Bucaro TecHelp
HTTPS Encryption not required because no account numbers or
personal information is ever requested or accepted by this site

About BTH User Agreement Privacy Site Map Contact News Feeds

Java Script to Get Selected Item from Drop-down Select List

By Stephen Bucaro

An HTML Select list is a form control used to create a drop-down list of items from which the user can select. Each item in a select list is defined by an option element. The most basic code for a select list is shown below.

<form>
<select>
<option>Item 1</option>
<option>Item 2</option>
<option>Item 3</option>
</select>
</form>

When the user selects one of the items in a select list, an onchange event is triggered. The selectedIndex property will then contain the index of the item that the user selected. Select list option indexes start with 0 for the first item. The code below shows one way to access the index of the item that the user selected.

<script>

function grabSelection()
{
  alert(document.myForm.mySelect.selectedIndex);
}

</script>

<form name="myForm">
<select name="mySelect" onchange="grabSelection()">
<option>Item 1</option>
<option>Item 2</option>
<option>Item 3</option>
</select>
</form>

Setting the Default Selected Item

You can set a default selected item by using the default attribute in one of the option elements as shown below.

<script language="JavaScript">

function getForm(form)
{
 alert(form.mySelect.options[form.mySelect.selectedIndex].value);
}

</script>

<form name="myForm">
<select name="mySelect">
<option value="Bread">Bread</option>
<option value="Coffee">Coffee</option>
<option value="Salad" selected>Salad</option>
<option value="Soup">Soup</option>
</select>
<input type="button" value="Get Selection" onclick="getForm(this.form)">
</form>

A select list is a form control, and there may be other controls in the form. In that case, you use a form button to pass the entire form. Note in the code above that I used the button's onclick event to execute the getForm function.

More Java Script Code:
• Easy Slide Show Code with Mouseover Pause
• Regular Expressions Boundaries
• How to Disable the Browser Back Button
• Binary Subtraction with Example JavaScript Code
• Java Script Code for Directory File List
• How to Place Image on HTML5 Canvas
• Calculate The Points of an Equilateral Triangle
• Easy Expanding Menu Code
• Easy JavaScript Form Design
• Easy Expanding Banner Code