Truncate text with jQuery based on pixel width

Question

I\'m trying to use jquery to write a fast function that calculates the pixel width of a string on a html page, then truncates the string until it reaches an ideal pixel widt

Answer 1

Thanks, I got it working - but it only works on the first item and stops, does this have to do with the way I'm declaring variables?

here's the current code:

    function constrain(text, original, ideal_width){

    var temp_item = (''+ text +'');
    $(temp_item).appendTo('body');
    var item_width = $('span.temp_item').width();
    var ideal = parseInt(ideal_width);
    var smaller_text = text;

    while (item_width > ideal) {
        smaller_text = smaller_text.substr(0, (smaller_text.length-1));
        $('.temp_item').html(smaller_text);
        item_width = $('span.temp_item').width();
    }

    var final_length = smaller_text.length;

    if (final_length != original) {
        return (smaller_text + '…');
    } else {
        return text;
    }
}