form serialize javascript (no framework)

Question

Wondering is there a function in javascript without jquery or any framework that allows me to serialize the form and access the serialized version?

Answer 1

For debugging purposes this might help you:

function print_form_data(form) {
    const form_data = new FormData(form);

    for (const item of form_data.entries()) {
        console.log(item);
    }

    return false;
}

Answer 2

Works in all browsers.

const formSerialize = formElement => {
  const values = {};
  const inputs = formElement.elements;

  for (let i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++) {
    values[inputs[i].name] = inputs[i].value;
  }
  return values;
}

const dumpValues = form => () => {
  
  const r = formSerialize(form);
  console.log(r);
  console.log(JSON.stringify(r));
}

const form = document.querySelector('form');

dumpValues(form)();

form.addEventListener('change',dumpValues(form));

<form action="/my-handling-form-page" method="post">
  <div>
    <label for="name">Name:</label>
    <input type="text" id="name" name="user_name" value="John">
  </div>
  <div>
    <label for="mail">E-mail:</label>
    <input type="email" id="mail" name="user_mail" value="john@jonhson.j">
  </div>
  <div>
    <label for="interests">Interest:</label>
    <select required=""  id="interests" name="interests">
      <option value="" selected="selected">- None -</option>
      <option value="drums">Drums</option>
      <option value="js">Javascript</option>
      <option value="sports">Sports</option>
      <option value="trekking">Trekking</option>
    </select>
  </div>
  <div>
    <label for="msg">Message:</label>
    <textarea id="msg" name="user_message">Hello My Friend</textarea>
  </div>
</form>

Answer 3

A refactored version of @SimonSteinberger's code using less variables and taking advantage of the speed of forEach loops (which are a bit faster than fors)

function serialize(form) {
    var result = [];
    if (typeof form === 'object' && form.nodeName === 'FORM')
        Array.prototype.slice.call(form.elements).forEach(function(control) {
            if (
                control.name && 
                !control.disabled && 
                ['file', 'reset', 'submit', 'button'].indexOf(control.type) === -1
            )
                if (control.type === 'select-multiple')
                    Array.prototype.slice.call(control.options).forEach(function(option) {
                        if (option.selected) 
                            result.push(encodeURIComponent(control.name) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(option.value));
                    });
                else if (
                    ['checkbox', 'radio'].indexOf(control.type) === -1 || 
                    control.checked
                ) result.push(encodeURIComponent(control.name) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(control.value));
        });
        return result.join('&').replace(/%20/g, '+');
}

Answer 4

Here is pure JavaScript approach:

var form = document.querySelector('form');
var data = new FormData(form);
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.send(data);

Though it seems to be working only for POST requests.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FormData

Answer 5

If you are looking to serialize the inputs on an event. Here's a pure JavaScript approach I use.

// serialize form
var data = {};
var inputs = [].slice.call(e.target.getElementsByTagName('input'));
inputs.forEach(input => {
  data[input.name] = input.value;
});

Data will be a JavaScript object of the inputs.

Answer 6

Here's a slightly modified version of TibTibs':

function serialize(form) {
    var field, s = [];
    if (typeof form == 'object' && form.nodeName == "FORM") {
        var len = form.elements.length;
        for (i=0; i<len; i++) {
            field = form.elements[i];
            if (field.name && !field.disabled && field.type != 'file' && field.type != 'reset' && field.type != 'submit' && field.type != 'button') {
                if (field.type == 'select-multiple') {
                    for (j=form.elements[i].options.length-1; j>=0; j--) {
                        if(field.options[j].selected)
                            s[s.length] = encodeURIComponent(field.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(field.options[j].value);
                    }
                } else if ((field.type != 'checkbox' && field.type != 'radio') || field.checked) {
                    s[s.length] = encodeURIComponent(field.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(field.value);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return s.join('&').replace(/%20/g, '+');
}

Disabled fields are discarded and names are also URL encoded. Regex replace of %20 characters takes place only once, before returning the string.

The query string is in identical form to the result from jQuery's $.serialize() method.