Override browser spellchecking with your own?

Question

I'm writing a form with javascript validation, I'd like to override the browser's built in spell checking.

For example, let's say I'm checking serial numbers and they all pass a regex text. I'd like to highlight the ones who don't in the browser much likes the browser highlights words with invalid spelling.

All I could come up with is disabling the browser's built in spell checking

So to sum it up

Is there a simple way to override a browser's built in spell check (sort of how like you override the comparator when you sort an array in javascript)

If there is not, is there a simple way to emulate such behavior?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

The short answer; no, there is no Spellcheck API that JavaScript can hook into. Besides these kinda seem like different goals; a spellcheck is about natural language whereas you seem to really want input validation. You'd be better simply applying a different background / border colour or similar hint to the user via CSS when your JavaScript code detects an invalid serial (especially since each browser will render spellcheck errors differently anyway).