Wordpress shortcode preview in tinyMCE - tinymce

I've written a shortcode and its functioning like it should. Now the hard part:
I would like to show the user a preview already in the tinyMCE editor. Loading CSS in the editor is not a problem for me, but i would love to know if it is possible to already process the shortcode within TinyMCE.
Thanks!

Let the code talk:
I'll put a code to add a visual icon for highlight content word(s) shortcode, and you can then implement any other shortcode you want with the same logic,
class spot_shortcodes {
function spot_shortcodes()
{
add_action('init', array(&$this, 'init'));
}
function init(){
// Enable shortcodes in text widgets
add_filter( 'widget_text', 'do_shortcode' );
// Fix for large posts, http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8553
#ini_set( 'pcre.backtrack_limit', 500000 );
// init process for button control
add_filter( 'tiny_mce_version', 'my_refresh_mce');
// Add only in Rich Editor mode
if ( get_user_option('rich_editing') == 'true') {
add_filter('mce_buttons_3', array(&$this, 'register_highlight_button'));
}
}
// Add your button plugin js code to tinyMCE
// codex: wp_register_script( $handle, $src, $deps, $ver, $in_footer );
wp_register_script( 'effects-highlight', SPOT_SHORTCODES_URL . '/js/jquery.effects.highlight.js', false ,SPOT_SHORTCODES_URL, true );
function add_youtube_button() {
// Don't bother doing this stuff if the current user lacks permissions
if ( ! current_user_can('edit_posts') && ! current_user_can('edit_pages') )
return;
// Add only in Rich Editor mode
if ( get_user_option('rich_editing') == 'true') {
add_filter("mce_external_plugins", array(&$this, "add_youtube_tinymce_plugin"));
add_filter('mce_buttons', array(&$this, 'register_highlight_button'));
}
}
// function to register you button to tinyMCE dashboard
function register_highlight_button($buttons) {
array_push($buttons, "|", 'highlight_button');
return $buttons;
}
function add_youtube_tinymce_plugin($plugin_array) {
// your icon image(highlight.png) which will be displayed in the tinyMCE dashboard
$plugin_array['highlight'] = SPOT_TINYMCE_URL . '/icons-lib-custom.js';
return $plugin_array;
}
} // class end
// Finally make an object from your button
$spot_shortcodes = new spot_shortcodes();
Our js code for the highlight button option
make an dot js file put the followin code in it and put it in the tinyMCE plugin directory
// dont forget to change the paths
tinymce.create('tinymce.plugins.highlight', {
// creates control instances based on the control's id.
// our button's id is "highlight_button"
createControl : function(id, controlManageradel) {
if (id == 'highlight_button') {
// creates the button
var button = controlManageradel.createButton('highlight', {
title : 'Add a Hightlight Text', // title of the button
image :spotShortcodes.plugin_folder +"/tinymce/images/highlight.png", // path to the button's image
onclick : function() {
// triggers the thickhighlight
var width = jQuery(window).width(), H = jQuery(window).height(), W = ( 720 < width ) ? 720 : width;
W = W - 80;
H = H - 84;
tb_show( 'Insert text box shortcode', '#TB_inline?width=' + W + '&height=' + H + '&inlineId=highlight-form' );
}
});
return button;
}
return null;
}
});
// registers the plugin. DON'T MISS THIS STEP!!!
tinymce.PluginManager.add('highlight', tinymce.plugins.highlight);
// executes this when the DOM is ready
jQuery(function(){
// creates a form to be displayed everytime the button is clicked
// you should achieve this using AJAX instead of direct html code like this
var form = jQuery('<div id="highlight-form"><table id="highlight-table" class="form-table" style="text-align: left">\
\
\
<tr>\
<th><label class="title" for="highlight-bg">Highlight color</label></th>\
<td><select name="bg" id="highlight-bg">\
<option value="#f02d33">Red</option>\
<option value="#b6bbbd">Grey</option>\
<option value="#3e3c3c">Darkgrey</option>\
<option value="#99cc33">Lightgreen</option>\
<option value="#6c8c2d">Darkgreen</option>\
<option value="#0f5ac6">Blue</option>\
<option value="#3cbcf7">Cyan</option>\
<option value="#9219f8">Purple</option>\
<option value="#fcc016">Yellow</option>\
<option value="#f65e0e">Orange</option>\
</select><br />\
<div class="info"><small>Select box type.</small></div></td>\
</tr>\
<tr>\
<th><label class="title" for="highlight-contet">Conent</label></th>\
<td><textarea rows="7"\ cols="45"name="content" id="highlight-content">hightlight text</textarea>\
<br />\
<div><small>this text displayed in box.</small></div></td>\
</tr>\
</table>\
<p class="submit">\
<input type="button" id="highlight-submit" class="button-primary" value="Insert shortcode" name="submit" style=" margin: 10px 150px 50px; float:left;"/>\
</p>\
</div>');
var table = form.find('table');
form.appendTo('body').hide();
// handles the click event of the submit button
form.find('#highlight-submit').click(function(){
// defines the options and their default values
// again, this is not the most elegant way to do this
// but well, this gets the job done nonetheless
var options = {
'bg' : '#f02d33',
'content' : 'hightlight text',
};
var shortcode = '[highlight ';
for( var index in options) {
var value = table.find('#highlight-' + index).val();
// attaches the attribute to the shortcode only if it's different from the default value
if ( value !== options[index] & index !== 'content')
shortcode += ' ' + index + '="' + value + '"';
}
shortcode += ']'+ value + '[/highlight]'
// inserts the shortcode into the active editor
tinyMCE.activeEditor.execCommand('mceInsertContent', 0, shortcode);
// closes Thickhighlight
tb_remove();
});
});
I hope this help, give me you feedback if you want any more explanation, thanks.

