CKEditor instance already exists

Question

I am using jquery dialogs to present forms (fetched via AJAX). On some forms I am using a CKEditor for the textareas. The editor displays fine on the first load.

Whe

Answer 1

This is the simplest (and only) solution that worked for me:

if(CKEDITOR.instances[editorName])
   delete CKEDITOR.instances[editorName];
CKEDITOR.replace(editorName);

Deleting this entry in the array prevents this form safety check from destroying your application.

destroy() and remove() did not work for me.

Answer 2

I hade the same problem with a jQuery Dialog.

Why destroy the instance if you just want to remove previous data ?

function clearEditor(id)
{
  var instance = CKEDITOR.instances[id];
  if(instance)
  {
    instance.setData( '' );
  }
}

Answer 3

I've had similar issue where we were making several instances of CKeditor for the content loaded via ajax.

CKEDITOR.remove()

Kept the DOM in the memory and didn't remove all the bindings.

CKEDITOR.instance[instance_id].destroy()

Gave the error i.contentWindow error whenever I create new instance with new data from ajax. But this was only until I figured out that I was destroying the instance after clearing the DOM.

Use destroy() while the instance & it's DOM is present on the page, then it works perfectly fine.

Answer 4

function loadEditor(id)
{
    var instance = CKEDITOR.instances[id];
    if(instance)
    {
        CKEDITOR.remove(instance);
    }
    CKEDITOR.replace(id);
}

Answer 5

For those using the jquery "adapter" and having trouble (as I was), as super hackish yet working solution is to do something like this:

// content editor plugin
(function($){
    $.fn.contentEditor = function( params ) {
        var xParams = $.extend({}, $.fn.contentEditor.defaultParams, params);
        return this.each( function() {   
            var $editor = $(this);
            var $params = $.extend({}, xParams, $editor.data());

            // if identifier is set, detect type based on identifier in $editor
            if( $params.identifier.type ) {
                $params.type = $editor.find($params.identifier.type).val();
            }

            $editor.data('type', $params.type);

            // edit functionality
            editButton = $('<button>Edit Content</button>').on('click',function(){
                // content container
                var $cc = $('#' + $editor.data('type'));

                // editor window
                var $ew = $('<form class="editorWindow" />');
                $ew.appendTo('body');

                // editor content
                $ec = $('<textarea name="editorContent" />').val($cc.html());
                $ec.appendTo($ew);
                $ec.ckeditor();


                //$ec.ckeditorGet().setMode('source');


                $ew.dialog({
                    "autoOpen": true,
                    "modal": true,
                    "draggable": false,
                    "resizable": false,
                    "width": 850,
                    "height": 'auto',
                    "title": "Content Editor",
                    "buttons": { 
                        'Save': function() {                            
                            $cc.html( $ec.val() );
                            $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy(); 
                            $ew.remove();
                        },
                        'Cancel / Close': function() { 

                            $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy();                        
                            $ew.remove();
                        }
                    },
                    'close': function() {
                        $ec.ckeditorGet().destroy(); 
                    },
                    'open': function() {
                        $ew.find('a.cke_button_source').click();

                        setTimeout(function(){
                            $ew.find('a.cke_button_source.cke_on').click();
                        }, 500);
                    }
                });

                return false;
            });

            editButton.appendTo( $editor );

        });
    }

    // set default option values
    $.fn.contentEditor.defaultParams = {
        'identifier': {
            'type': 'input[name="type"]'
        }
    };   

})(jQuery);   

$(function(){

    $('form.contentEditor').contentEditor();

});

The key point being this part:

                'open': function() {
                    $ew.find('a.cke_button_source').click();

                    setTimeout(function(){
                        $ew.find('a.cke_button_source.cke_on').click();
                    }, 500);
                }

This fixes the problem with the editor text not being visible the next time you open the dialog. I realise this is very hackish, but considering that most of these are going to be used for admin tools, I don't think that's as big a concern as it normally would be.. and this works, so hopefully it will save someone some time ;)

Answer 6

For this to work you need to pass boolean parameter true when destroying instance:

    var editor = CKEDITOR.instances[name];
    if (editor) { editor.destroy(true); }
    CKEDITOR.replace(name);