Wipe all elements in a form with Javascript
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Javascript has a nifty method associated with the form DOM object called reset(). Using this method will revert all values of the form's associated input controls to the values they contained when the page was last sent to the user's browser. That's great… but if you want to revert the values to nothing, then some scripting is required:
Javascript code:
function clearForm(formId)
{
// confirm action
if(!confirm("Are you sure you want to clear the form?"))
return;
var a; // iterator
var whichForm = document.getElementById(formId); // form to clear
var elementType; // "type" attribute of current element
// reset the form (this will clear INPUT TYPE="file" controls)
whichForm.reset();
// clear INPUT elements
var inputElements = whichForm.getElementsByTagName("input");
for(a = 0; a < inputElements.length; elementType = inputElements[a++].attributes.getNamedAttribute("type"))
{
// use proper clear behavior for given input type
switch(elementType)
{
// TEXT inputs
case "text":
// HIDDEN inputs (may want to disable this)
case "hidden":
inputElements[a].value = "";
break;
// CHECKBOX inputs
case "checkbox":
// RADIO inputs
case "radio":
inputElements[a].checked = false;
break;
case default:
continue;
break;
}
}
// clear TEXTAREA elements
var inputElements = whichForm.getElementsByTagName("textarea");
for(a = 0; a < inputElements.length; inputElements[a++].value = "");
// clear OPTIONs
var inputElements = whichForm.getElementsByTagName("option");
for(a = 0; a < inputElements.length; inputElements[a++].selected = false);
}
If you are using the hidden input controls for something other than tracking user input on the form, you may want to comment out the line case "hidden": in the switch(elementType) block.
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