Related

How to access newly created DOM elements in JS? (I have used appendChild)

I am making a to do list. Each list item includes a remove button when created.
But I cannot access these remove buttons in my script, because it is not included in my DOM, although I used '.appendChild'. Can anyone help?
const buttonSubmit = document.querySelector('#button-submit');
const form = document.querySelector('form');
const icons = document.querySelector('#icons');
let toDoList = document.querySelector('#todolist');
const input = document.querySelector('#formtext');
form.addEventListener('submit', (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
const newListItem = document.createElement('li');
newListItem.innerHTML = '<span>' + input.value + '</span>' +
'<span id="icons">' +
'<button id="check" class="buttonlist">' + '<img src="checked.png" alt="">' + '</button>' +
'<button id="remove" class="buttonlist">' + '<img src="remove.png" alt="">' + '</button>' +
'<button id="edit" class="buttonlist">' + '<img src="edit.png" alt="">' + '</button>' + '</span>';
toDoList.appendChild(newListItem);
form.reset();
})
const buttonCheck = document.querySelector('#check');
const buttonEdit = document.querySelector('#edit');
const buttonRemove = document.getElementById('remove');
buttonRemove.addEventListener('click', function() {
alert('remove list item');
})
<div class="container-box">
<h1>To Do List</h1>
<br>
<form action="">
<input type="text" id="formtext" name="formtext">
<button id="button-submit">Add Item</button>
</form>
<br><br><br><br>
<!-- Dynamic list here -->
<ul id="todolist"> </ul>
</div>
Problems
ids must be unique, every time you add a task to the list -- after the first one everything is invalid HTML. When directed to an id the browser will find the first id then stop and ignore the duplicate ids. Use class and/or name attributes for any replicated tags.
The reason why the remove button doesn't work is because the reference to the button was defined when it didn't exist.
Figure I
// After page is loaded...
const buttonRemove = document.getElementById('remove');
// Console will tell you buttonRemove is null
// User has not entered any data nor has user clicked the add button
Moreover, even if that was fixed by referencing the button after it was created, binding it as shown on Figure II will only work for the first button only.
Figure II
buttonRemove.addEventListener('click', function() {
alert('remove list item'); // Don't use alert() use console.log()
})
Solution
Reference tags after they are created. In the OP (Original Post), the contents of the <li> is rendered htmlString which makes referencing newly created tags problematic plus binding to dynamically created tags individually should be avoided if it's feasible and practical in which in most cases it is.
To handle events for an unknown amount of dynamically created tags, bind the event to a static ancestor tag, which in the OP is <ul> or any of it's parent tags (even <body>, document, and window but it's best to be as close as possible). Then make it so the event handler controls which tags respond and how. See Appendix located at the very end of this answer for more details.
There are two examples:
Example A - revised OP code
Example B - a todo list using HTMLFormElement interface, see Appendix
Both examples have commented step-by-step details
Example A
// Reference <form>, <ul>, and <input>
const form = document.querySelector('form');
const list = document.querySelector('ul');
const input = document.querySelector('#text');
// Bind <form> to submit event
form.addEventListener('submit', (e) => {
// Stop default behavior of <form> during submit ecent
e.preventDefault();
// Create <li> and <output>
const item = document.createElement('li');
const out = document.createElement('output');
// Assign value of <input> to the value of <output>
out.value = input.value;
// Add <output> to <li> -- <li> to <ul>
item.append(out);
list.append(item);
/*
