JS Height Calculate

calculate-height.js

          var containerHeight = 0;
          var outerContainerWidth = $('#outerContainer').width();
          $('body').append('<div id="tempCloneItems" style="width:'+outerContainerWidth+'px;"></div>');
          // iterate over the topic filter item containers
          $('.heightAutoItemsThatHaveNoNumericalHeight').each(function(i,e){
            // a little trick I learned in 'nam to get the computed height of any element
            // regardless of the height being specified in CSS. Works everywhere.
            var cloneHeight = $(e).clone().addClass('someTempClass').appendTo('#tempCloneItems').height();
            containerHeight += cloneHeight;
            $('.someTempClass').remove();
          }).promise().done(function(){
            $('#tempCloneItems').remove();
            $('.heightAutoItemsThatHaveNoNumericalHeight').on('click', {'items_height': containerHeight}, function(e){
              // when the items are clicked, toggle their height, as calculated via our hack
              var itemsOuterContainer = $(this).data('itemsOuterContainer');
              if ($('#'+itemsOuterContainer).hasClass('active')) {
                $('#'+itemsOuterContainer).height(0);
              } else {
                $('#'+itemsOuterContainer).height(e.data.items_height);
              }
            });
          });

A little snippet/hack for calculating the height of items that do not ordinarily return a value when you try to grab their height via normal means.