Detect left/right-swipe on touch-devices, but allow up/down-scrolling

Question

I need to detect and react to left/right-swipes, but want to give the user the ability to scroll on the same element, so as long as he moves his finger only left/right with a maximum up/down movement of X pixels, it should not scroll, but when he exceeds X, it should scroll.

So what I did is:

var startX, startY, $this = $(this);
function touchmove(event) {
        var touches = event.originalEvent.touches;
        if (touches && touches.length) {
            var deltaX = touches[0].pageX - startX;
            var deltaY = touches[0].pageY - startY;
            if (Math.abs(deltaY) > 50) {
                $this.html('X: ' + deltaX + '<br> Y: ' + deltaY + '<br>TRUE');
                $this.unbind('touchmove', touchmove);
                return true;
            } else {
                $this.html('X: ' + deltaX + '<br> Y: ' + deltaY);
                event.preventDefault();
            }
        }
    }

    function touchstart(event) {
        var touches = event.originalEvent.touches;
        if (touches && touches.length) {
            startX = touches[0].pageX;
            startY = touches[0].pageY;
            $this.bind('touchmove', touchmove);
        }
        //event.preventDefault();
    }

But I doesn't restore the ability to scroll in the "if" case...

Thanks for any tips.

Answer 1

I wrote my own touch handler events.maybe this helps you

it checks for:

fast click : 'fc'

swipe left : 'swl'

swipe right : 'swr'

swipe up : 'swu'

swipe down : 'swd'

each check initializes it's correspondent event.but you can scroll and do whatever else you do normally. you just have some new events.

you need swl swr, I aslo suggest to use fc (fastclick) for click events... it's much faster than normal click.

window.onload = function() {
    (function(d) {
        var
            ce = function(e, n) {
                var a = document.createEvent("CustomEvent");
                a.initCustomEvent(n, true, true, e.target);
                e.target.dispatchEvent(a);
                a = null;
                return false
            },
            nm = true,
            sp = {
                x: 0,
                y: 0
            },
            ep = {
                x: 0,
                y: 0
            },
            touch = {
                touchstart: function(e) {
                    sp = {
                        x: e.touches[0].pageX,
                        y: e.touches[0].pageY
                    }
                },
                touchmove: function(e) {
                    nm = false;
                    ep = {
                        x: e.touches[0].pageX,
                        y: e.touches[0].pageY
                    }
                },
                touchend: function(e) {
                    if (nm) {
                        ce(e, 'fc')
                    } else {
                        var x = ep.x - sp.x,
                            xr = Math.abs(x),
                            y = ep.y - sp.y,
                            yr = Math.abs(y);
                        if (Math.max(xr, yr) > 20) {
                            ce(e, (xr > yr ? (x < 0 ? 'swl' : 'swr') : (y < 0 ? 'swu' : 'swd')))
                        }
                    };
                    nm = true
                },
                touchcancel: function(e) {
                    nm = false
                }
            };
        for (var a in touch) {
            d.addEventListener(a, touch[a], false);
        }
    })(document);
    //EXAMPLE OF USE
    var h = function(e) {
        console.log(e.type, e)
    };
    document.body.addEventListener('fc', h, false); // 0-50ms vs 500ms with normal click
    document.body.addEventListener('swl', h, false);
    document.body.addEventListener('swr', h, false);
    document.body.addEventListener('swu', h, false);
    document.body.addEventListener('swd', h, false);
}

in this case h is my handler for every type of event and i add the handlers to the body.

for what i understand your question you just have to write

YOURELEMENT.addEventListener('swr',YOURSWIPERIGHTFUNCTION,false);
YOURELEMENT.addEventListener('swl',YOURSWIPELEFTFUNCTION,false);

to handle multiple elements and the same function... just add one handler.

so if you have

<ul id="ul"><li>1</li><li>2</li><li>3</li></ul>

you do:

var deleteli=function(e){
    var li=e.target;
    console.log('deleting '+li.textContent);
}
document.getElementById('ul').addEventListener('swl',deleteli,false);

same for fc & swr

there is a bug in ios: don't use alert() .. it will execute 2 times.

Answer 2

There is a "bug" in the accepted answer. If you don't use Chrome on Android but the build in browser or a "webview" (For a html5-hybrid-app) for example, then the swipe is not being detected.

