For example I have a form like this:
<form method='post' action='someaction.php' name='myform'>
<input type='text' name='text1'>
<input type='text' name='text2'>
<input type='checkbox' name="check1">Check Me
<textarea rows="2" cols="20" name='textarea1'></textarea>
<select name='select1'>
<option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
<option value="saab">Saab</option>
<option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>
<input type='reset' value='Reset' name='reset'>
<input type='submit' value='Submit' name='submit'>
</form>
When I press Reset it empties all fields. But if I populate some fields using URL params and then press Reset, it only empties fields which I enter after form reload.
How can I empty all fields whether some fields are already populated at the time of form load.
Answer
As others pointed out, I think you should reconsider the need to blank the form. But, if you really need that functionality, this is one way to do it:
Plain Javascript:
function resetForm(form) {
// clearing inputs
var inputs = form.getElementsByTagName('input');
for (var i = 0; i<inputs.length; i++) {
switch (inputs[i].type) {
// case 'hidden':
case 'text':
inputs[i].value = '';
break;
case 'radio':
case 'checkbox':
inputs[i].checked = false;
}
}
// clearing selects
var selects = form.getElementsByTagName('select');
for (var i = 0; i<selects.length; i++)
selects[i].selectedIndex = 0;
// clearing textarea
var text= form.getElementsByTagName('textarea');
for (var i = 0; i<text.length; i++)
text[i].innerHTML= '';
return false;
}
Note that I commented out the case in which I clear the hidden inputs. Most of the time, this is not necessary.
For this to work, you need to call the function from the onclick handler of a button (or some other way), e.g. like this:
<input type='reset' value='Reset' name='reset' onclick="return resetForm(this.form);">
You can test it all here on jsFiddle.
If you use jQuery in your project, you can do this with much less code (and no need to change the HTML):
jQuery(function($) { // onDomReady
// reset handler that clears the form
$('form[name="myform"] input:reset').click(function () {
$('form[name="myform"]')
.find(':radio, :checkbox').removeAttr('checked').end()
.find('textarea, :text, select').val('')
return false;
});
});
Also, note that I do not clear the values of hidden inputs, check-boxes and radio buttons.
Play with this here.