Reference element with tricky name 1

[Stretchwickster]

Hi there,

I have a series of "select" (drop-down) HTML form elements which have their name attribute set to "dateCollected[d]", "dateCollected[M]" and "dateCollected[Y]" respectively. I'm struggling to access them via JS. I've tried a number of techniques.

What would people suggest?

Clive

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"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
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[Stretchwickster]

Sorted. I just found the elements array of the form so was able to access the elements via an index number e.g.

document.forms[0].elements[0].selectedIndex = 0;

Clive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[cLFlaVA]

better way, so you can more easily determine which element you're referencing, is something like this:

document.forms['YourFormName'].elements['dateCollected[Y]'].selectedIndex = 0;

*cLFlaVA
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[Stretchwickster]

Fantastic, cheers cLFlaVA! It'll be much easier to read when I come back to the code in a few months time. I hadn't realised you could reference elements like that.

Clive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[cLFlaVA]

no prob.

in my opinion, that is the overall preferred method, better than the index reference:

[tt]document.forms[0].elements[3][/tt]

and better than the implied reference:

[tt]document.myFormName.myElementName;[/tt]

as it gives you the most visibility into what's going on in your code.



*cLFlaVA
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[tt]"quote goes here"[/tt]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.coryarthus.com/[/url]

 

[Stretchwickster]

I only ever have a chance to dabble with Javascript as and when I need it - so don't often get a chance to learn how to do things properly!

Many thanks for the pointer.

By the way, I like the Google Maps Easter Eggs posted on your site - very cool!

Clive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[cLFlaVA]

thanks!



*cLFlaVA
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[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.coryarthus.com/[/url]