I found out that the event doesn't fire, because of the normal scroll behavior. So adding "e.preventDefault();" in touchmove would fix it or the fix from Eric Fuller in the accepted answer.

It's a nice snipped but in a mobile WebApp or Website this could result in a bad scroll stuttering, because the touch-events are observed the whole time.

So I decided to build something new. It's not as comfortable like to have new event listeners, but it's comfortable enough for my needs and it's performat.

function detectswipe(el,func) {
  swipe_det = new Object();
  swipe_det.sX = 0;
  swipe_det.sY = 0;
  swipe_det.eX = 0;
  swipe_det.eY = 0;
  var min_x = 20;  //min x swipe for horizontal swipe
  var max_x = 40;  //max x difference for vertical swipe
  var min_y = 40;  //min y swipe for vertical swipe
  var max_y = 50;  //max y difference for horizontal swipe
  var direc = "";
  ele = document.getElementById(el);
  ele.addEventListener('touchstart',function(e){
    var t = e.touches[0];
    swipe_det.sX = t.screenX; 
    swipe_det.sY = t.screenY;
  },false);
  ele.addEventListener('touchmove',function(e){
    e.preventDefault();
    var t = e.touches[0];
    swipe_det.eX = t.screenX; 
    swipe_det.eY = t.screenY;    
  },false);
  ele.addEventListener('touchend',function(e){
    //horizontal detection
    if ((((swipe_det.eX - min_x > swipe_det.sX) || (swipe_det.eX + min_x < swipe_det.sX)) && ((swipe_det.eY < swipe_det.sY + max_y) && (swipe_det.sY > swipe_det.eY - max_y)))) {
      if(swipe_det.eX > swipe_det.sX) direc = "r";
      else direc = "l";
    }
    //vertical detection
    if ((((swipe_det.eY - min_y > swipe_det.sY) || (swipe_det.eY + min_y < swipe_det.sY)) && ((swipe_det.eX < swipe_det.sX + max_x) && (swipe_det.sX > swipe_det.eX - max_x)))) {
      if(swipe_det.eY > swipe_det.sY) direc = "d";
      else direc = "u";
    }

    if (direc != "") {
      if(typeof func == 'function') func(el,direc);
    }
    direc = "";
  },false);  
}

myfunction(el,d) {
  alert("you swiped on element with id '"+el+"' to "+d+" direction");
}

To use the function just use it like

detectswipe('an_element_id',myfunction);

detectswipe('an_other_element_id',my_other_function);

If a swipe is detected the function "myfunction" is called with parameter element-id and "l,r,u,d" (left,right,up,down).

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/rvuayqeo/1/

Answer 3

All of these codes need improvement (like most of the codes that you can find on touch manipulation).

When playing with touch event, keep in mind that user have more than one finger , that a touch has an identifier and that touches list represent all current touches on the surface, even touches that have not moved .

So the process is relatively simple:

1. ontouchstart: get the first changed touch (not event.originalEvent.touches property, but event.originalEvent.changedTouches one). Register its identifier with event.originalEvent.changedTouches[0].identifier and touch properties to look for ( pageX / pageY or clientX / clientY that are pretty usefull in combination with DOMElement.getBoundingClientRect() method);

2. ontouchmove: make sure that the current touch is in the changedTouches list with event.originalEvent.changedTouches.identifiedTouch( identifier ) . If it return nothing, that means that the user has moved another touch (not the one you are looking for). Also register touch properties to look for and do whatever you want with.

3. ontouchend: again, you must be sure the current touch is in changedTouches list. Do the job with touch properties and finally discard your current touch identifier.

If you want to do it stronger, consider multiple touches (not only one) to observe.

