how to prevent JCE from removing/replacing divs on copy/paste

Question

I have tried so many things and I still can't make this work.

In Joomla 2.5.20, with JCE 2.3.4.4, on a Mac, I have the following scenario:

In the editor, I have a set of divs, and if I select them (either visually by dragging the cursor, or via a click in the path) and copy them with cmd + copy, when I paste it (either via the shortcut, or the paste dialog), the pasted content has no <div>'s because these were converted to <br>'s!

One thing I noticed, is that the pasted content in the paste dialog has the divs, so the conversion/stripping is done when placing into the editor, not when copying!

I would like it not to strip the <div> nor convert it to anything else.

I have tried adding div to the "keep tags" (profiles > [my profile] > plugin parameters > clipboard) but that makes it worse, it not only removes the <div> tag but also any other tags.

I am using the super-admin, which doesn't have text filtering, and the JCE profile doesn't have the "cleanup HTML" nor "validate HTML". All other filters in JCE are off (don't strip class attributes, etc).

Anyone has a solution for this?

Answer 1

I understand what you're trying to accomplish, but I don't think you'll find a WYSIWYG that will let you copy text, then re-paste it with the html intact and be confident it will not break. All it takes is for your user to paste the text with their cursor in the wrong spot by one character, and the whole thing goes to pot.

Even using a templater, like NoNumber, the user can destroy it by inserting the template while still inside another div - which, by the way, JCE will force.

There is a balance of careful construction when putting together repeating blocks of data that a user may need to add to, or remove. If you have consistent data, I recommend using a CCK. K2, or Sobipro are the ones I've used. If you have less consistent data, create each block as an article (with a template so when they make a new one, they can just drop a fresh template in), then load that category with a module.

We actually don't want our clients playing in their module areas if at all possible, so we will put their content into an article (when custom html), then load that content into a module with NoNumber Articles Anywhere, then load that module into our layout. If we have to create two columns of content, often each column gets it's own article, and those are then loaded via module into the page to ensure they can't break the structure.

We started doing this because of our move to responsive design and it has made a HUGE difference. We get very few calls from clients who have wrecked their content layouts.

So, I know this isn't a true answer to your question - it's more of a 'if you've reached that point that your layout is too complex for your clients to edit, it's time to rethink how you present that content to your users'.

Answer 2

If you're pasting into the styled view, click on the "Source Code Editor" button.

This will get you a view like this:

Paste the HTML into the location you want.

If find the fullscreen button useful when looking at the source code view as it's not as cramped…