How do you simulate typing using jQuery?

Question

Like how the click() can be used to trigger a click event on an element, is there any way to simulate the typing of a string?

Solution 1

Are you looking for a way to trigger the events associated with typing or do you want to append text to a container so that it looks like someone is typing? If you're looking for the events, then @Nick is absolutely correct in suggesting the methods for triggering the event. If the latter, you'll want to use a timer to replace the text/html of the container with successive substrings of your text. You might be able to get a better effect by appending successive span elements containing each letter if the text is very long -- this would reduce flashing as the text gets replaced and the layout changes momentarily.

EDIT: I was going to add an example, but it turns out there's a plugin for that already: jTypeWriter.

Solution 2

You can use these events, depending on what you want:

• .keydown()
• .keypress()
• .keyup()

Solution 3

If you really want to simulate typing (i.e. including triggering the events and appending the text to an input or textarea element), you can use the jQuery simulate extended plugin:
http://j-ulrich.github.com/jquery-simulate-ext

Then you can use

$('input').simulate("key-sequence", {sequence: "This is a test", delay: 10});

to simulate the typing of the text "This is a test" with a 10ms delay between each key press.

Disclaimer: I'm the author of the plugin.

Comments

[Admin]

Thanks for the recommendation, although all I need is for the textarea to be filled up (no need for any animation). I realized I can use innerHTML or what, silly me :)

[Matt]

It looks like jTypeWriter might be dead. At least, I can't find it anywhere. But I came across an alternative jQuery plugin that looks nice: TypeType.

[juan Isaza]

That library is abandoned according to its github page :(. Anyone knows a substitute?