More information about TouchEvent, TouchList and Touch on: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/Events/Touch_events

Answer 4

Inspired by @cocco I created a better (non-minimized) version:

(function(d) {
    // based on original source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17567696/334451
    var newEvent = function(e, name) {
        // This style is already deprecated but very well supported in real world: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CustomEvent/initCustomEvent
        // in future we want to use CustomEvent function: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CustomEvent/CustomEvent
        var a = document.createEvent("CustomEvent");
        a.initCustomEvent(name, true, true, e.target);
        e.target.dispatchEvent(a);
        a = null;
        return false
    };
    var debug = false; // emit info to JS console for all touch events?
    var active = false; // flag to tell if touchend should complete the gesture
    var min_gesture_length = 20; // minimum gesture length in pixels
    var tolerance = 0.3; // value 0 means pixel perfect movement up or down/left or right is required, 0.5 or more means any diagonal will do, values between can be tweaked

    var sp = { x: 0, y: 0, px: 0, py: 0 }; // start point
    var ep = { x: 0, y: 0, px: 0, py: 0 }; // end point
    var touch = {
        touchstart: function(e) {
            active = true;
            t = e.touches[0];
            sp = { x: t.screenX, y: t.screenY, px: t.pageX, py: t.pageY };
            ep = sp; // make sure we have a sensible end poin in case next event is touchend
            debug && console.log("start", sp);
        },
        touchmove: function(e) {
            if (e.touches.length > 1) {
                active = false;
                debug && console.log("aborting gesture because multiple touches detected");
                return;
            }
            t = e.touches[0];
            ep = { x: t.screenX, y: t.screenY, px: t.pageX, py: t.pageY };
            debug && console.log("move", ep, sp);
        },
        touchend: function(e) {
            if (!active)
                return;
            debug && console.log("end", ep, sp);
            var dx = Math.abs(ep.x - sp.x);
            var dy = Math.abs(ep.y - sp.y);

            if (Math.max(dx, dy) < min_gesture_length) {
                debug && console.log("ignoring short gesture");
                return; // too short gesture, ignore
            }

            if (dy > dx && dx/dy < tolerance && Math.abs(sp.py - ep.py) > min_gesture_length) { // up or down, ignore if page scrolled with touch
                newEvent(e, (ep.y - sp.y < 0 ? 'gesture-up' : 'gesture-down'));
                //e.cancelable && e.preventDefault();
            }
            else if (dx > dy && dy/dx < tolerance && Math.abs(sp.px - ep.px) > min_gesture_length) { // left or right, ignore if page scrolled with touch
                newEvent(e, (ep.x - sp.x < 0 ? 'gesture-left' : 'gesture-right'));
                //e.cancelable && e.preventDefault();
            }
            else {
                debug && console.log("ignoring diagonal gesture or scrolled content");
            }
            active = false;
        },
        touchcancel: function(e) {
            debug && console.log("cancelling gesture");
            active = false;
        }
    };
    for (var a in touch) {
        d.addEventListener(a, touch[a], false);
        // TODO: MSIE touch support: https://github.com/CamHenlin/TouchPolyfill
    }
})(window.document);

Important changes compared to original version by @cocco:

• use event.touches[0].screenX/screenY as the major source of information. The pageX/pageY properties do not correctly represent the movement of touches on screen because if some piece of page scrolls with the touch, it affects the pageX/pageY values, too.
• add minimum gesture length setting
• add tolerance setting for ignoring near diagonal gestures
• ignore the gesture if page content has scrolled with the gesture (inspect difference in pageX/pageY before triggering gesture)
• abort gesture if multiple touches are done during the gesture

Things that would need to be done in the future:

• use CustomEvent() function interface instead of createEvent() method.
• add MSIE compatibility
• maybe configure minimum gesture length for pageX/pageY separate from screenX/screenY ?
• It seems that Chrome's threaded scrolling still causes some problems with scrolling detection if touch movement is too fast. Perhaps wait for next frame before deciding where scrolling has gone before deciding if event should be triggered?

Usage is as follows:

document.body.addEventListener('gesture-right', function (e) {  ... });

or jquery style

$("article").on("gesture-down", function (e) { ... });

Answer 5

Detecting left and right while touch is still moving .

This is done with saving last position and using timeout for erasing last position after touchmove stop.

var currentX;
var lastX = 0;
var lastT;
$(document).bind('touchmove', function(e) {
    // If still moving clear last setTimeout
    clearTimeout(lastT);

    currentX = e.originalEvent.touches[0].clientX;

    // After stoping or first moving
    if(lastX == 0) {
        lastX = currentX;
    }

    if(currentX < lastX) {
        // Left
    } else if(currentX > lastX){
        // Right
    }

    // Save last position
    lastX = currentX;

    // Check if moving is done
    lastT = setTimeout(function() {
        lastX = 0;
    }, 100);
});