change form.action while having another element named "action"

**gnznroses** · 10-26-2007, 09:56 PM

i need to change the action of my form like so:
document.regform.action = 'preregister.php';

the problem is, i have to have this also:
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="createnew">

it works fine in Firefox, but in IE, i get an error that the object doesn't support that method. i guess it's trying to change the hidden input (code works fine without that input).

surely there's a way to do this?
i've tried other means of changing the action, like:
document.getElementById('blah').action
or
document.forms[0].action

but same result with all.

**Twey** · 10-27-2007, 09:32 AM

I think you may have to resort to document.forms.regform.setAttribute('action', 'preregister.php'). The easiest solution, though, is of course to rename the "action" element.

**jscheuer1** · 10-27-2007, 01:43 PM

That seems reasonable, Twey. In testing here, it didn't pan out though. This little demo did:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<script type="text/javascript">
function chng_a(el){
for (var i = 0, a=[], p=el.form.elements; i < p.length; i++)
if(p[i].name&&p[i].name.toLowerCase()=='action')
a.push(p[i].parentNode.removeChild(p[i]));
el.form.action='http://www.google.com';
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++)
el.form.appendChild(a[i]);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form action="#" name="regform">
<div><input type="hidden" name="action" value="createnew">
<input type="button" onclick="chng_a(this);" value="Change Action"><br>
<input type="submit" value="Go!"></div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

**Twey** · 10-27-2007, 05:55 PM

However, that a) is a Horribly Ugly Hack©, and b) rearranges the form elements, something that's likely to have a less-than-pleasant effect on presentation unless every element is absolutely positioned (and if they all are, you've worse problems to worry about).

In testing here, it didn't pan out though.

You've been here long enough to know that this isn't very helpful in diagnosing a problem. Can you say what went wrong?

**jscheuer1** · 10-27-2007, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by Twey

However, that a) is a Horribly Ugly Hack©, and b) rearranges the form elements, something that's likely to have a less-than-pleasant effect on presentation unless every element is absolutely positioned (and if they all are, you've worse problems to worry about).

Good point about the rearrangement, but with what was put forward (a hidden element), it should be no problem as long as the form's elements aren't later referenced by number, something easy to avoid. However, if the layout must be preserved, the array could become multidimensional and store a reference to the element's position, so that it could be reinserted there.

I'm not sure how it is a hack though.

Originally Posted by Twey

You've been here long enough to know that this isn't very helpful in diagnosing a problem. Can you say what went wrong?

I thought that should have been obvious. To wit, the setAttribute method, although specifically designed to seek out an attribute and not an element, nevertheless found only the element in IE 7 (and in Opera 9.01).

As a side note, I tried (and discarded):

Code:

for (var i in el.form)
if(i=='action')
el.form[i]='new_url';

Because only IE saw two i=='action' members of the form, but even so, when it went to access either of them, accessed only the element. Opera and FF saw and accessed only one, the element.

**Twey** · 10-27-2007, 08:43 PM

I'm not sure how it is a hack though.

Removing every element with a name of "action", accessing the property, then putting them all back in?

Originally Posted by the Jargon File

1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.

**jscheuer1** · 10-27-2007, 08:53 PM

There is only one.

**Twey** · 10-27-2007, 09:42 PM

In this case. It still requires three lines of code and a considerably greater amount of resources in order to perform a single assignment, as well as being a workaround that shouldn't be necessary, for an issue that shouldn't exist (it being the result of a misguided "shortcut").

**jscheuer1** · 10-27-2007, 10:09 PM

Yes, the name 'action' should be avoided in the first place, even if that means changing other code extensively. Here's a better method than removing the node though:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<script type="text/javascript">
function chng_a(el){
for (var i = 0, a=[], p=el.form.elements; i < p.length; i++)
if(p[i].name&&p[i].name.toLowerCase()=='action'){
a.push([p[i], p[i].name]);
p[i].removeAttribute('name', 0);
}
el.form.action='http://www.google.com';
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++)
a[i][0].setAttribute('name', a[i][1], 0);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form action="#" name="regform">
<div><input type="hidden" name="action" value="createnew">
<input type="button" onclick="chng_a(this);" value="Change Action"><br>
<input type="submit" value="Go!"></div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

**Twey** · 10-27-2007, 10:35 PM

Somewhat better, yes.

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