Question

Onfocus and Onblur

Asked by: design_web

I'm trying to use OnFocus and Onblur to focus on a textbox when I click in the field.  When I click in the textbox the value for the textbox disappears so I can type what I want to enter. The only problem is if I don't type anything in the textbox and  the value is displayed, I want to validate the textbox.  How can I stop the submission of the form when I don't enter text even though it still shows the value?

Javascript -

var textbox= document.getElementById ("textbox");
if (textbox.value == "") {
alert("You did not enter text in the textbox. Please enter before submitting form. \n");
textbox.focus();
return false;
}

HTML -

<input name="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(this.value=='Click here to type')this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='')this.value='Click here to type';">

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Asked On
2006-03-14 at 20:02:30ID21774160
Tags

javascript

,

onfocus

,

onblur

Topic

JavaScript

Participating Experts
5
Points
500
Comments
21

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Answers

 

by: knightEknightPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:07:44ID: 16191159

Do you mean this?

if ( textbox.value == ""   ||   textbox.value == ="Click here to type" )

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:10:57ID: 16191186

Hi design_web,

You could set-up a javascript variable.
Right when you start your <script>, you could put a variable like this: (make sure it is outside of the function so it doesnt get rewritten each time your function is called.  But you may want to write it to true everytime the function is called.)

var textboxChanged = false;

As soon as they focus, or on blur (I don't know your exact intent), you can change that textboxChanged to true.  Then before you submit just check that textboxChanged boolean.  How about it?

Joe P

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:14:43ID: 16191208

KnightEknight - sorry that didn't work.  

BogoJoker - Sorry but you need to write it out a little more for me to understand what you're saying.  

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:20:00ID: 16191235

Sure.  By the way Knight's would probably work.  And it is a short little hack which I suspect most programmers (myself included) do often.

In your javascript code, right where you have: (should be in header)
<script type="text/javascript"> or Language="javascript"
The next line write this:
var textboxChanged = false;

Modify your <input type="text"> to this:
<input name="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(!textboxChanged) textboxChanged = true; if(this.value=='Click here to type')this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='')this.value='Click here to type';">

Modify your javascript code:
> if (textbox.value == "")
To:
if (textbox.value == "" || textboxChange == false)

Hope that helps.

Joe P

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:28:21ID: 16191271

I set it up exactly how you have it and it says "textboxChanged is undefined".  

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:31:05ID: 16191284

is your var textboxChanged = false
in the <script>, in the <head>.
Undefined... makes me think it wasn't declared early enough.

Joe P

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:31:43ID: 16191288

I figured out the problem of why it was saying "textboxChanged is undefined".  

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:33:23ID: 16191303

alrighty, now does the rest work link you wanted?

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:34:29ID: 16191308

But it still doesn't validate the text box.  When Click here is displayed in the textbox it skips it and validates the form.  I don't want it to skip the textbox unless I type something in the text box.  


 

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:36:10ID: 16191315

When Click here is displayed in the textbox it skips it and validates the form.   I meant to say "When Click here is displayed in the textbox it skips the textbox and submits the form"

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:37:38ID: 16191320

You mean.
onBlur if the value is still "", alert them?

<input name="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(!textboxChanged) textboxChanged = true; if(this.value=='Click here to type')this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='') { alert("You must put a message in the textbox!"); this.value='Click here to type'; this.focus();">

Then go back to knight's quick solution:
if ( textbox.value == ""   ||   textbox.value == ="Click here to type" )

 

by: BogoJokerPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:39:08ID: 16191329

@ your previous comment
That should not have happened.

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:45:41ID: 16191343

Yes it's happening and stil happening after trying your previous comment.  

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-14 at 20:58:44ID: 16191395

I'm getting a syntax error on this

<input name="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(!textboxChanged) textboxChanged = true; if(this.value=='Click here to type')this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='') { alert("You must put a message in the textbox!"); this.value='Click here to type'; this.focus();">

 

by: RoonaanPosted on 2006-03-14 at 21:00:19ID: 16191401

You could try using

onblur="this.realValue=this.value;if(this.value=='') this.value='Click here to type';"

Then use this.realValue in your validation.

Also you could just check for this in your validation, like knightEknight mentioned:

if(value == "" || value.match(/^\s*Click here to type\s*$/i)) {
  //invalid
}

-r-

 

by: gam3r_3xtr3m3Posted on 2006-03-15 at 00:49:21ID: 16192258

the simplier, the better:

<script>
var textbox= document.getElementById("textbox");
function submitForm(){
if(textbox.value==""||textbox.value=="Click here to type"){
alert("You did not enter text in the textbox. Please enter before submitting form. \n");
textbox.focus();
return false;
}}
</script>
<form onSubmit="submitForm()">
<input name="textbox" id="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(this.value=='Click here to type'){this.value='';}" onblur="if(this.value==''){this.value='Click here to type';}" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

hope that helps,
gam3r_3xtr3m3

 

by: mplungjanPosted on 2006-03-15 at 00:50:15ID: 16192260

Seems we are going in circles
@gam3r_3xtr3m3 : you cannot do a getElementById before the element is rendered.

<html>
<head>
<script>
function validate(theForm) {
  if (theForm.textbox.value=='' || theForm.textbox.value==theForm.textbox.defaultValue) {
    alert("You did not enter text in the textbox. Please enter before submitting form. \n");
    theForm.textbox.focus();
    return false;
  }
  return true
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form onSubmit="return validate(this)">
<input name="textbox" type="text"
value="Click here to type"
onfocus="if (this.value==this.defaultValue) this.select()"
onblur="if (this.value=='') this.value=this.defaultValue">
<input type="submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

 

by: gam3r_3xtr3m3Posted on 2006-03-15 at 00:54:44ID: 16192276

oops sorry, just copy pasted some, place it inside the function:

<script>
function submitForm(){
var textbox= document.getElementById("textbox");
if(textbox.value==""||textbox.value=="Click here to type"){
alert("You did not enter text in the textbox. Please enter before submitting form. \n");
textbox.focus();
return false;
}}
</script>
<form onSubmit="submitForm()">
<input name="textbox" id="textbox" type="text" value="Click here to type" onfocus="if(this.value=='Click here to type'){this.value='';}" onblur="if(this.value==''){this.value='Click here to type';}" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-15 at 20:04:20ID: 16201936

Thanks to everybody who participated. Sorry I can't give points to everybody.  mplungjan made it the easiest to understand and it worked the first time.  

 

by: mplungjanPosted on 2006-03-15 at 23:51:44ID: 16202801

Thanks, however you CAN give points to everybody. There is a "split" link next to the accept...

 

by: design_webPosted on 2006-03-16 at 06:51:53ID: 16205439

Ok well that's my fault.  I didn't know I could split the points.  If this happens again, I'll make sure and split the points.  

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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