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/Web APIs

DataTransferItem: getAsString() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨November 2016⁩.

The DataTransferItem.getAsString() method invokes the given callback with the drag data item's string data as the argument if the item's kind is a Plain unicode string (i.e., kind is string).

Syntax

getAsString(callbackFn)

Parameters

callbackFn

A callback function that receives following arguments:

data: The DataTransferItem's string data.

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

This example shows the use of the getAsString() method as an inline function in a drop event handler.

function dropHandler(ev) {
  console.log("Drop");
  ev.preventDefault();
  for (const item of ev.dataTransfer.items) {
    if (item.kind === "string" && item.type.match("^text/plain")) {
      // This item is the target node
      item.getAsString((s) => {
        ev.target.appendChild(document.getElementById(s));
      });
    } else if (item.kind === "string" && item.type.match("^text/html")) {
      // Drag data item is HTML
      console.log("… Drop: HTML");
    } else if (item.kind === "string" && item.type.match("^text/uri-list")) {
      // Drag data item is URI
      console.log("… Drop: URI");
    } else if (item.kind === "file" && item.type.match("^image/")) {
      // Drag data item is an image file
      const f = item.getAsFile();
      console.log("… Drop: File");
    }
  }
}

Specifications

Specification
HTML> # dom-datatransferitem-getasstring-dev>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`getAsString`	11	12	50	12	5.1	18	50	≤14	5	1.0	4	5