364

I'm using jQuery in my site and I would like to trigger certain actions when a certain div is made visible.

Is it possible to attach some sort of "isvisible" event handler to arbitrary divs and have certain code run when they the div is made visible?

I would like something like the following pseudocode:

$(function() {
  $('#contentDiv').isvisible(function() {
    alert("do something");
  });
});

The alert("do something") code should not fire until the contentDiv is actually made visible.

Thanks.

2

23 Answers 23

197

You could always add to the original .show() method so you don't have to trigger events every time you show something or if you need it to work with legacy code:

Jquery extension:

jQuery(function($) {

  var _oldShow = $.fn.show;

  $.fn.show = function(speed, oldCallback) {
    return $(this).each(function() {
      var obj         = $(this),
          newCallback = function() {
            if ($.isFunction(oldCallback)) {
              oldCallback.apply(obj);
            }
            obj.trigger('afterShow');
          };

      // you can trigger a before show if you want
      obj.trigger('beforeShow');

      // now use the old function to show the element passing the new callback
      _oldShow.apply(obj, [speed, newCallback]);
    });
  }
});

Usage example:

jQuery(function($) {
  $('#test')
    .bind('beforeShow', function() {
      alert('beforeShow');
    }) 
    .bind('afterShow', function() {
      alert('afterShow');
    })
    .show(1000, function() {
      alert('in show callback');
    })
    .show();
});

This effectively lets you do something beforeShow and afterShow while still executing the normal behavior of the original .show() method.

You could also create another method so you don't have to override the original .show() method.

6
  • 7
    EDIT: There is only one downside with this method: You will have to repeat the same "extension" for all methods that reveal the element: show(), slideDown() etc. Something more universal is required to solve this problem for once and all, since its impossible to have "ready" event for delegate() or live().
    – Gelmir
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 17:59
  • 1
    Good, the only problem is that fadeTo function does not work properly after implementing this function
    – Omid
    Commented Nov 11, 2011 at 10:56
  • 10
    Your code does not appear to work with the latest jQuery (1.7.1 at the date of this comment). I have reworked this solution slightly to work with the latest jQuery: stackoverflow.com/a/9422207/135968
    – mkmurray
    Commented Feb 23, 2012 at 22:15
  • 1
    Can't get that code to work with div visibility triggered by an ajax response. Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 14:39
  • 1
    This one looks faster than @mkmurray: stackoverflow.com/a/30678695/1145224 Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 21:20
116

The problem is being addressed by DOM mutation observers. They allow you to bind an observer (a function) to events of changing content, text or attributes of dom elements.

With the release of IE11, all major browsers support this feature, check http://caniuse.com/mutationobserver

The example code is a follows:

$(function() {
  $('#show').click(function() {
    $('#testdiv').show();
  });

  var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) {
    alert('Attributes changed!');
  });
  var target = document.querySelector('#testdiv');
  observer.observe(target, {
    attributes: true
  });

});
<div id="testdiv" style="display:none;">hidden</div>
<button id="show">Show hidden div</button>

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script>

10
  • 3
    It's a pity that IE does not support it yet. caniuse.com/mutationobserver -> To see the browsers that support it.
    – ccsakuweb
    Commented Jul 12, 2013 at 8:55
  • 3
    This does indeed work, and I don't need to support legacy browsers so is perfect! I'br added a JSFiddle proof of the answer here: jsfiddle.net/DanAtkinson/26URF Commented Jul 26, 2013 at 15:13
  • works well in chrome but doesn't work in blackberry 10 cascade webview (if anyone else cares ;) ) Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 16:11
  • 3
    This doesn't seem to work if the visibility change is caused by an attribute change in an ancestor of the one being monitored.
    – Michael
    Commented May 12, 2016 at 23:35
  • 4
    This does not seem to work in Chrome 51, not sure why. Running the above code and pressing button, no alert.
    – Kris
    Commented Jul 1, 2016 at 13:41
81

There is no native event you can hook into for this however you can trigger an event from your script after you have made the div visible using the .trigger function

e.g

//declare event to run when div is visible
function isVisible(){
   //do something

}

//hookup the event
$('#someDivId').bind('isVisible', isVisible);

