Can I return a string into an input type: text field onkeypress?

Question

I have a sentence defined as a list(a string? an array?- I'm not sure the correct term) that I want returned sequentially as any key is pressed. I'm trying to use .split. Here is the list and function:

var list1 = "This is a test".replace(/\s/g, "\xA0").split("")
function transformTypedChar(charStr) {
    var position = $("#verse1").text().length;
    if (position >= list1.length) return '';
    else return list1[position];
}

Currently, the "T" from the beginning of the list is returned repeatedly, and the rest of the list is ignored. I'm calling the function as follows:

document.getElementById("verse1").onkeypress = function(evt) {
    var val = this.value;
    evt = evt || window.event;

     // Ensure we only handle printable keys, excluding enter and space
    var charCode = typeof evt.which == "number" ? evt.which : evt.keyCode;
    if (charCode && charCode > 32) {
        var keyChar = String.fromCharCode(charCode);

           // Transform typed character
        var mappedChar = transformTypedChar(keyChar);

        var start, end;
        if (typeof this.selectionStart == "number" && typeof this.selectionEnd ==   
   "number") {
            // Non-IE browsers and IE 9
            start = this.selectionStart;
            end = this.selectionEnd;
            this.value = val.slice(0, start) + mappedChar + val.slice(end);

            // Move the caret
            this.selectionStart = this.selectionEnd = start + 1;
        } else if (document.selection && document.selection.createRange) {
            // For IE up to version 8
            var selectionRange = document.selection.createRange();
            var textInputRange = this.createTextRange();
            var precedingRange = this.createTextRange();
            var bookmark = selectionRange.getBookmark();
            textInputRange.moveToBookmark(bookmark);
            precedingRange.setEndPoint("EndToStart", textInputRange);
            start = precedingRange.text.length;
            end = start + selectionRange.text.length;

            this.value = val.slice(0, start) + mappedChar + val.slice(end);
            start++;

            // Move the caret
            textInputRange = this.createTextRange();
            textInputRange.collapse(true);
            textInputRange.move("character", start - (this.value.slice(0,   
start).split("\r\n").length - 1));
            textInputRange.select();
        }

        return false;
    }
};

How do I return the entire list, sequentially? In other words, on the first key event the "T" appears, on the second key event, the "h" appears and so on. I can achieve this in contenteditable divs, but I'm using input type: text fields as I want to autotab between.

The entire code is here: http://jsfiddle.net/NAC77/9/

Answer 1

Calling $(el).text() on input elements returns an empty string, you should be calling $(el).val(): http://jsfiddle.net/NAC77/10/