[javascript] Absolute position of an element on the screen using jQuery

How do I find out the absolute position of an element on the current visible screen (viewport) using jQuery?

I am having position:relative, so offset() will only give the offset within the parent.

I have hierarchical divs, so $("#me").parent().offset() + $("#me").offset() doesn't help either.

I need the position in the window, not the document, so when the document is scrolled, the value should change.

I know I could add up all the parent offsets, but I want a cleaner solution.

var top = $("#map").offset().top + 
    $("#map").parent().offset().top + 
    $("#map").parent().parent().offset().top +
    $("#map").parent().parent().parent().offset().top;

Any ideas?

Update: I need to get the exact gap in pixels between the top of my div and the top of the document, including padding/margins/offset?

My code:

HTML

<div id="map_frame" class="frame" hidden="hidden">
    <div id="map_wrapper">
        <div id="map"></div>
    </div>
</div>

CSS

#map_frame{
    border:1px solid #800008;
}

#map_wrapper {
    position:relative;
    left:2%;
    top:1%;
    width:95%;
    max-height:80%;
    display:block;
}

#map {
    position:relative;
    height:100%;
    width:100%;
    display:block;
    border:3px solid #fff;
}

jQuery to resize the map to fill the screen*

var t = $("#map").offset().top + 
    $("#map").parent().offset().top + 
    $("#map").parent().parent().offset().top + 
    $("#map").parent().parent().parent().offset().top;

$("#map").height($(window).height() - t - ($(window).height() * 8 / 100));

Thanks...

For the absolute coordinates of any jquery element I wrote this function, it probably doesnt work for all css position types but maybe its a good start for someone ..

function AbsoluteCoordinates($element) {
    var sTop = $(window).scrollTop();
    var sLeft = $(window).scrollLeft();
    var w = $element.width();
    var h = $element.height();
    var offset = $element.offset(); 
    var $p = $element;
    while(typeof $p == 'object') {
        var pOffset = $p.parent().offset();
        if(typeof pOffset == 'undefined') break;
        offset.left = offset.left + (pOffset.left);
        offset.top = offset.top + (pOffset.top);
        $p = $p.parent();
    }

    var pos = {
          left: offset.left + sLeft,
          right: offset.left + w + sLeft,
          top:  offset.top + sTop,
          bottom: offset.top + h + sTop,
    }
    pos.tl = { x: pos.left, y: pos.top };
    pos.tr = { x: pos.right, y: pos.top };
    pos.bl = { x: pos.left, y: pos.bottom };
    pos.br = { x: pos.right, y: pos.bottom };
    //console.log( 'left: ' + pos.left + ' - right: ' + pos.right +' - top: ' + pos.top +' - bottom: ' + pos.bottom  );
    return pos;
}

BTW, if anyone want to get coordinates of element on screen without jQuery, please try this:

function getOffsetTop (el) {
    if (el.offsetParent) return el.offsetTop + getOffsetTop(el.offsetParent)
    return el.offsetTop || 0
}
function getOffsetLeft (el) {
    if (el.offsetParent) return el.offsetLeft + getOffsetLeft(el.offsetParent)
    return el.offsetleft || 0
}
function coordinates(el) {
    var y1 = getOffsetTop(el) - window.scrollY;
    var x1 = getOffsetLeft(el) - window.scrollX; 
    var y2 = y1 + el.offsetHeight;
    var x2 = x1 + el.offsetWidth;
    return {
        x1: x1, x2: x2, y1: y1, y2: y2
    }
}