JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Name

TextArea — a multiline text input area

Inherits from

Node, Element, FormControl

Synopsis

A TextArea object represents an HTML <textarea> element that creates a multiline text input field, often within an HTML form. The initial content of the text area is specified as plain text between the <textarea> and </textarea> tags. You can query and set the displayed text with the value property.

TextArea is a form control element like Input and Select. Like those objects, it defines form, name, type, and value properties and the other properties and methods documented in FormControl.

Properties

In addition to the properties listed here, TextArea elements also define the properties of Element and FormControl and mirror HTML attributes with the following JavaScript properties: cols, maxLength, rows, placeholder, readOnly, required, and wrap.

string defaultValue

The initial plain-text content of the <textarea> element. When the form is reset, the text area is restored to this value. This property is the same as the textContent property inherited from Node.

unsigned long selectionEnd

Returns or sets the index of the first input character after the selected text. See also setSelectionRange().

unsigned long selectionStart

Returns or sets the index of the first selected character in the <textarea>. See also set Selection Range().

readonly unsigned long textLength

The length, in characters, of the value property (see FormControl).

Methods

In addition to the methods listed here, TextArea elements also implement ...