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== Step 2: Creating an Editor Instance == | == Step 2: Creating an Editor Instance == | ||
| − | CKEditor works just like a textarea in your page. | + | CKEditor works just like a textarea element in your page. The editor offers a user interface to easily write, format, and work with rich text, but the same thing could be achieved (though not that easily) with a <code><textarea></code> element, requiring the user to type HTML code inside. |
| − | + | As a matter of fact, CKEditor uses the textarea to transfer its data to the server. The textarea element is invisible to the end user. In order to create an editor instance, you must first add a <code><textarea></code> element to the source code of your HTML page: | |
| − | <source><textarea name="editor1"><p>Initial value.</p></textarea></source> | + | <source><textarea id="editor1" name="editor1"><p>Initial value.</p></textarea></source> |
| − | Note that | + | Note that if you want to load data into the editor, for example from a database, you need to put that data inside the <code><textarea></code> element, just like in the example above. |
| − | In this | + | In this case, the textarea element was named <code>editor1</code>. This name can be used in the server-side code later, when receiving the posted data. |
| − | + | After the <code>textarea</code> element is inserted, we can use the [http://docs.cksource.com/ckeditor_api/ CKEditor JavaScript API] to replace this HTML element with an editor instance. A single JavaScript call is needed for that: | |
<source lang="javascript"><script type="text/javascript"> | <source lang="javascript"><script type="text/javascript"> | ||
CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); | CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); | ||
</script></source> | </script></source> | ||
| − | This script block must be included at any point | + | This script block must be included at any point '''after''' the <code><textarea></code> tag in the source code of the page. You can also call the <code>replace</code> function inside the <code><head></code> section, but in this case you will need to listen for the <code>window.onload</code> event: |
<source lang="javascript"><script type="text/javascript"> | <source lang="javascript"><script type="text/javascript"> | ||
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); | CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); | ||
}; | }; | ||
| − | </script></source> | + | </script></source> |
== Step 3: Saving the Editor Data == | == Step 3: Saving the Editor Data == | ||
Revision as of 13:22, 4 January 2011
Contents
There are several ways to integrate CKEditor into your pages. This page presents the most common way to achieve it.
Step 1: Loading CKEditor
CKEditor is a JavaScript application. To load it, you need to include a single file reference in your page. If you have installed CKEditor in the ckeditor directory for the root of your website, you need to insert the following code fragment into the <head> section of your page:
<head> ... <script type="text/javascript" src="/ckeditor/ckeditor.js"></script> </head>
When the above file is loaded, the CKEditor JavaScript API is ready to be used.
ckeditor.js). If you want to use a different file name, or even merge the CKEditor script into another JavaScript file, refer to the Specifying the Editor Path section of the Developer's Guide first.
Step 2: Creating an Editor Instance
CKEditor works just like a textarea element in your page. The editor offers a user interface to easily write, format, and work with rich text, but the same thing could be achieved (though not that easily) with a <textarea> element, requiring the user to type HTML code inside.
As a matter of fact, CKEditor uses the textarea to transfer its data to the server. The textarea element is invisible to the end user. In order to create an editor instance, you must first add a <textarea> element to the source code of your HTML page:
<textarea id="editor1" name="editor1"><p>Initial value.</p></textarea>
Note that if you want to load data into the editor, for example from a database, you need to put that data inside the <textarea> element, just like in the example above.
In this case, the textarea element was named editor1. This name can be used in the server-side code later, when receiving the posted data.
After the textarea element is inserted, we can use the CKEditor JavaScript API to replace this HTML element with an editor instance. A single JavaScript call is needed for that:
<script type="text/javascript"> CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); </script>
This script block must be included at any point after the <textarea> tag in the source code of the page. You can also call the replace function inside the <head> section, but in this case you will need to listen for the window.onload event:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function()
{
CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' );
};
</script>
Step 3: Saving the Editor Data
As previously described, the editor works just like a <textarea> field. So, when submitting a form containing an editor instance, its data will be simply posted, using the textarea name as the key to retrieve it.
For example, following the above example, in PHP we would do something like this:
<?php $editor_data = $_POST[ 'editor1' ]; ?>
Client Side Data Handling
Some applications (like Ajax applications) need to handle all data at the client side, sending it to the server by its own ways. In such case, it's enough to use the CKEditor API to easily retrieve an editor instance data. For example:
<script type="text/javascript"> var editor_data = CKEDITOR.instances.editor1.getData(); </script>
Complete Sample
<html> <head> <title>Sample CKEditor Site</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="/ckeditor/ckeditor.js"></script> </head> <body> <form method="post"> <p> My Editor:<br /> <textarea name="editor1"><p>Initial value.</p></textarea> <script type="text/javascript"> CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' ); </script> </p> <p> <input type="submit" /> </p> </form> </body> </html>