Run a for loop 3 times -- on each iteration...
...create an <input> and assign type as "button"...
...buttons [name] and [value] is determined by current index...
...add button to <li>
*/
for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
let btn = document.createElement('input');
btn.type = 'button';
let cmd = i === 0 ? 'done' : i === 1 ? 'edit' : i === 2 ? 'remove' : false;
btn.name = cmd;
btn.value = cmd;
item.append(btn);
}
// Reset <form>
form.reset();
});
// Bind <ul> to click event
list.addEventListener('click', manageList);
// Event handler always passes event object by default
function manageList(e) {
// Reference the tag user clicked
const clk = e.target;
// If user clicked a remove button remove it's parent tag
if (clk.name === 'remove') {
clk.parentElement.remove();
}
if (clk.name === 'edit') {
console.log('EDIT');
}
if (clk.name === 'done') {
console.log('DONE');
}
}
li {
display: flex;
align-items: center
}
[type='button'] {
text-transform: capitalize
}
<form>
<input id="text" name="text" type="text">
<button>Add Item</button>
</form>
<br>
<ul></ul>
Example B
// Bind <form> to click event
document.forms.todo.onclick = taskList;
// Event handler akways passes the event object
function taskList(e) {
// Reference the tag user clicked
const clk = e.target;
// Reference all form controls
const IO = this.elements;
/*
If the user clicked the add button...
...reference the <ul>...
...create <li> and <output>...
...add text from <input> to <output>...
...add <output> to <li>...
...Run a for loop 3 times -- on each iteration...
...create an <button> and assign type as "button"...
...buttons [name] and text is determined by current index...
...add button to <li>...
...add <li> to <ul>...
...clear <input>
*/
if (clk.name == 'add') {
const list = IO.list.firstElementChild;
const item = document.createElement('li');
const text = document.createElement('output');
text.value = IO.data.value;
item.append(text);
for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
let btn = document.createElement('button');
btn.type = 'button';
let cmd = i === 0 ? 'done' : i === 1 ? 'edit' : i === 2 ? 'remove' : false;
btn.name = cmd;
btn.textContent = cmd;
item.append(btn);
}
list.append(item);
IO.data.value = '';
}
/*
If the user clicked a remove button...
...find the <li> ancestor of remove button and remove
it thereby removing the <output> and itself as well
*/
if (clk.name === 'remove') {
clk.closest('li').remove();
}
if (clk.name === 'done') {
console.log('DONE');
}
if (clk.name === 'edit') {
console.log('EDIT');
}
}
<form id='todo'>
<input id='data' required><button name='add' type='button'>Add</button>
<fieldset id='list'>
<ul></ul>
</fieldset>
</form>
Appendix
Events
Event delegation
HTMLFormElement
HTMLFormControlsCollection
Form Controls

how to add next and prev button to element with the inline property

I am trying to create a web-based ## e-exam app ## . Rather than having about 40 questions displayed at time,I want the questions to be displayed one at a time,then use navigation button to navigate through and fro. Tried using the class="fancybox-buttons" in each div tag containing each question, but it's not working
Just create a hidden field for each question with the question's URI as a value. Have that read by a JS function invoked by an onclick() event. Name the html pages by the question number, e.g., 1.html, 2.html, etc.
For the first question, insert:
<input type='hidden' value='1' id='question'/>
For the nav buttons,
<input type='button' value='Prev' onclick="getPrevious(document.getElementById('question');"/>
<input type='button' value='Next' onclick="getNext(document.getElementById('question');"/>
For the JS:
<script>
function getPrevious(question) {
if( question.value == 1 ) {
return;
} else {
window.location = (question.value - 1) + ".html";
}
}
function getNext(question) {
if( question.value == 40 ) {
return;
} else {
window.location = (question.value + 1) + ".html";
}
}
</script>

