Open Radar

 
Summary:
When creating a selection object in JavaScript on iOS, the native selection UI (selection grabbers and blue box) do not appear. We are using UIWebView to render content that the user will annotate. Without the ability to create a selection that triggers the selection UI we are blocked from allowing the user update and adjust their highlights.

Steps to Reproduce:
http://jsfiddle.net/c6jsa/

Create a javascript Range object, add it to a Selection.

Expected Results:
The blue selection UI with grabbers appears. (UIWebView enters selection mode) The pre-defined selection Range defines the start/end of the grabbers.

Actual Results:
Nothing. The only way to enter selection mode is to long press on text.

The blue selection UI never shows.

Version:
All versions of iOS

Notes:
The desired behavior is to programmatically enter selection mode in UIWebView. Right now, the ONLY way to do that is through a long press gesture on text.

Here's a stackoverflow post where others are desiring the same behavior:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16972655/how-to-programmatically-enter-selection-mode-in-a-uiwebview