Set the next character to 70 for the second row
       nextchar += 70;
    }
    else
    {
      // If not then take up to the last space
      thirdrow = checkText3.substring(0,getlast3) + "\n";

      // Set the next character one after the space
      nextchar += getlast3 + 1;
    }
 }

 //Verify that there are more characters to continue

 if(stringVal.length > nextchar)
 {
   ///////////////  Forth Row  ///////////////////
       
     /////// Grab the rest of the string //////

      checkText4 = stringVal.substring(nextchar,stringVal.length);

     //// Make sure the balance of the string does not exceed 70 characters

      if(checkText4.length > 70)
        {
         
        alert("You have exceeded the character limit or line limit for this field.\nIf you continue
the information will be truncated on the document.\n\nPlease review the information and make any necessary
changes.");

         }
        else
        {
         // If 70 or less all is well
         
         fourthrow = checkText4;
        }
 }
alert(firstrow + secondrow + thirdrow + fourthrow);
}

</SCRIPT>

<form name=myform>

<TEXTAREA ROWS=4 COLS=70 NAME="mytext"></TEXTAREA>
<BR>
<INPUT TYPE=button VALUE="CHECK IT" onClick="checkTextArea()">
</form>

I am very busy. Here is what I did so far

<script>
function validate(theForm)  {
  msg ="";
  var count=0;
  var lines=new Array();
  var val = ""+theForm.myTextArea.value;
  if (val.indexOf('\n') !=-1) var lines = val.split('\n');
  else lines[0]=val;
  if (lines[lines.length-1].length==0) lines.length--;
  if (lines.length>4) msg += 'Please enter only 4 lines\nI have\n>'+lines.join('\n>');
  else {

     reformatNeeded = false;  
     for (i=0;i<lines.length;i++) {
        if (lines[i].length>70) {
          reformatNeeded = true;
          break;
        }
     }
     var newLines = new Array();
     count=0;
     var aLine='';
     if (reformatNeeded) {  
        wordsArray = lines.join(' ').split(' ');
        alert(wordsArray)
        for (i=0;i<wordsArray.length;i++) {
           if (aLine.length+1+wordsArray[i].length > 69) {
              newLines[count++]=aLine.substring(1);
              aLine='';
           }
           aLine+=" "+wordsArray[i];
        }
        if (aLine) newLines[count++]=aLine;
     }
     if (newLines.length>4) msg += 'Please enter max 277 chars - (4 lines of approx 70 chars + 3 returns)';
     else {
        alert('reformatting')
        val= newLines.join('\n')
        alert(val)
        theForm.myTextArea.value=val;
        return false;
     }
  }

  if (msg) {
     alert(msg);
     theForm.myTextArea.focus()
     return false;
  }
  return true;
}
</script>
 
</head>
<body>
<form onSubmit="return validate(this)">
<textarea rows=10 cols=100 name="myTextArea"></textarea>
<input type="Submit">
</form>

mplungjan,
This is putting all the javascript in the textbox.  Looks like you are on track to making this correct.  As I had said it needs to be dynamic so we can change the line count.  Looks like I can just change "4" to a variable.  Could you see why it is filling in the textarea with the javascript.  I also updated the points to 400.  I am not sure why it did not work before.

andriv,
This script needs to be dynamic.  Some of the textarea fields might have 5 or 6 lines.

I guess I can only give away 300 points.

