Get the first and last visible element in a scrollable div

Question

I have list of thumbs in a scrollable div, animated with next/prev button. Each click on "next "button should match the attribute of the first visible element. Each click on "prev" button should give me the attribute of the last visible element.

I don't really know how to mathematically solve that, because the scroll distance is variable when the list ends. Can someone please help me out?

HTML

$<div id="scrollContent">
    <ul id="assetList">
        <li data-asset-id="15201"></li>
        <li data-asset-id="15202"></li>
        <li data-asset-id="15203"></li>
        ...        
    </ul>
</div>
<a class="next" href="#">next</a>
<a class="prev" href="#">prev</a>

jQuery

$('a.next').click(function() {
    var scrollheight = $("#scrollContent").scrollTop();
    $("#scrollContent").animate({scrollTop:scrollheight+375},500,function() {  
        // get "data-asset-id" of first visible element in viewport

    });
});

$('a.prev').click(function() {
    var scrollheight = $("#scrollContent").scrollTop();
    $("#scrollContent").animate({scrollTop:scrollheight-375},500,function() {
        // get "data-asset-id" of last visible element in viewport

    });
});

Check out the fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/desCodLov/77xjD/10/

Thank you.

Answer 1

Is this what your looking for ?? :

var first, last;

$('a.next').click(function() {
    var scrollheight = $("#scrollContent").scrollTop();
    $("#scrollContent").animate({scrollTop:scrollheight+375},500,function() {  
        $("#assetList li").each(function() {
            if ($(this).offset().top == 1 && $(this).offset().left == 0) {
                first = $(this).attr('data-asset-id');
            }
        });
    });
});

$('a.prev').click(function() {
    var scrollheight = $("#scrollContent").scrollTop();
    $("#scrollContent").animate({scrollTop:scrollheight-375},500,function() {
        var Otop = $("#scrollContent").height() - $("#assetList li").height() - parseInt($("#assetList li").css('margin-top'));
        var Oleft = ($("#assetList li").width() + parseInt($("#assetList li").css('margin-right'))) * 3;
        $("#assetList li").each(function() {
            if ($(this).offset().top == Otop && $(this).offset().left == Oleft) {
                last = $(this).attr('data-asset-id');
            }
        });
    });
});

Fiddle : http://jsfiddle.net/77xjD/17/

Answer 2

By visibility, I assume that the element should at least have the upperright corner visible. If you want to only select elements which are fully visible, add or substract the width() and height() values of the element. The basic code is shown below:

var $first, $last,
    $container = $("#assetList"),
    $items = $container.children("li"),
    positions = container.offset(),
    rightside = positions.left + $container.width(),
    bottomside = positions.top + $container.height();
$items.each(function(){
    var $this = $(this),
        position = $this.offset();
               // If <li> top post >= <ul> top
    if ($first && position.top >= positions.top
               // If <li> left >= <ul> left
               && positions.left >= position.left) {
             /* Optionally, add two more conditions, to only accept elememts
                which are fully visible: 
               && positions.top + $this.height() <= bottomside
               && positions.left + $this.width() <= leftside
              */
        $first = this;
    }
    // See previous comments.
    if (position.top < bottomside && position.left < rightside) {
        $last = this;
    }
});
// $first = first visible element, eg [HTMLLiElement]
// $last = last visible element, eg [HTMLLiElement]

Answer 3

I have just updated the solution in your fiddle.

I cached the first li's top and last li's top positions at the initialization time and using them to find out which element is getting the position, when you click on next or previous button.

and ofcourse i have copied the below lines from Rob W's answer.

var $container = $("#assetList"),
$items = $container.children("li"),