//show div and trigger custom event in callback when div is visible
$('#someDivId').show('slow', function(){
    $(this).trigger('isVisible');
});
6
  • 51
    My limitation here is that I don't necessarily have access to the code that show()'s my div. So I would not be able to actually call the trigger() method. Commented Aug 4, 2009 at 3:49
  • 11
    The JS was provided by a development team outside my organization. It's also something of a "black box", so we don't want to modify that code if possible. It may be our only choice though. Commented Aug 4, 2009 at 17:01
  • you can always stamp over their js functions with your own implementation. Sounds grim however!
    – redsquare
    Commented Aug 4, 2009 at 17:33
  • 12
    @redsquare: What if show() is called from multiple places other than the code block discussed above? Commented Sep 9, 2011 at 15:16
  • 1
    For this example, you should change the function name to onIsVisible because the use of "isVisible" a little ambiguous right now. Commented Feb 15, 2015 at 1:33
27

You can use jQuery's Live Query plugin. And write code as follows:

$('#contentDiv:visible').livequery(function() {
    alert("do something");
});

Then everytime the contentDiv is visible, "do something" will be alerted!

4
  • Well dang, that works. I had thought about it and rejected it as unlikely to work, without trying it. Should have tried it. :)
    – neminem
    Commented Jul 25, 2016 at 15:42
  • 2
    Didn't work for me. I get error "livequery is not a function". Tried with both "jquery-1.12.4.min.js" and "jquery-3.1.1.min.js" Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 6:29
  • 2
    @Paul: It is a plugin
    – Christian
    Commented Jan 26, 2017 at 23:08
  • This may slow down your website considerably! The livequery plugin performs fast polling on the attributes, rather than using modern efficient methods such as DOM mutation observers. So I'd prefer the solution of @hegemon: stackoverflow.com/a/16462443/19163 (and use polling only as a fallback for old IE versions) – vog 1 hour ago
    – vog
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 5:09
19

redsquare's solution is the right answer.

But as an IN-THEORY solution you can write a function which is selecting the elements classed by .visibilityCheck (not all visible elements) and check their visibility property value; if true then do something.

Afterward, the function should be performed periodically using the setInterval() function. You can stop the timer using the clearInterval() upon successful call-out.

Here's an example:

function foo() {
    $('.visibilityCheck').each(function() {
        if ($(this).is(':visible')){
            // do something
        }
    });
}

window.setInterval(foo, 100);

You can also perform some performance improvements on it, however, the solution is basically absurd to be used in action. So...

7
  • 5
    not good form to use an implied func inside setTimeout/setInterval. Use setTimeout(foo, 100)
    – redsquare
    Commented Aug 4, 2009 at 0:01
  • 1
    I have to hand it to you, this is creative, albeit nasty. And it was just quick and dirty enough to do the trick for me in an IE8-compliant way. Thank you!
    – JD Smith
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 2:15
  • or display:none?
    – Michael
    Commented May 12, 2016 at 22:32
  • Please don't do this. This is such a terrible solution
    – Frank Z.
    Commented Feb 18, 2023 at 14:35
  • @FrankZ. Well, that's known information from the answer itself: the solution is basically absurd to be used in action.
    – sepehr
    Commented Feb 22, 2023 at 11:20
13

The following code (pulled from http://maximeparmentier.com/2012/11/06/bind-show-hide-events-with-jquery/) will enable you to use $('#someDiv').on('show', someFunc);.

(function ($) {
  $.each(['show', 'hide'], function (i, ev) {
    var el = $.fn[ev];
    $.fn[ev] = function () {
      this.trigger(ev);
      return el.apply(this, arguments);
    };
  });
})(jQuery);
2
  • 8
    This worked perfectly for me, but it's important to note that the function breaks chaining on the show and hide functions, which breaks a lot of plugins. Add a return in front of el.apply(this, arguments) to fix this.
    – jaimerump
    Commented Dec 16, 2013 at 23:55
  • This is what I was looking for! The return needs to be added as in the comment from @jaimerump Commented Jan 20, 2014 at 15:02
9

If you want to trigger the event on all elements (and child elements) that are actually made visible, by $.show, toggle, toggleClass, addClass, or removeClass:

$.each(["show", "toggle", "toggleClass", "addClass", "removeClass"], function(){
    var _oldFn = $.fn[this];
    $.fn[this] = function(){
        var hidden = this.find(":hidden").add(this.filter(":hidden"));
        var result = _oldFn.apply(this, arguments);
        hidden.filter(":visible").each(function(){
            $(this).triggerHandler("show"); //No bubbling
        });
        return result;
    }
});

And now your element:

$("#myLazyUl").bind("show", function(){
    alert(this);
});

You could add overrides to additional jQuery functions by adding them to the array at the top (like "attr")

0
9

a hide/show event trigger based on Glenns ideea: removed toggle because it fires show/hide and we don't want 2fires for one event