I dont know how you want to dynamically set the values but I altered the script to allow easy altering of number of characters and rows:

<SCRIPT>

function checkTextArea() {

// Alter maximum number of rows
var maxrows = 4;

// Alter maximum characters, 0 if no limit
var maxchar = 250;

var linenumb = new Array();

var nextchar = 0;

stringVal = document.myform.mytext.value

// If max character limit, check
if(maxchar > 0)
{
  if(stringVal.length > maxchar)
  {
    alert("You have exceeded the maximum number of characters of " + maxchar);
  }
}


for(i=1;i <= maxrows;i++)
{
/// Check to make sure there are characters left ///

  if((stringVal.length > nextchar) && (i < maxrows))
  {
     
    /////// Grab the 71 characters starting w/ 'nextchar' //////

         checkText = stringVal.substring(nextchar,nextchar+70);

   /////// Locate the last space before the 70th character  
       getlast = checkText.lastIndexOf(' ',70);

   //If the last space is the 71st character then we add
   // the hard return to the end of the 70th characters for the first row

     if(getlast == 70)
     {
      linenumb[i] = checkText.substring(0,69) + "\n";

      // Set the next character to 70 for the second row
      nextchar += 70;
     }
     else
     {
     // If not then take up to the last space
     linenumb[i] = checkText.substring(0,getlast) + "\n";

     // Set the next character one after the space
     nextchar += getlast + 1;
     }
   }
   //set last row
   else if((stringVal.length > nextchar) && (i = maxrows))
   {

     /////// Grab the rest of the string //////

     checkText = stringVal.substring(nextchar,stringVal.length);

    //// Make sure the balance of the string does not exceed 70 characters

     if(checkText.length > 70)
       {
         
       alert("You have exceeded the character limit or line limit for this field.\nIf you continue the information will be truncated on the document.\n\nPlease review the information and make any necessary changes.");

       }
       else
       {
        // If 70 or less all is well
       
        linenumb[i] = checkText;
       }
    }
}
var alltext = ""
// Convert array into a variable

for(i=1;i<=maxrows;i++)
{
if(linenumb[i] != "");
{
alltext += linenumb[i];
}
}

alert(alltext);
}

</SCRIPT>

<form name=myform>

<TEXTAREA ROWS=4 COLS=70 NAME="mytext"></TEXTAREA>
<BR>
<INPUT TYPE=button VALUE="CHECK IT" onClick="checkTextArea()">
</form>

Not sure what you mean by "javascript in the textbox"


<script>
maxLines = 4;
maxChars = 70;
function validate(theForm)  {
 msg ="";
 var count=0;
 var lines=new Array();
 var val = ""+theForm.myTextArea.value;
 if (val.indexOf('\n') !=-1) var lines = val.split('\n');
 else lines[0]=val;
 if (lines[lines.length-1].length==0) lines.length--;
 if (lines.length>4) msg += 'Please enter only '+maxLines+' lines\nI have\n>'+lines.join('\n>');
 else {

    reformatNeeded = false;  
    for (i=0;i<lines.length;i++) {
       if (lines[i].length>=maxChars) {
         reformatNeeded = true;
         break;
       }
    }
    var newLines = new Array();
    count=0;
    var aLine='';
    if (reformatNeeded) {  
       wordsArray = lines.join(' ').split(' ');
       alert(wordsArray)
       for (i=0;i<wordsArray.length;i++) {
          if (aLine.length+1+wordsArray[i].length > maxChars-1) {
             newLines[count++]=aLine.substring(1);
             aLine='';
          }
          aLine+=" "+wordsArray[i];
       }
       if (aLine) newLines[count++]=aLine;
    }
    if (newLines.length>maxLines) msg += 'Please enter max '+(maxLines*maxChars-maxLines)+' chars - ('+maxLines+' lines of approx '+maxChars+' chars + 3 returns)';
    else {
       alert('reformatting')
       val= newLines.join('\n')
       alert(val)
       theForm.myTextArea.value=val;
       return false;
    }
 }

 if (msg) {
    alert(msg);
    theForm.myTextArea.focus()
    return false;
 }
 return true;
}
</script>
 
</head>
<body>
<form onSubmit="return validate(this)">
<textarea rows=10 cols=100 name="myTextArea"></textarea>
<input type="Submit">
</form>

Oops
chars + 3 returns)';

should be

chars + '+maxLines+' returns)';

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Fritz the Blank

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