Google Maps and jQuery Tabs

Question

I have slight problem with Google maps included in simple jQuery Tabs.

Below I pasted the code:

jQuery:

$(document).ready(function() {

    //Default Action
    $(".tab_content").hide();
    $("ul.tabs li:first").addClass("active").show(); 
    $(".tab_content:first").show(); 

    //On Click Event
    $("ul.tabs li").click(function() {
        $("ul.tabs li").removeClass("active");
        $(this).addClass("active"); 
        $(".tab_content").hide(); 
        var activeTab = $(this).find("a").attr("href"); 
        $(activeTab).fadeIn();
        return false;
    });

});

Here is the HTML for the tabs:

<div class="bluecontainer">
    <ul class="tabs">
        <li><a href="#tab1">Tab1</a></li>
        <li><a href="#tab2">Tab2</a></li>
        <li><a href="#tab3">Tab3</a></li>
        <li><a href="#tab4">Tab4</a></li>
    </ul>
    <div class="tab_container">
        <div id="tab1" class="tab_content">
            <h2>Tab1</h2>
        </div>
        <div id="tab2" class="tab_content">
            <h2>Tab2</h2>
        </div>
        <div id="tab3" class="tab_content">
            <div>
                google Map
            </div>
        </div>
        <div id="tab4" class="tab_content">
            <h2>Tab4</h2>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

I really don't know what to do to. Is that a general problem with google maps or there is something with my tabs? But they are working just fine with everything else.

Thank you for your help in advance

Answer 1

I have solved the problem.

changed hide() in jQuery to css.visibility, so the tabs looks like this.

$(document).ready(function() {

    //Default Action
    $(".tab_content").css({'visibility':'hidden'  , 'position':'absolute'});
    $("ul.tabs li:first").addClass("active").show(); 
    $(".tab_content:first").css({'visibility':'visible' , 'position':'static'}); 

    //On Click Event
    $("ul.tabs li").click(function() {
        $("ul.tabs li").removeClass("active");
        $(this).addClass("active"); 
        $(".tab_content").css({'visibility':'hidden' , 'position':'absolute'}); 
        var activeTab = $(this).find("a").attr("href"); 
        $(activeTab).css({'visibility':'visible'  , 'position':'static'});
        return false;
    });

});

Everything works just fine.

Answer 2

Bootstrap3 : https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/2330

$('a[href="#edit_tab_map"]').on('shown.bs.tab', function(e)
    {
        google.maps.event.trigger(map, 'resize');
    });

Answer 3

I went with a different approach - initialize the map after the tab is activated. Here's my code:

//Default Action
jQuery(".tab_content").hide(); //Hide all content
jQuery("ul.tabs li:first").addClass("active").show(); //Activate first tab
jQuery(".tab_content:first").show(); //Show first tab content

//On Click Event
jQuery("ul.tabs li").click(function() {
    jQuery("ul.tabs li").removeClass("active"); //Remove any "active" class
    jQuery(this).addClass("active"); //Add "active" class to selected tab
    jQuery(".tab_content").hide(); //Hide all tab content
    var activeTab = jQuery(this).find("a").attr("href"); //Find the rel attribute value to identify the active tab + content
    jQuery(activeTab).fadeIn(); //Fade in the active content
    if(activeTab == '#location_tab') {      
        initialize();
    }
    return false;
});

Make sure that the tab with your map's ID matches with the script's. In my case its "location_tab".

Answer 4

Initialising the map when the tab is opened is definitely the way to go. If you try to initialise the map on a hidden div, then it will fail to display. Whatever function you have that 'shows' your div, use that function to initialise the map AFTER the div has been shown.

if( !maploaded && $("#" +tab2id+ "content").hasClass("map") ) {
    LoadGoogleMap();
    maploaded = true;
}

Once the map has been loaded, you can safely hide or show the div again without any problems, so it's worth adding a flag to check whether it's already been loaded.