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If there is some greyed out text in a value box which cannot be edited, how do you highlight it so you can copy it to your clipboard?

  • 8 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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At my work, we use Service Now and I open many tickets a day that have fields which I need to copy text from. I cannot select the text to copy however. It is greyed out and unselectable. This picture explains what im talking about

http://s7.postimage.org/pa2dcmzft/Untitled.png

Notice the field where the black box is (Which I put in to block out sensitive information). I want to copy the text in this field to my clipboard. I cannot however select the text. In internet explorer, I am able to select the text (It is also not editable in IE and I dont need it to be)

How can I select the text in firefox?

At my work, we use Service Now and I open many tickets a day that have fields which I need to copy text from. I cannot select the text to copy however. It is greyed out and unselectable. This picture explains what im talking about http://s7.postimage.org/pa2dcmzft/Untitled.png Notice the field where the black box is (Which I put in to block out sensitive information). I want to copy the text in this field to my clipboard. I cannot however select the text. In internet explorer, I am able to select the text (It is also not editable in IE and I dont need it to be) How can I select the text in firefox?

All Replies (8)

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Is this a read-only input field (text area) or a (browse) button with text on it?

Which code do you get if you right-click and choose Inspect?

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I cannot left or right click on the field. I have attached another screenshot with an example of how highlighting works in internet explorer Vs Firefox

http://s9.postimage.org/kipfoijrj/Untitled.png

It appears to be a read only input field (text area)

I will paste some code below which I read from the page source which I believe pertains to the area in question (I do not know much about how this code works)

</script></td></tr><tr><td style="padding:2px 0px 0px;" colspan="2" width="100%"><textarea id="sc_task.user_input" wrap="soft" specialtype="" style="width:100%; overflow:auto; ; ;" name="sc_task.user_input" onblur="this.isFocused=false;" onChange="this.isFocused=false;multiModified(this)" onfocus="this.isFocused=true;" onKeyDown="multiKeyDown(this);"></textarea><script>addRenderEvent(function() {
          var e = gel('sc_task.user_input');
          if (e) {
           // this fixes an obscure bug in IE where textareas don't scroll all the way to the bottom and the text display is truncated.
           // by deferring setting the rowsize, it forces a recalc of the scrollbar and displays correctly
           e.rows = 5;
          }
   
          if (typeof g_form != "undefined") {
           var taHandler = new TextAreaElement('sc_task.user_input');
           g_form.registerHandler('sc_task.user_input', taHandler);
          }
         });</script></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table class="wide" cellspacing="2"><input type="HIDDEN" name="ni.WATERMARK" value="com.glideapp.servicecatalog.VEditor"></input><tr><td colspan="2"><table class="wide"><tr><td class="label_left"><label>Variables<input style="visibility: hidden" name="make_spacing_ok" magic_man="hereere" title=""></input></label></td></tr><tr><td><div id="variable_map" style="visibility:hidden;display:none"><item qname="other_requestdetails" id="b0c0f3054caf40006e6a037aba162efe"></item><item qname="computer_name" id="02c277fa4c1740006e6a037aba162e99"></item></div></td></tr><tr id="spacer_" name="spacer"><td height="10"></td></tr><tr><td><table class="io_table" width="100%"><tr id="label_ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" class="io_label"><td oncontextmenu="return contextQuestionLabel(event, 'b0c0f3054caf40006e6a037aba162efe');" width="100%"><span id="status.ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" class="mandatory_populated" style="margin-left: 1px;" oclass="mandatory_populated">&nbsp;</span><label for="ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad">Request Details</label></td><td align="top"><a id="sizer_minus_ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" tabindex="1" onclick="textareaResizer('ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad', -5);"><img src="images/textarea_minus.gifx" height="9" style="margin-right:4px" width="9"></img></a><a id="sizer_plus_ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" tabindex="1" onclick="textareaResizer('ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad', +5);"><img src="images/textarea_plus.gifx" height="9" style="margin-right:4px" width="9"></img></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table width="100%"></table></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><textarea id="ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" wrap="soft" class="cat_item_option" style="width: 100%" onchange="if (typeof(variableOnChange) == 'function') variableOnChange('ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad')" name="ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad">Please copy the following databases from xxxxxxxxx-A -&gt; xxxxxxxxx-A:

Project2010_TRL_Archive -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Archive
Project2010_TRL_Content -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Content
Project2010_TRL_Draft -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Draft
Project2010_TRL_Published -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Published
Project2010_TRL_Reporting -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Reporting
UMTFinancialServer_TRL -&gt; UMTFinancialServer_Test_TRL
UMTFinancialServer_TRL_Reporting -&gt; UMTFinancialServer_Test_TRL_Reporting

There is enough storage at the following location on the destination: D:\Data\SQLData02\MOSSData02

