Is there a way to keep execCommand("insertHTML") from removing attributes in chrome?

Question

Context is Chrome 37.0.2062.120 m.

I'm using execCommand to insert html into an editable div. My execCommand call looks like this:

function insertHTML(){
    document.execCommand('insertHTML', false, '<span id="myId">hi</span>');
}

When the editable div looks like this:

<div contenteditable="true">
    some [insertion point] content
</div> 

and I use execCommand to insert html into a contenteditable div, all of the attributes of the HTML are inserted as expected and I end up with this:

<div contenteditable="true">
    some <span id="myId">hi</span> content
</div> 

When, however, I insert the exact same html into this structure:

<div contenteditable="true">
    some content
    <div>more [insertion point] content</div>
</div>

The attributes are removed from the span being inserted and it ends up looking like this:

<div contenteditable="true">
    some content
    <div>more <span style="font-size: 10pt;">hi</span> content</div>
</div>

Is there any way to keep this from happening?

Answer 1

In this particular case I would suggest using Range.insertNode instead, which will give you total control of what gets inserted:

function insertHTML() {
    var sel, range;
    if (window.getSelection && (sel = window.getSelection()).rangeCount) {
        range = sel.getRangeAt(0);
        range.collapse(true);
        var span = document.createElement("span");
        span.id = "myId";
        span.appendChild( document.createTextNode("hi") );
        range.insertNode(span);

        // Move the caret immediately after the inserted span
        range.setStartAfter(span);
        range.collapse(true);
        sel.removeAllRanges();
        sel.addRange(range);
    }
}

function isOrIsAncestorOf(ancestor, descendant) {
  var n = descendant;
  while (n) {
    if (n === ancestor) {
      return true;
    } else {
      n = n.parentNode;
    }
  }
  return false;
}

function nodeContainsSelection(node) {
  var sel, range;
  if (window.getSelection && (sel = window.getSelection()).rangeCount) {
    range = sel.getRangeAt(0);
    return isOrIsAncestorOf(node, range.commonAncestorContainer);
  }
  return false;
}

function insertHTML() {
  var sel, range;
  if (window.getSelection && (sel = window.getSelection()).rangeCount) {
    range = sel.getRangeAt(0);
    range.collapse(true);
    var span = document.createElement("span");
    span.id = "myId";
    span.appendChild( document.createTextNode("hi") );
    range.insertNode(span);

    // Move the caret immediately after the inserted span
    range.setStartAfter(span);
    range.collapse(true);
    sel.removeAllRanges();
    sel.addRange(range);
  }
}

window.onload = function() {
  document.getElementById("inserter").onmousedown = function() {
    var editor = document.getElementById("editor");
    if (nodeContainsSelection(editor)) {
      insertHTML();
      return false;
    }
  };
};

span {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: green;
}

<input type="button" id="inserter" value="Insert span">
<div contenteditable="true" id="editor">
    some content
</div>