HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 5th Edition

Multiple Choice Elements

Checkboxes and radio buttons give you powerful means for creating multiple-choice questions and answers, but they can lead to long forms that are tedious to write and put a fair amount of clutter onscreen. The <select> tag gives you two compact alternatives: pull-down menus and scrolling lists.

The <select> Tag

By placing a list of <option>-tagged items inside the <select> tag of a form, you magically create a pull-down menu of choices. Figure 9-2, earlier in this chapter, displays a <select> pull-down menu.

<select>

Function:

Creates single- and multiple-choice menus

Attributes:

class, dir, disabled, id, lang, multiple, name, onBlur, onChange, onClick, onDblClick, onFocus, onKeyDown, onKeyPress, onKeyUp, onMouseDown, onMouseMove, onMouseOut, onMouseOver, onMouseUp, size, style, tabindex, title

End tag:

</select>; never omitted

Contains:

select_content

Used in:

form_content

As with other form tags, the name attribute is required and used by the browser when submitting the <select> choices to the server. Unlike with radio buttons, no item is preselected, so if none is selected, no values are sent to the server when the form is submitted.

Otherwise, the browser submits the selected item or collects multiple selections, separated with commas, into a single parameter list and includes the name attribute when submitting <select> form data to the server.

The multiple attribute

To allow more than one option selection at a time, add the multiple attribute to the <select> ...