JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Name

Text — a graphical text input field

Availability

JavaScript 1.0; enhanced in JavaScript 1.1

Inherits from/Overrides

Inherits from Input, HTMLElement

Synopsis

                  form.name
                  form.elements[i]

Properties

Text inherits properties from Input and HTMLElement and defines or overrides the following:

value

A read/write string that specifies the text displayed in the text input field. This text may have been entered by the user, or it may be a default value specified by the document or by a script. The initial value of this property is specified by the value attribute of the <input> tag that defines the Text object. When the user types characters into the Text object, the value property is updated to match the user’s input. If you set the value property explicitly, the string you specify is displayed in the Text object. This property also specifies the string that is sent to the server when the form is submitted.

Methods

Text inherits the methods of Input and HTMLElement.

Event Handlers

Text inherits the event handlers of Input and HTMLElement and defines or overrides the following:

onchange

Invoked when the user changes the value in the Text element and moves the keyboard focus elsewhere. This event handler is not invoked for every keystroke in the Text element, but only when the user completes an edit.

HTML Syntax

A Text element is created with a standard HTML <input> tag:

<form>
    ...
  <input
    type="text"              // Specifies that this is a Text element
    [ name="name" ] // A name you can use later to ...