Please ensure no databases are deleted on the destination</textarea><input value="Please copy the following databases from xxxxxxxx-A -&gt; xxxxxxxx-A:

Project2010_TRL_Archive -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Archive
Project2010_TRL_Content -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Content
Project2010_TRL_Draft -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Draft
Project2010_TRL_Published -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Published
Project2010_TRL_Reporting -&gt; Project2010_Test_TRL_Reporting
UMTFinancialServer_TRL -&gt; UMTFinancialServer_Test_TRL
UMTFinancialServer_TRL_Reporting -&gt; UMTFinancialServer_Test_TRL_Reporting

There is enough storage at the following location on the destination: D:\Data\SQLData02\MOSSData02

Please ensure no databases are deleted on the destination" id="sys_original.ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad" class="cat_item_option" type="HIDDEN" name="sys_original.ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad"></input></td><script>addRenderEvent(function() {
        var e = gel('ni.VEad7ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ad');
        if (e) {
         // this fixes an obscure bug in IE where textareas don't scroll all the way to the bottom and the text display is truncated.
         // by deferring setting the rowsize, it forces a recalc of the scrollbar and displays correctly
         e.rows = 5;
        }
       });</script></tr></table></td></tr><tr id="spacer_" name="spacer"><td height="10"></td></tr><tr><td class="iotd"><table class="io_table" width="100%"><tr id="label_ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae" class="io_label "><td oncontextmenu="return contextQuestionLabel(event, '02c277fa4c1740006e6a037aba162e99');" colspan="2"><span id="status.ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae" class="" style="margin-left: 1px;" oclass="">&nbsp;</span><label for="ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae">Provide computer name</label></td></tr><tr id="label_help_ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae" class="catalog_help"><td class="moreInfo" colspan="2"><a onclick="toggleHelp('ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae')"><img id="img.help_ni.VE217ed47b29d33488bcbac25224e353ae_wrapper" height="12"

Modified by cor-el

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I'm not seeing the code for that specific input field.

Did you try to click in that field or tab to it and press Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C to copy all the text to the clipboard?

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Yes I tried to click into the field. That's the entire issue, that you cannot click into it. You cannot tab into the field, in either IE or firefox.

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You can try to use the DOM Inspector to investigate the code of that input field.

The DOM Inspector (DOMi) has a menu item (Edit > Select Element By Click) and a toolbar button "Find a node to inspect by clicking on it" (left icon on the toolbar in the DOMi).

  • open the browser window in the DOMi (File > Inspect Chrome Document) and choose the first from the list.
  • click the "Find a node to inspect by clicking on it" button and use the keyboard (Alt Tab) or the Task bar to go back to the browser window (do not click in the browser window other than the title bar).
  • click that element with the mouse and keep the button pressed until you see a red border to indicate the the DOMi has located that element in the DOM tree.

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Go here:

https://demo013.service-now.com/navpage.do

Login with:

username: employee Password: employee

Now click on where it says RITM0000012 on the right of the page.

Notice the approval and stage fields? I know these are dropdown boxes, so slightly different from my example, but they are greyed out. You cannot even select the text. In internet explorer you can however. The boxes im having trouble with seem to be setup the same way (just not as dropdowns but as text boxes.

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I selected inspect element with click and am unable to click on the field. I click microscopically next to it and it highlights more than just the text box. See screenshot + detials of what was inspected

http://s7.postimage.org/dx9sbtywb/Capture.png

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That is a disabled Select.
You can't copy the selected option text from a select, either enabled or disabled, but you can do this with JavaScript in the Web Console or a bookmarklet.


javascript:(function(){var e,E,i,t=[];function R(w){try{var e=w.document.querySelectorAll('select'),i,r=1;for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){t.push('Select: '+E.name); t.push('Selected option: '+((A=E.querySelector('option[selected="SELECTED"]'))?A.value:'<none>'));}}catch(e){r=0}return(r)}R(self);var i,x;for(i=0;x=frames[i];++i)R(x);prompt(t.join('\n'),t)})()

<td xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" nowrap="true" class="input_controls">
<input type="hidden" name="sys_original.sc_req_item.approval" id="sys_original.sc_req_item.approval" value="approved" />
<select disabled="true" style="width: 160px;;" name="sys_readonly.sc_req_item.approval" id="sys_readonly.sc_req_item.approval">
 <option value="not requested">Not Yet Requested</option>
 <option value="requested">Requested</option>
 <option selected="SELECTED" value="approved">Approved</option>
 <option value="rejected">Rejected</option>
</select>
<input onchange="onChange('sc_req_item.approval');" style="visibility: hidden; width: 1px;" name="sc_req_item.approval" value="approved" id="sc_req_item.approval" />
</td>