dwImageProtector Plugin for jQuery

Discussion

1. Steven Black

   The jQuery Dimensions plugin is now integrated in the latest version of jQuery, so adding this is no longer necessary. Thanks for this useful plugin!
2. Lewis Walsh

   Thanks!

   I dabble in Mootools but JQuery is my library of choice.
3. Anonymous Coward

   ZOMG!!!!

   You cant protect images. I just use FireBugz and bam your img’s are belong to me.

   (joke :)

   thx for the post. :)
4. david

   @Steven: Thank you for that. I still consider myself a noob! :)

   @Anon: Thank you for being light-hearted!
5. Stef G

   Hi,

   I’m using Firefox 3 and the image is not protected at all, I can right click on the image abd I haven’t got any messages from jquery???
   Just use Web developper toolbar/Images Informations the protection goes away …

   Is there anything I missed?

   Thx for the post
6. Miko

   Hilarious
7. david

   @Stef G: If you were to right-click and choose “Save Image As…”, you’d be downloading an image but the image would be the overlaying blank.gif file.
8. Rafael Santos Sá

   Hey, great idea but sometimes the body isn’t the only relative container of the image. I won’t post here the code to fix it I made but the point is:
   – Instead of appending the new to the body, I cache it into a variable and append it after the protect image.
9. j0rd

   Hey dude. Thanks for the awrsome plugin. This was exactly what I was looking for!

   As of jQuery 1.2.x the position() function is replaced with offset(), so you need to update that in your code.

   var position = $(this).offset();
   

   Simple enough.

   The issue I have to figure out now is i used onhover events on the images getting replaced and now they don’t work anymore =( I’ll have to tie those events onto the replaced blank.gif onhovers.

   I’ll post code when I figure it out.

   Cheers,
   Jordan of http://CubicleCollective.com
10. j0rd

    I fixed the issue with onhover and other things.

    Problem with this plugin is that if you have an image you want to protect and it’s wrapped around an anchor tag…you essentially lose the anchor tag.

    <a href="/gohere"><img class="protect" src="iamprotected.jpg" /></a>
    

    Also you had to rebind certain events which I was using, particularly .hover() which I had to rebind to “mouseenter” and “mouseleave” as .hover() is a convenience function.

    Here’s the code snippet. or you can view my working demo at https://civil.workcube.com/content/burning-bridges

    return this.each(function() {
      var position = $(this).offset();
      var height = $(this).height();
      var width = $(this).width();
      var srcimg = this;
    
      var protect = $('<img />').attr({
         width: width,
         height: height,
         src: settings.image
      }).css({
         /*border: '1px solid #f00',*/
         top: position.top,
         left: position.left,
         position: 'absolute',
         zIndex: settings.zIndex
      }).bind(
         'mouseenter', function() {
         if($(srcimg).hasClass('imagecache-product_list')) { 
            $(srcimg).toggleClass('hovering');
         }
         $(srcimg).trigger("mouseenter");
      }).bind(
         'mouseleave', function() {
         if($(srcimg).hasClass('imagecache-product_list')) { 
            $(srcimg).toggleClass('hovering');
         }
         $(srcimg).trigger("mouseleave");
      });
    
      if($(srcimg).parent().get(0).tagName == "A") { 
         link = $(srcimg).parent().clone();
         link.html(protect);
         link.appendTo('body');
      }
      else {
         $(protect).appendTo('body');
      }
    });
    

    Thanks again for the code,
    Jordan
11. j0rd

    Oops, I guess I should post the proper links to websites instead of posting my internal domains.

    The project I used image protector on is live and you can see it here:
    http://civilcitizen.com/catalog/2

    As for Michael, I do not believe my modified solution fails in IE7 (i think i tested it in that browser at least), so pop over and take a look at the jQuery there.
12. Moksha

    we can download the image, by just clicking the image before its downloaded completed. means click the image before it is downloaded full.
13. Aysseline

    There is just one way to protect image: don’t publish them ;)

    I use the web developper bar for Firefox and with it, I can download the image with no problem. Thanks anyway: I love jQuery
14. Esther

    I used J0rd’s example above, and it’s working great. Thanks!
15. Erwan

    Hi. It’s a very nice plugin you made there.

    Only one thing misses for my use, and I don’t manage to set it (noob at javasctipts).
    I’d like to copy the title & alt properties of my protected image on the blank image.
    Would you (or anyone) explain me how to do it ?

    (Thx)
16. rich

    I like this a bunch, but was thinking that it would also be a nice touch to have a watermark added to the image if it is downloaded. That is, when you view it on the site, there is no watermark, but if someone decides to right-click and save it, it would then overlay, say a trasnparent gif in the center of the image and merge the two. Is that possible?

