convert string to object

var theInputObj = eval("document.form1.input1");

... then you can do this:

alert( theInputObj.name );
alert( theInputObj.value );

etc

thanks, but i tried it and it didn't work.  when i pass the string to the eval function it return an object but when i do

theInputObj.value

it's undefine.  

thanks, but i tried it and it didn't work.  when i pass the string to the eval function it return an object but when i do

theInputObj.value

it's undefine.  

Can you show me the code you are using, including the HTML for the FORM and in INPUT?  Thanks

function calculate()
{
      var i, childString,total
      var childObject
      total = 0
      for(i= 1 ; i<=10; i++)
      {
      childString = "document.form1.child" + ("" + i) + "quan"
      childObject = eval(childString);
      total = total + childObject.value
      }
      document.form1.totalQuan.value = total;
}

this function call by submition of the form1 which has child1Quan, ..., child10quan in the form.  the form is really big, i don't think i should post it.

thank you.
 

"child1Quan" will be different than "child1quan" -- js is case sensitive.

Also, you should do this to calculate the total:

total += parseInt(childObject.value,10);

instead of  total = total + childObj.value   because childObj.value is a string, not a number.

... p.s.  use parseFloat if the value may contain decimals.

.. this assumes a form like this:

<FORM name='form1'>
<INPUT name='child1Quan' type='text'>
<INPUT name='child2Quan' type='text'>
<INPUT name='child3Quan' type='text'>
....
<INPUT name='child10Quan' type='text'>
</form>

thank you

su