$(function(){
    $.each(["show","hide", "toggleClass", "addClass", "removeClass"], function(){
        var _oldFn = $.fn[this];
        $.fn[this] = function(){
            var hidden = this.find(":hidden").add(this.filter(":hidden"));
            var visible = this.find(":visible").add(this.filter(":visible"));
            var result = _oldFn.apply(this, arguments);
            hidden.filter(":visible").each(function(){
                $(this).triggerHandler("show");
            });
            visible.filter(":hidden").each(function(){
                $(this).triggerHandler("hide");
            });
            return result;
        }
    });
});
1
  • 2
    should you also check attr and removeAttr too?
    – Andrija
    Commented Jul 13, 2012 at 13:08
6

I had this same problem and created a jQuery plugin to solve it for our site.

https://github.com/shaunbowe/jquery.visibilityChanged

Here is how you would use it based on your example:

$('#contentDiv').visibilityChanged(function(element, visible) {
    alert("do something");
});
1
  • 1
    Polling is not very efficient, and would significantly slow down the browser if that was used for many elements.
    – Cerin
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 1:08
6

What helped me here is recent ResizeObserver spec polyfill:

const divEl = $('#section60');

const ro = new ResizeObserver(() => {
    if (divEl.is(':visible')) {
        console.log("it's visible now!");
    }
});
ro.observe(divEl[0]);

Note that it's crossbrowser and performant (no polling).

1
  • Worked well for detecting each time a table row was shown/hidden unlike others, also a plus is there was no required plugin!
    – BrettC
    Commented Aug 6, 2019 at 16:09
6

Just bind a trigger with the selector and put the code into the trigger event:

jQuery(function() {
  jQuery("#contentDiv:hidden").show().trigger('show');

  jQuery('#contentDiv').on('show', function() {
    console.log('#contentDiv is now visible');
    // your code here
  });
});
1
  • I think this is quite an elegant solution. It worked for me. Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 13:19
3

Use jQuery Waypoints :

$('#contentDiv').waypoint(function() {
   alert('do something');
});

Other examples on the site of jQuery Waypoints.

3
  • 1
    This only works when the item becomes visible due to scrolling and not due to other progmatic changes.
    – AdamJones
    Commented Mar 28, 2014 at 18:19
  • @AdamJones When I'm using keyboard, it works as expected. Ex.: imakewebthings.com/jquery-waypoints/shortcuts/infinite-scroll Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 9:06
  • Terrible, virtually non-existent, documentation. And there doesn't seem to be any way to detect when the item becomes visible on screen. This library only throws an event, so you'll need another library to do the on-screen visibility detection, which makes this useless.
    – Cerin
    Commented Nov 20, 2020 at 17:26
3

I did a simple setinterval function to achieve this. If element with class div1 is visible, it sets div2 to be visible. I know not a good method, but a simple fix.

setInterval(function(){
  if($('.div1').is(':visible')){
    $('.div2').show();
  }
  else {
    $('.div2').hide();
  }      
}, 100);
2

You can also try jQuery appear plugin as mentioned in parallel thread https://stackoverflow.com/a/3535028/741782

2

This support easing and trigger event after animation done! [tested on jQuery 2.2.4]

(function ($) {
    $.each(['show', 'hide', 'fadeOut', 'fadeIn'], function (i, ev) {
        var el = $.fn[ev];
        $.fn[ev] = function () {
            var result = el.apply(this, arguments);
            var _self=this;
            result.promise().done(function () {
                _self.triggerHandler(ev, [result]);
                //console.log(_self);
            });
            return result;
        };
    });
})(jQuery);

Inspired By http://viralpatel.net/blogs/jquery-trigger-custom-event-show-hide-element/

1

There is a jQuery plugin available for watching change in DOM attributes,

https://github.com/darcyclarke/jQuery-Watch-Plugin

The plugin wraps All you need do is bind MutationObserver

You can then use it to watch the div using:

$("#selector").watch('css', function() {
    console.log("Visibility: " + this.style.display == 'none'?'hidden':'shown'));
    //or any random events
});
1

Hope this will do the job in simplest manner:

$("#myID").on('show').trigger('displayShow');

$('#myID').off('displayShow').on('displayShow', function(e) {
    console.log('This event will be triggered when myID will be visible');
});
1

$(function() {
    $(document).click(function (){
        if ($('#contentDiv').is(':visible')) {
            alert("Visible");
        } else {
            alert("Hidden");
        }
    });
});
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="contentDiv">Test I'm here</div>