mootools select box focus

I have a select box
<select>
<option value="0">0 mins</option>
<option value="1">1 mins</option>
<option value="2">2 mins</option>
</select>
and I want to fire an event when the visitor either clicks on a value or clicks anywhere else on the page -i.e loss of focus on the select box
I've fiddled about for four hours now with no joy. I'm now down to this:
var c = 0;
$("selectTime").addEvent('click', function() {
if (c++ % 2 == 1) {
console.log(c);
//$(this).blur();
}
});
$('selectTime').click(function() {
if ($('select').is(':blur')) {
c = 1;
} else {
c = 0;
}
});
any ideas?
thanks
The mootools syntax for adding multiple events to same element is:
$('myElementID').addEvents({
blur: function(){
alert('blur');
},
click: function(){
alert('click');
}
});
Example with you code
You could though use just the change event, which fires when the element is changed. Like:
$('myElement').addEvent('change', function(){
alert('Select changed');
});
Example
Note that part of your code is using jQuery syntax, part is using MooTools syntax.

How to manage DOM element dependencies

I am trying to create a web-page where some elements (forms and buttons) become visible or are being hidden when some other elements (buttons) are clicked.
I try to find a way to manage this, that is re-usable, and easy to maintain.
My current solution is shown below, but I hope someone has a more elegant solution.
The problem with my own solution is that it will become difficult to read when the number of dependencies increase. It will then also require a lot of editing when I add another button and form.
My current solution is to use an observable to manage the state of the forms, like this:
HTML:
<button id="button-A">Show form A, hide button A and B</button>
<button id="button-B">Show form B, hide button A and B</button>
<form id="form-A">
...this form is initially hidden
...some form elements
<button id="cancel-A">Hide form A, show button A and B</button>
</form>
<form id="form-B">
...this form is initially hidden
...some form elements
<button id="cancel-B">Hide form B, show button A and B</button>
</form>
Dart:
import 'dart:html';
import 'package:observe/observe.dart';
final $ = querySelector;
final $$ = querySelectorAll;
Map<String, bool> toBeObserved = {
"showFormA" : false,
"showFormB" : false
};
// make an observable map
ObservableMap observeThis = toObservable(toBeObserved);
// start managing dependencies
main() {
// add click event to buttons
$('#button-A')
..onClick.listen((E) => observeThis["showFormA"] = true);
$('#button-B')
..onClick.listen((E) => observeThis["showFormB"] = true);
// add click events to form buttons
$('#cancel-A')
..onClick.listen((E) {
E.preventDefault();
E.stopPropagation();
observeThis["showFormA"] = false;
});
$('#cancel-B')
..onClick.listen((E) {
E.preventDefault();
E.stopPropagation();
observeThis["showFormB"] = false;
});
// listen for changes
observeThis.changes.listen((L) {
L.where((E) => E.key == 'showFormA').forEach((R) {
$('#form-A').style.display = (R.newValue) ? 'block' : 'none';
$('#button-A').style.display = (R.newValue || observeThis['showFormB']) ? 'none' : 'inline-block';
$('#button-B').style.display = (R.newValue || observeThis['showFormB']) ? 'none' : 'inline-block';
});
L.where((E) => E.key == 'showFormB').forEach((R) {
$('#form-B').style.display = (R.newValue) ? 'block' : 'none';
$('#button-A').style.display = (R.newValue || observeThis['showFormA']) ? 'none' : 'inline-block';
$('#button-B').style.display = (R.newValue || observeThis['showFormA']) ? 'none' : 'inline-block';
});
});
}
You can use basic CSS to show/hide the elements.
HTML
<div id="container" class="show-buttons">
<button id="button-A" class="btn" data-group="a">...</button>
<button id="button-B" class="btn" data-group="b">...</button>
<form id="form-A" class="form group-a">...</button>
<form id="form-B" class="form group-b">...</button>
</div>
CSS
.btn, .form {
display: none;
}
.show-buttons .btn,
.show-a .form.group-a,
.show-b .form.group-b {
display: block;
}
In Dart just get the data-group (or whatever you want to call this) attribute from the button. Toggle the CSS classes (show-buttons, show-a and show-b) on the container element to switch between the buttons and the specific forms.
This solution is very easy to extend on.
You can use something like this to handle all the elements in a generic way :
final Iterable<ButtonElement> buttons = querySelectorAll('button')
.where((ButtonElement b) => b.id.startsWith('button-'));
final Iterable<ButtonElement> cancels = querySelectorAll('button')
.where((ButtonElement b) => b.id.startsWith('cancel-'));
final Iterable<FormElement> forms = querySelectorAll('form')
.where((FormElement b) => b.id.startsWith('form-'));
buttons.forEach((b) {
b.onClick.listen((e) {
// name of clicked button
final name = b.id.substring(b.id.indexOf('-') + 1);
// hide all buttons
buttons.forEach((b) => b.hidden = true)
// show the good form
querySelector('#form-$name').hidden = false;
});
});
cancels.forEach((b) {
b.onClick.listen((e) {
// show all buttons
buttons.forEach((b) => b.hidden = false);
// hide all forms
forms.forEach((b) => b.hidden = true);
// prevent default
e.preventDefault();
});
});
// hide all form at startup
forms.forEach((f) => f.hidden = true);
You could use polymer's template functionality like
<template if="showA">...
This should work without embedding your elements within Polymer elements too.
This discussion provides some information how to use <template> without Polymer elements.
Using Polymer elements could also be useful.
It all depends on your requirements/preferences.
Angular.dart is also useful for such view manipulation.
If you want to use plain Dart/HMTL I don't have ideas how to simplify your code.