    Rich
17. David Walsh

    @Rich: Sure — you could customize the class and inject an additional watermark element positioned to where you’d like it to be.
18. rich

    Thanks for the quick reply Dave. Is there any way you could point me in the right direction?..I only have a working knowledge of jQuery, and javascript for that matter. But I can more often than not work through an issue with a little nudge. — thanks.
19. Brady Kelly

    I’ve just tried this bit of jQuery code, and I love it. It was an almost perfect solution delivered to me in no time. However, I am still trying to overcome an issue with Firefox, when protecting images inside tags, the protected images are no longer clickable. I remove the protection and the ‘image links’ work again. This problem doesn’t arise in IE. I will post again when I have solved this.
20. Sayooj

    i did a little change to code. since i want the protection only on mouseover and remove the protection as mouse leaves.

    jQuery.fn.protectImage = function(settings) {
    settings = jQuery.extend({
        image: 'blank.gif',
        zIndex: 10
    }, settings);
    return this.each(function() {
        var position = $(this).offset();
        var height = $(this).height();
        var width = $(this).width();
        var protect = $('<img />').attr({
            width: width,
            height: height,
            src: settings.image
        }).css({
            border: '1px solid #f00',
            top: position.top,
            left: position.left,
            position: 'absolute',
            zIndex: settings.zIndex
        }).bind('mouseleave', function() { protect.remove() });
    
        $(protect).appendTo('body');
    });
    };
    

    And i will append the event using

    $('img.priceChartImage').bind('mouseenter',function(){
              $(this).protectImage();
    })
    

    what do you guys think about this one?

    Also thanks for initial code david.
    Cheers Team!!!
21. Sayooj

    Even i replaced blank.gif with :) . My usecase was to block images dragged to html editor. if i use blank.gif it was getting dragged to html editor. Though we cannot view blank.gif it was making the html content dirty. So i changed my code to use div. Following is the code i used.

    var protect = $('<div>').css({
            border: '1px solid #f00',
            top: position.top,
            left: position.left,
            position: 'absolute',
            zIndex: settings.zIndex,
            width:$(this).width(),
            height:$(this).height()
        }).bind('mouseleave', function() { protect.remove() });
    

    Any comments???

    Cheers :)
22. Nikhil

    Amazing code..Thanks alot for it :-)
23. Dave

    Um, I just tried the demo (in Safari 4) and this method simply doesn’t work. I right-clicked on the image and opened it in a new tab… I also simply dragged it off onto the desktop.
24. Nick

    with Google chrome you can simply drag the image from the browser to the desktop, but right clicking and saving the image will save the blank.gif image.
25. Charles

    Great idea but with Firefox 3.5.7 if you simply resize the webpage the blank.gif does not keep focused over the real image.
26. nick

    uhh, you know this is a total FAIL right? in chrome i can drag the image to the desktop, and it’s the actual image, i can also right click and save the image, and i’m not downloading a transparent image, it’s the actual image. maybe better luck next time.
27. David Walsh

    @nick: Chief, you see this article is close to 2 years old, correct?
• alf

  @david: would you have an update on this that can be used for current sets of browsers? thanks great site.. and great insite.. love it.. take care and more power!
28. nick

    @David Walsh:
    awww dude i’m a total FAIL.
    that’d be neat if it still worked. oh well.
29. Renaliza Deang Enriquez

    what about “save as page issue”
30. valery

    Hello,

    I’m not abble to use your script however it seems simple to use.
    Could you provide a minimal html web page using this plugin ?
    (the demo is a php page and saving it provide a complex code)

    Thanks
31. alencyp

    http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/preload-images/6.jpg – the demo image is here. Do you really think it protects your images from copy?
32. Darlington

    Hi, I tried the demo and i was able to drag the image onto my desktop
33. Stéphane Houle

    In your test above, juste resize the window and you’ll see your red frame didn’t follow the image, than juste click the image out of red frame, and you will be able to save the picture !!! =)
34. Andreas

    As an exercise it’s okay but in the real world it doesn’t work.
    The only solution to avoid image stolen is discussed here:
    http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/10-ways-to-protect-images-from-being-stolen/comment-page-2/#comment-223617
35. Cahlan Sharp

    David, great script. I modified it slightly to work better for different kinds of CSS layouts. Specifically, I changed the append bit to the following: .appendTo($(this).parent())
36. Althana

    but i still find original image in your source, can you give me tutorial to change the source code or dissable it. it is your image : http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/preload-images/6.jpg
37. Stephen

    David,

    I’m sorry to bring up ancient history, but I’m having a minor issue that I can’t seem to fathom.

    All of the js is injected properly and I see the blank.gif with adjusted dimensions to the desired image and the red border on my page. However, this is sitting within the top left hand side of the screen and not over the desired image that’s calling the ‘protect’ class. This obviously screams to add ‘position: relative;’ to the parent image but that doesn’t do a thing.

    Can you tell me where I’m going wrong? Again, sorry to bring this post back from the dead.

    Steve.
38. right

    Hi, if I try to save the image, the script works fine, but if I try to copy and past the same image in photoshop, the script doesn’t work. Anyone can help me?
39. sacha bess

    Great, by drag and drop, it’s possible to save image !
40. kinoko

    Thank you for a wonderful script.
    I have a question.
    Are you able to be the link of the image?
41. destinedjagold

    Hello and good day. Your plugin doesn’t seem to work properly when I switch my browser from full-screen mode to window mode, enabling me to download the images I wish to be protected. I am currently trying to find a solution, but so far I’m landing on none, so I wish to ask if you know of a solution. Thank you.
42. Mark

    Hi – love the tutorial, as you say it is great to discourage the users from downloading the images, the only issue I have is the hyperlinks around the image won’t work