Browser issue Safari iOS 8 - crash when trying to select text to copy

Steve F

Steve F

Well-known member
When trying to select some text to quote or copy Safari crashes then reloads the page. Along with this (may be separate report) sometimes text will not select in post.

This thread I cannot select the text to copy at all.

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/possible-bug-in-post-datawriter.83867/

I would upload a picture of the crash message but can't upload from iPhone or iPad :p

Happening on both of my devices and probably a browser issue but figured I would post.
 
This one?
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Its like a XenForo Strobe Light.. :)
 
iOS 8.0.2 iPad with Retna display.

The copy function does not allow me to select a single word in a message, instead it selects the entire message.
 
iOS 8.0.2 still crashing trying to copy text.

Also still get flickering of the highlight box when quote/reply tooltip is active and trying to adjust a portion to copy. Can only copy entire message like Andy has pointed out.

After removing selection quote/reply tooltip remains.
 

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I can reproduce the flicker/crash with the post in the video (https://xenforo.com/community/threads/independent-transformable-invisible-links.83634/#post-830910). When I initially highlight, it highlights the whole thing (which isn't necessarily correct). When I try to change the selection at the top or bottom, it triggers the issue. Amusingly, clicking away to stop it sometimes causes the browser to scroll to the top of the page on its own (and then crash).

The bad news is that I reproduced it as a guest. The natural expectation would be for this to be related to the selection quoting stuff, but that code doesn't load for a guest.
 
The behavior isn't identical, but I stumbled upon another video demonstrating some selection weirdness/crash:

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It does show the auto scroll behavior with I ran into.
 
We've now generated a reduced test case and it's very simple:
HTML: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">   
    <title>iOS8 selection test</title>
</head>
<body>
       
<div style="color: red">
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam blandit diam tortor, ultricies dictum lorem consectetur vitae.
</div>

Select this text here. It should select the entire block (all text on the page).<br />
<br />
Now try to drag the selection handle up from the bottom or down from the top. It should flicker. Click away and it should crash.

</body>
</html>

It seems to be any situation where a block element is implicitly created by inline content following an explicit block. (Wrapping the black text in a div fixes it; using p tags to surround them fixes it.)

This is being reported to Apple, but there's not a lot that can be done to workaround it as it stands (it would involve very very significant parsing/HTML changes I imagine).
 
Mike said:
We've now generated a reduced test case and it's very simple:
HTML: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">  
    <title>iOS8 selection test</title>
</head>
<body>
      
<div style="color: red">
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam blandit diam tortor, ultricies dictum lorem consectetur vitae.
</div>

Select this text here. It should select the entire block (all text on the page).<br />
<br />
Now try to drag the selection handle up from the bottom or down from the top. It should flicker. Click away and it should crash.

</body>
</html>

It seems to be any situation where a block element is implicitly created by inline content following an explicit block. (Wrapping the black text in a div fixes it; using p tags to surround them fixes it.)

This is being reported to Apple, but there's not a lot that can be done to workaround it as it stands (it would involve very very significant parsing/HTML changes I imagine).
Click to expand...
I guess this still part of the problem why I can't seem to copy certain text or highlight text to quote on iOS 8?
 
Yep.

Even as of iOS 8.3 beta, still no fix for it.

Well, actually, use Chrome. I've given up on Safari. And thankfully most apps now give you the option to choose which Browser links open in... Unless of course your Mail app is the Apple Mail app, of course, in which case, tough luck :)
 
Thanks Chris, tried Chrome a few times and just can't seem to get used to it on my devices but not being able to copy, highlight, ect...is starting to drive me nuts..
 
I felt the same a while back, to be honest. The big thing for me was that whenever I clicked on a URL, it opened in Safari, so ultimately it was just easier to use Safari. Now most of the apps I use regularly have a setting to open links in Chrome (I tend to use Pushover, Outlook, Skype, Slack quite a lot) it feels a lot nicer to use, now, and I'm really not missing Safari. The only time I now use Safari is to check whether they've fixed any of the bugs after each iOS release.
 

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