<button onclick="$('#contentDiv').toggle();">Toggle the div</button>

0

I changed the hide/show event trigger from Catalint based on Glenns idea. My problem was that I have a modular application. I change between modules showing and hiding divs parents. Then when I hide a module and show another one, with his method I have a visible delay when I change between modules. I only need sometimes to liten this event, and in some special childs. So I decided to notify only the childs with the class "displayObserver"

$.each(["show", "hide", "toggleClass", "addClass", "removeClass"], function () {
    var _oldFn = $.fn[this];
    $.fn[this] = function () {
        var hidden = this.find(".displayObserver:hidden").add(this.filter(":hidden"));
        var visible = this.find(".displayObserver:visible").add(this.filter(":visible"));
        var result = _oldFn.apply(this, arguments);
        hidden.filter(":visible").each(function () {
            $(this).triggerHandler("show");
        }); 
        visible.filter(":hidden").each(function () {
            $(this).triggerHandler("hide");
        });
        return result;
    }
});

Then when a child wants to listen for "show" or "hide" event I have to add him the class "displayObserver", and when It does not want to continue listen it, I remove him the class

bindDisplayEvent: function () {
   $("#child1").addClass("displayObserver");
   $("#child1").off("show", this.onParentShow);
   $("#child1").on("show", this.onParentShow);
},

bindDisplayEvent: function () {
   $("#child1").removeClass("displayObserver");
   $("#child1").off("show", this.onParentShow);
},

I wish help

0

One way to do this.
Works only on visibility changes that are made by css class change, but can be extended to watch for attribute changes too.

var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) {
        var clone = $(mutations[0].target).clone();
        clone.removeClass();
                for(var i = 0; i < mutations.length; i++){
                    clone.addClass(mutations[i].oldValue);
        }
        $(document.body).append(clone);
        var cloneVisibility = $(clone).is(":visible");
        $(clone).remove();
        if (cloneVisibility != $(mutations[0].target).is(":visible")){
            var visibilityChangedEvent = document.createEvent('Event');
            visibilityChangedEvent.initEvent('visibilityChanged', true, true);
            mutations[0].target.dispatchEvent(visibilityChangedEvent);
        }
});

var targets = $('.ui-collapsible-content');
$.each(targets, function(i,target){
        target.addEventListener('visibilityChanged',VisbilityChanedEventHandler});
        target.addEventListener('DOMNodeRemovedFromDocument',VisbilityChanedEventHandler });
        observer.observe(target, { attributes: true, attributeFilter : ['class'], childList: false, attributeOldValue: true });
    });

function VisbilityChanedEventHandler(e){console.log('Kaboom babe'); console.log(e.target); }
0

my solution:

; (function ($) {
$.each([ "toggle", "show", "hide" ], function( i, name ) {
    var cssFn = $.fn[ name ];
    $.fn[ name ] = function( speed, easing, callback ) {
        if(speed == null || typeof speed === "boolean"){
            var ret=cssFn.apply( this, arguments )
            $.fn.triggerVisibleEvent.apply(this,arguments)
            return ret
        }else{
            var that=this
            var new_callback=function(){
                callback.call(this)
                $.fn.triggerVisibleEvent.apply(that,arguments)
            }
            var ret=this.animate( genFx( name, true ), speed, easing, new_callback )
            return ret
        }
    };
});

$.fn.triggerVisibleEvent=function(){
    this.each(function(){
        if($(this).is(':visible')){
            $(this).trigger('visible')
            $(this).find('[data-trigger-visible-event]').triggerVisibleEvent()
        }
    })
}
})(jQuery);

example usage:

if(!$info_center.is(':visible')){
    $info_center.attr('data-trigger-visible-event','true').one('visible',processMoreLessButton)
}else{
    processMoreLessButton()
}

function processMoreLessButton(){
//some logic
}
0
$( window ).scroll(function(e,i) {
    win_top = $( window ).scrollTop();
    win_bottom = $( window ).height() + win_top;
    //console.log( win_top,win_bottom );
    $('.onvisible').each(function()
    {
        t = $(this).offset().top;
        b = t + $(this).height();
        if( t > win_top && b < win_bottom )
            alert("do something");
    });
});
-3
<div id="welcometo">Özhan</div>
<input type="button" name="ooo" 
       onclick="JavaScript:
                    if(document.all.welcometo.style.display=='none') {
                        document.all.welcometo.style.display='';
                    } else {
                        document.all.welcometo.style.display='none';
                    }">

This code auto control not required query visible or unvisible control

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