asked on

Expand a scrolling Div to fill a table cell?

I would like a scrolling DIV to expand to fill the height of a table cell that is dynamic, but don't know how or if it is even possible. You can take a look at the DIV here:

www.fleer.com

It is right in the middle. If you look, the title line above it, the space in between, and the cell the div is in are located in one table, simplified below.

<table width="159" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
      <td>
      <a href="http:// link here">
      <span class="Title"> Product Name here </span></a>
      </td>
</tr>
<tr>
      <td height="5"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
      <td>
      <div id="Layer1" style="position:absolute; width:200px;      height:90px; overflow:auto; overflow-x:visible;">
            <span class="BodyText"> text here </span>
      </div>
      </td>
</tr>
</table>

It is currently set for a fixed height, but I would like it to be dynamic to fill the cell vertically. Is that possible?

Thanks

Brian

COBOLdinosaur

The CSS standard include a value that should handle this:
style="height:inherit"

Unfortuantely it is not support by IE and is only semi-reliable in browsers that do support it.

I think you will need a scripted solution, so in th ehead of the page put:

<script type="text/javascript">

</script>

And you have another problem. The layer gets out of place when you resize the screen down. You ned to get rid of the absolute position, which should not be necessary anyway.

Cd&

brianlees

ASKER

Hmmm... not quite. I added that to the header and I changed the DIV to this:

<script type="text/javascript">

</script>

<tr>
<td>
<div id="CollectText" style=" width:200px; overflow:auto; overflow-x:visible;">
<span class="BodyText"> text here </span>
</div>
</td>
</tr>

But, it is not displaying correctly. Take a look:

http://www.fleer.com/index2.cfm

COBOLdinosaur

It fills the cell. IF you mean there is a problem because it expands the cell; that is because the cell does not have a size declared so it sizes to the content.

As long as you are going to use tables, especially nested tables, instead more modern approachs you have to be aware that every chang you make can affect other parts of the layout. It is all tied together.

Cd&

brianlees

ASKER

Ah, that was the problem. I don't know how large the cell will be. The table, however, does have a fixed height, as you can see. But the cell is variable because the product name in the cell above can be one or two lines in length.

I guess there aren't any other solutions for this?

COBOLdinosaur

The only solution for this kind of layout, is that something must have a fixed size, and then you can use scripting to calculate and resize everything else. The problem is that the more complex it gets, the more difficult it is to get it to reliably cross-browser and cross-resolution.

Tables are intended for data presentation, not layout control. There are severe limits when you need a flexible layout, and you are locked inside of nested tables.

Cd&

caner_elci

Also you can use expressions for div's height but it will be a Internet Explorer specific solution... I'm not sure if other browsers support expressions for style properties..

Caner

brianlees

ASKER

Can you explain the "expressions" thing? I can try it and browser test.

caner_elci

You can use expression like this:

<div style="width:expression(tableCell.width);">

for more information you can read http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/methods/setexpression.asp

brianlees

ASKER

Hmmm... tried it with height, but it did not work...even in IE.

caner_elci

Well, I think it's because you used it like exactly how I typed.. Check offsetHeight property of table, and you may need to use parseInt().. I'll check it and let you know tomorrow..

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

caner_elci

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