How to highlight friends name in Facebook status update box (textarea)?

In Facebook status update box, when I type # and start typing and choose a name, say Steven Gerrard, from the friends list suggested by fb, my friend's name is highlighted in the textarea like this
I checked with Firebug and there's only
a div.highlighter which contains sort of formated text (Steven Gerrard is within b tags)
a textarea inside a div.uiTypeahead. Nothing interesting i could find
and a hidden input, that contains the actual text that will be posted: #[100001915747xxx:Steven Gerrard] is awesome
What is the secret trick behind this? Normal rich text editors like ckeditor usually have an iframe to display the text and an actual textarea to keep the original content. But in this case, I do not see anything. Someone please shed some lights?
I would like to make something like this but have no clue where to begin. Also, if I would like to display a small thumb next to my friend's name, is it possible at all?
Here is how it works:
You superpose the textarea (in front) and a div (behind) that will have the same size, and the same font size.
The textarea must have a transparent background, so we can see its text, but also see the div behind it.
The div behind it will have a white text and white background, so the text it contains will be transparent.
You set a hook on the textarea's keyup, and you process the text it contains as HTML: replace the line breaks by <br/>, replace the double spaces by , and also replace all the words that you want to highlight by a version surrounded by <span style="background-color: #D8DFEA;"></span>.
Since you can see the highlight div behind the textarea, and that the text the highlight div contains is perfectly aligned with the text in the textarea, and that the <span> is visible, you will have the illusion that the text in the textarea is highlighted.
I've written a quick example based on jquery so you can try it yourself, without too much code to analyze.
Here is a sample code you can just copy-paste-save and try:
This sample code will highlight a defined set of word, here: "hello" and "world".
I'll let you adapt it the way you want.
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<!-- Load jQuery -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script>
<!-- The javascript xontaining the plugin and the code to init the plugin -->
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function() {
// let's init the plugin, that we called "highlight".
// We will highlight the words "hello" and "world",
// and set the input area to a widht and height of 500 and 250 respectively.
$("#container").highlight({
words: ["hello","world"],
width: 500,
height: 250
});
});
// the plugin that would do the trick
(function($){
$.fn.extend({
highlight: function() {
// the main class
var pluginClass = function() {};
// init the class
// Bootloader
pluginClass.prototype.__init = function (element) {
try {
this.element = element;
} catch (err) {
this.error(err);
}
};
// centralized error handler
pluginClass.prototype.error = function (e) {
// manage error and exceptions here
//console.info("error!",e);
};
// Centralized routing function
pluginClass.prototype.execute = function (fn, options) {
try {
options = $.extend({},options);
if (typeof(this[fn]) == "function") {
var output = this[fn].apply(this, [options]);
} else {
this.error("undefined_function");
}
} catch (err) {
this.error(err);
}
};
// **********************
// Plugin Class starts here
// **********************
// init the component
pluginClass.prototype.init = function (options) {
try {
// the element's reference ( $("#container") ) is stored into "this.element"
var scope = this;
this.options = options;
// just find the different elements we'll need
this.highlighterContainer = this.element.find('#highlighterContainer');
this.inputContainer = this.element.find('#inputContainer');
this.textarea = this.inputContainer.find('textarea');
this.highlighter = this.highlighterContainer.find('#highlighter');
// apply the css
this.element.css('position','relative');
