html <input type="text" /> onchange event not working

Question

I am trying to do some experiment. What I want to happen is that everytime the user types in something in the textbox, it will be displayed in a dialog box. I used the onchange event property to make it happen but it doesn't work. I still need to press the submit button to make it work. I read about AJAX and I am thinking to learn about this. Do I still need AJAX to make it work or is simple JavaScript enough? Please help.

index.php

<script type="text/javascript" src="javascript.js"> </script>

<form action="index.php" method="get">
 Integer 1: <input type="text" id="num1" name="num1" onchange="checkInput('num1');" /> <br />
 Integer 2: <input type="text" id="num2" name="num2" onchange="checkInput('num2');" /> <br />
 <input type="submit" value="Compute" />
</form>

javascript.js

function checkInput(textbox) {
 var textInput = document.getElementById(textbox).value;

 alert(textInput); 
}

Answer 1

onchange is only triggered when the control is blurred. Try onkeypress instead.