Is there a workaround for IE 6/7 “Unspecified Error” bug when accessing offsetParent

Question

I\'m using jQuery UI\'s draggable and droppable libraries in a simple ASP.NET proof of concept application. This page uses the ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel to do partial page up

Answer 1

This isn't just a jQuery error. I encountered it using ExtJS 4.0.2a on IE8. It seems that IE will almost always stumble on element.getBoundingClientRect() if the element has been replaced in the DOM. Your try/catch hack is pretty much the only way to get around this. I guess the actual solution would be to eventually drop IE < 9 support.

Relevent ExtJS v4.0.2a Source Code (lines 11861-11869):

...
if(el != bd){
    hasAbsolute = fly(el).isStyle("position", "absolute");

    if (el.getBoundingClientRect) {
        b = el.getBoundingClientRect();
        scroll = fly(document).getScroll();
        ret = [Math.round(b.left + scroll.left), Math.round(b.top + scroll.top)];
    } else {
...

With a try/catch fix:

...
if(el != bd){
    hasAbsolute = fly(el).isStyle("position", "absolute");

    if (el.getBoundingClientRect) {
        try {
            b = el.getBoundingClientRect();
            scroll = fly(document).getScroll();
            ret = [Math.round(b.left + scroll.left), Math.round(b.top + scroll.top)];
        } catch(e) {
            ret = [0,0];
        }
    } else {
...