// place both the highlight container and the textarea container
// on the same coordonate to superpose them.
this.highlighterContainer.css({
'position': 'absolute',
'left': '0',
'top': '0',
'border': '1px dashed #ff0000',
'width': this.options.width,
'height': this.options.height,
'cursor': 'text'
});
this.inputContainer.css({
'position': 'absolute',
'left': '0',
'top': '0',
'border': '1px solid #000000'
});
// now let's make sure the highlit div and the textarea will superpose,
// by applying the same font size and stuffs.
// the highlighter must have a white text so it will be invisible
this.highlighter.css({
'padding': '7px',
'color': '#eeeeee',
'background-color': '#ffffff',
'margin': '0px',
'font-size': '11px',
'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif'
});
// the textarea must have a transparent background so we can see the highlight div behind it
this.textarea.css({
'background-color': 'transparent',
'padding': '5px',
'margin': '0px',
'font-size': '11px',
'width': this.options.width,
'height': this.options.height,
'font-family': '"lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif'
});
// apply the hooks
this.highlighterContainer.bind('click', function() {
scope.textarea.focus();
});
this.textarea.bind('keyup', function() {
// when we type in the textarea,
// we want the text to be processed and re-injected into the div behind it.
scope.applyText($(this).val());
});
} catch (err) {
this.error(err);
}
return true;
};
pluginClass.prototype.applyText = function (text) {
try {
var scope = this;
// parse the text:
// replace all the line braks by <br/>, and all the double spaces by the html version
text = this.replaceAll(text,'\n','<br/>');
text = this.replaceAll(text,' ',' ');
// replace the words by a highlighted version of the words
for (var i=0;i<this.options.words.length;i++) {
text = this.replaceAll(text,this.options.words[i],'<span style="background-color: #D8DFEA;">'+this.options.words[i]+'</span>');
}
// re-inject the processed text into the div
this.highlighter.html(text);
} catch (err) {
this.error(err);
}
return true;
};
// "replace all" function
pluginClass.prototype.replaceAll = function(txt, replace, with_this) {
return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this);
}
// don't worry about this part, it's just the required code for the plugin to hadle the methods and stuffs. Not relevant here.
//**********************
// process
var fn;
var options;
if (arguments.length == 0) {
fn = "init";
options = {};
} else if (arguments.length == 1 && typeof(arguments[0]) == 'object') {
fn = "init";
options = $.extend({},arguments[0]);
} else {
fn = arguments[0];
options = $.extend({},arguments[1]);
}
$.each(this, function(idx, item) {
// if the component is not yet existing, create it.
if ($(item).data('highlightPlugin') == null) {
$(item).data('highlightPlugin', new pluginClass());
$(item).data('highlightPlugin').__init($(item));
}
$(item).data('highlightPlugin').execute(fn, options);
});
return this;
}
});
})(jQuery);
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="container">
<div id="highlighterContainer">
<div id="highlighter">
</div>
</div>
<div id="inputContainer">
<textarea cols="30" rows="10">
</textarea>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Let me know if you have any question or if you need help with this code.
After reviewing the way of Facebook do this, I see that the text shown on the screen is:
<span class="highlighterContent"><b>Ws Dev</b> is good</span>
That span is put in a table (with lots of div container), which is style accordingly.
So I think this is the process:
When you type in the box, Facebook does have a textarea that capture what you type, but use javascript to show the typed HTML content in a table.
When you submit, the formatted content in a hidden input (that you already spot in the question) get submitted. It's like "#[100001915747xxx:Steven Gerrard] is awesome".
When the formatted message submit, it is saved to the database. Everytime the page get loaded, from the saved message the HTML is composed and return.
To get the similar effect, you can use any jQuery autocomplete plugin.