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mcarter1953Flag for United States of America

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Javascript issue with document.forms function

I'm having an issue with the document.forms function in this java-script , but I cannot seem to find the issue.  This is my first foray into any real java-script.   the first drop down to field translation works correctly, but none of the additional fields will auto populate with the defined value.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

<head>
<title>TEST</title>
</head>

<body>

<script type="text/javascript">
if(window.addEventListener){
window.addEventListener('load',switchme,false);
}
else { 
if(window.attachEvent){
window.attachEvent('onload',switchme);
}
}

function switchme(){
df=document.forms[0];
df[0].onchange=function(){
switch(this.value) {
case 'A':
df[1].value='Item  1';
break;
case 'B':
df[1].value='Item  2';
break;
case 'C':
df[1].value='Item  3';
break;
case 'D':
df[1].value='Option 1';
break;
case 'E':
df[1].value='Option 2';
break;
default:
df[1].value='';
break;
}
}
}
</script>

<form action="#" method="get">
<div>
	<table align="center" style="width: 500px">
		<tr>
			<td>
<select name="1type">
<option value="[none]" selected="selected">---</option>
	<option value="A">Item</option>
	<option value="D">Option ?</option>
	<option value="E">Option ?</option>
</select></td>
			<td>
<input name="1value" type="text"/>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
<select name="2type">
<option value="[none]" selected="selected">---</option>
	<option value="B">Item</option>
	<option value="D">Option ?</option>
	<option value="E">Option ?</option>
</select></td>
			<td>
<input name="2value" type="text"/>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
<select name="3type">
<option value="[none]" selected="selected">---</option>
	<option value="C">Item</option>
	<option value="D">Option ?</option>
	<option value="E">Option ?</option>
</select></td>
			<td>
<input name="3value" type="text"/>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</table>
</div>
</form>

</body>

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Avatar of leakim971
leakim971
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the onchange attribute is only set to the first dropdown (form element with index 0)
the first dropdown have options with the following value : A,D and E

your switch only change the value of the second textbox (form element with index 1)

so everything run fine
if you want to handle onchange event for the other dropdown set :
df[2].onchange (the second dropdown)
and
df[4].onchange (the third dropdown)
document.forms[0]

refers to the first <FORM> in your document. From what I can guess, what you are interested in is in the onchange event of the SELECT lists:
function switchme(){
	var df=document.forms[0].getElementsByTagName('SELECT');
	df[0].onchange=function(){
		alert( 'selected ' + this.value )

//it's not clear to me what you are trying to do in the switch
//otherwise I would offer more help
		switch(this.value) {
		case 'A':
			df[1].value='Item  1';
			break;
		case 'B':
			df[1].value='Item  2';
			break;
		case 'C':
			df[1].value='Item  3';
			break;
		case 'D':
			df[1].value='Option 1';
			break;
		case 'E':
			df[1].value='Option 2';
			break;
		default:
			df[1].value='';
			break;
		}
	}
}

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read comments in code and try it:
function switchme(){
	//here f will hold a reference to the <FORM> object
	var f=document.forms[0];

	//get an array of your selects
	var selectList=f.getElementsByTagName('SELECT');

	//iterate through list and attach the onchange to each of them
	for(var i=0,limit=selectList.length; i < limit; ++i)
	{
		selectList[i].onchange=function(){
			//when your selected item is from list name="1type", then prefix will have 1
			//when your selected item is from list name="2type", then prefix will have 2
			//when your selected item is from list name="3type", then prefix will have 3
			var prefix=this.name.charAt(0);

    		switch(this.value) {
	    		case 'A':
					//again f is a reference to <FORM>
					//since the form contains <input name="1value"..>
					//you can access/reference THAT specific input with:
					//	f['1value']
					//If you want to set the value of THAT input to say 3, then 
					//just append the ".value" attribute and assign it 3
					//	f['1value'].value=3
					//Knowing that, you can then just dynamically "construct" the "1value"
					//by using the prefix variable above, which leads you to the statement below
					//and now it works for all the selects
    				f[prefix+'value'].value='Item  1';

    				break;

					//the comments in case 'A' apply to the rest
    			case 'B':
    				f[prefix+'value'].value='Item  2';
	    			break;
    			case 'C':
    				f[prefix+'value'].value='Item  3';
    				break;
	    		case 'D':
    				f[ prefix+'value'].value='Option 1';
    				break;
    			case 'E':
    				f[prefix+'value'].value='Option 2';
	    			break;
    			default:
    				f[prefix+'value'].value='';
    				break;
    		}
		}
	}
}

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of leakim971
leakim971
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ASKER

thanks for the help, great fix :)