Re: [cssom] Element size/positioning information

On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com>wrote:

> Element.getRects(<part>)
> - returns an array of boxes, one for each "layout box thing" generated
> by the element, corresponding to the chosen part.  Each box is an
> object exposing top/right/bottom/left/width/height properties, with
> the positions relative to the viewport's top/left.
>
> Element.getRect()
>  - returns the bounding box of all the layout boxes (untransformed) as
> an object exposing top/right/bottom/left/width/height relative to the
> viewport's top/left.
>

Is this intended to be the same as getBoundingClientRect() today?

I'm not sure what's supposed to happen for transformed elements with
> multiple layout box things.  Right now, webkit won't transform inline
> elements, and a box broken across columns does something silly.  We
> may or may need need a getQuads().
>

Even if transforms don't apply to an inline element, you can still transform
a block and then request the quads for an inline element inside that block
and expect something reasonable.

* The 'relativeTo' parameter.  It doesn't seem sensical to return a
> rectangle showing the displacement of one rectangle relative to
> another rectangle; at minimum, the exposed values would mean quite
> different things than in the normal case.  Simon agrees with me that
> this might not be necessary, given that it's pretty simple to just get
> the position of both boxes and subtract their top/left.  If we do want
> it, it should be done through an additional function.
>

That's true for rectangles, but you've eliminated it for quads too, and your
argument doesn't work for quads and general 2D or 3D transforms.

AFAIK getQuads(relativeTo, part) is the most general API, and we'd better
have it because all other APIs lose information. Note that returning
coordinates relative to the viewport is not just inconvenient, it's lossy if
you're working in a DOM subtree of a container with a non-invertible
transform (e.g. a scale by 0).

Rob
-- 
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for
they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true." [Acts 17:11]