When you insert a line break into the text it counts as two characters and the remaining character counter goes down by 2.
However for each line break you have it is then possible to go into negative for a character.

So if I have 5 line breaks my remaining character count can go down to -5.

Note that this is independent of the "warning" option for the plugin, which I have hacked to 0 instead of 10.

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#12 MaxLength_line_breaks_1761480_12_D7.patch1.94 KBtim@lammar.be
#9 maxlength-line-breaks-1761480-9-D7.patch1.52 KBtmcfarlin4
#5 line_breaks_in_text-1761480.patch426 bytesundertext

Comments

leksat’s picture

leksat commented

I made some research on the topic. And, yes, there is a problem with line breaks because they are browser/OS depended. The JavaScript code tries to solve the issue, but all it did - it counts all line breaks ("\r\n", "\r", or "\n") as two symbols.

We don't actually care about how many characters will be stored in the database. So, my suggestion is to count all type of line breaks as one character on both PHP and JavaScript sides. That will be more user friendly.

If this is sufficient, I will create a patch.

rooby’s picture

rooby commented

Sounds logical to me.

sgurlt’s picture

sgurlt commented

Subscribing !

rooby’s picture

rooby commented

@sg88:
You can subscribe to issues by clicking the "Follow" button at the top right of the issue.

undertext’s picture

undertext commented
StatusFileSize
new line_breaks_in_text-1761480.patch426 bytes
brandy.brown’s picture

brandy.brown commented

supplied patch doesn't change anything for me.

juagarc4’s picture

juagarc4 commented
Issue summary: View changes

Sounds logical to me too.
Supplied patch works for me.
Thanks.

kungfu4’s picture

kungfu4 commented

So, one thing I've noticed that is related to this (patch or no patch) if you do a simple line break (shift-return), when you type another character after doing that, it is not counted. Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks

tmcfarlin4’s picture

tmcfarlin4 commented
StatusFileSize
new maxlength-line-breaks-1761480-9-D7.patch1.52 KB
tmcfarlin4’s picture

tmcfarlin4 commented

#9 is quick and dirty, someone can clean it up, but this addresses #8 & seems to be more robust.

tmcfarlin4’s picture

tmcfarlin4 commented
Status: Active » Needs review
tim@lammar.be’s picture

tim@lammar.be commented
StatusFileSize
new MaxLength_line_breaks_1761480_12_D7.patch1.94 KB

I fixed it by forcing to count each format of line ending as 2 characters (as the browser forces the POST data to use \r\n).
Next I force stop an enter press if the remaining character count < 2 (otherwise the remaining will be -1).

woutervu’s picture

woutervu commented

I think it can be argued whether or not a negative remaining character counter or force stopping an enter press are welcome features. However I do agree with @Leksat that line breaks should be counted as one character. As to not further pollute this issue, I've created a seperate issue with a patch included: https://www.drupal.org/project/maxlength/issues/3043450#comment-13040630

cedewey’s picture

cedewey
he/him
Primary language English
Location Denver, CO
commented
Status: Needs review » Closed (won't fix)

We are only maintaining the Drupal 7 version of the module for critical security fixes, so I'm marking this Closed (works as designed). Thank you everyone for working on this issue. If you do want to maintain the Drupal 7 version, do reach out. We'd be happy to bring you on board as a maintainer.

I also encourage you, if you haven't already, to upgrade your site to Drupal 8/9. We are actively maintaining that version and you would enjoy all of the other features of the latest version of Drupal.