HTML form readonly SELECT tag/input

Question

According to HTML specs, the select tag in HTML doesn\'t have a readonly attribute, only a disabled attribute. So if you want to keep

Answer 1

Set the select disabled when you plan for it to be read-only and then remove the disabled attribute just before submitting the form.

// global variable to store original event/handler for save button
var form_save_button_func = null;

// function to get jQuery object for save button
function get_form_button_by_id(button_id) {
    return jQuery("input[type=button]#"+button_id);
}

// alter value of disabled element
function set_disabled_elem_value(elem_id, value)  {
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).removeAttr("disabled");
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).val(value);
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).attr('disabled','disabled');
}

function set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic(msg) {
    // save original event/handler that was either declared
    // through javascript or html onclick attribute
    // in a global variable
    form_save_button_func = get_form_button_by_id('BtnSave').prop('onclick'); // jQuery 1.6
    //form_save_button_func = get_form_button_by_id('BtnSave').prop('onclick'); // jQuery 1.7

    // unbind original event/handler (can use any of following statements below)
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').unbind('click');
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').removeAttr('onclick');

    // alternate save code which also calls original event/handler stored in global variable
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').click(function(event){
        event.preventDefault();
        var confirm_result = confirm(msg);
        if (confirm_result) {
            if (jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').filter(".disabled-form-elem").length > 0) {
                jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').filter(".disabled-form-elem").removeAttr("disabled");
            }

            // disallow further editing of fields once save operation is underway
            // by making them readonly
            // you can also disallow form editing by showing a large transparent
            // div over form such as loading animation with "Saving" message text
            jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').attr('ReadOnly','True');

            // now execute original event/handler
            form_save_button_func();
        }
    });
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    // if you want to define save button code in javascript then define it now

    // code below for record update
    set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic("Do you really want to update this record?");
    // code below for new record
    //set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic("Do you really want to create this new record?");

    // start disabling elements on form load by also adding a class to identify disabled elements
    jQuery("input[type=text]#phone").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("input[type=text]#fax").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("select#country").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("textarea#address").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');

    set_disabled_elem_value('phone', '123121231');
    set_disabled_elem_value('fax', '123123123');
    set_disabled_elem_value('country', 'Pakistan');
    set_disabled_elem_value('address', 'address');

}); // end of $(document).ready function

Answer 2

<select id="case_reason" name="case_reason" disabled="disabled">

disabled="disabled" ->will get your value from database dan show it in the form. readonly="readonly" ->you can change your value in selectbox, but your value couldn't save in your database.

Answer 3

Easier still: add the style attribute to your select tag:

style="pointer-events: none;"

Answer 4

What I found works great, with plain javascript (ie: no JQuery library required), is to change the innerHTML of the <select> tag to the desired single remaining value.

Before:

<select name='day' id='day'>
  <option>SUN</option>
  <option>MON</option>
  <option>TUE</option>
  <option>WED</option>
  <option>THU</option>
  <option>FRI</option>
  <option>SAT</option>
</select>

Sample Javascript:

document.getElementById('day').innerHTML = '<option>FRI</option>';

After:

<select name='day' id='day'>
  <option>FRI</option>
</select>

This way, no visiual effect change, and this will POST/GET within the <FORM>.

Answer 5

In IE I was able to defeat the onfocus=>onblur approach by double-clicking. But remembering the value and then restoring it in the onchange event seems to handle that issue.

<select onfocus="this.oldvalue=this.value;this.blur();" onchange="this.value=this.oldvalue;">
....
</select>

You can do similar without expando properties by using a javascript variable.

Answer 6

another way of doing a readOnly attribute to a select element is by using css

you could do like :

$('#selection').css('pointer-events','none');

DEMO