form serialize javascript (no framework)

Question

Wondering is there a function in javascript without jquery or any framework that allows me to serialize the form and access the serialized version?

Answer 1

Improving upon David Lemon's answer.

This converts form data to JSON and allows you to set the form from a data object.

const main = () => {
  const form = document.forms['info'];
  const data = {
    "user_name"       : "John",
    "user_email"      : "john@jonhson.com",
    "user_created"    : "2020-03-24",
    "user_age"        : 42,
    "user_subscribed" : true,
    "user_interests"  : "sports",
    "user_message"    : "Hello My Friend"
  };

  populateForm(form, data);
  updateJsonView(form);
  form.addEventListener('change', (e) => updateJsonView(form));
}

const getFieldValue = (field, opts) => {
  let type = field.getAttribute('type');
  if (type) {
    switch (type) {
      case 'checkbox':
        return field.checked;
      case 'number':
        return field.value.includes('.')
          ? parseFloat(field.value)
          : parseInt(field.value, 10);
    }
  }
  if (opts && opts[field.name] && opts[field.name].type) {
    switch (opts[field.name].type) {
      case 'int':
        return parseInt(field.value, 10);
      case 'float':
        return parseFloat(field.value);
    }
  }
  return field.value;
}

const setFieldValue = (field, value) => {
  let type = field.getAttribute('type');
  if (type) {
    switch (type) {
      case 'checkbox':
        field.checked = value;
        break;
      default:
        field.value = value;
        break;
    }
  } else {
    field.value = value;
  }
}

const extractFormData = (form, opts) => {
  return Array.from(form.elements).reduce((data, element) => {
    return Object.assign(data, { [element.name] : getFieldValue(element, opts) });
  }, {});
};

const populateForm = (form, data) => {
  return Array.from(form.elements).forEach((element) => {
    setFieldValue(element, data[element.name]);
  });
};

const updateJsonView = (form) => {
  let fieldOptions = {};
  let formData = extractFormData(form, fieldOptions);
  let serializedData = JSON.stringify(formData, null, 2);
  document.querySelector('.json-view').textContent = serializedData;
};

main();

.form-field {
  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
}

.form-field label {
  display: inline-block;
  font-weight: bold;
  width: 7em;
  vertical-align: top;
}

.json-view {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0.667em;
  right: 0.667em;
  border: thin solid grey;
  padding: 0.5em;
  white-space: pre;
  font-family: monospace;
  overflow: scroll-y;
  max-height: 100%;
}

  

    Name:
    
  
  

    E-mail:
    
  
  

    Date of Birth:
    
  
  

    Age:
    
  
  

    Subscribe:
    
  
  

    Interest:
    
      - None -
      Drums
      Javascript
      Sports
      Trekking
    
  
  

    Message: