How to ensure a <select> form field is submitted when it is disabled?

Question

I have a select form field that I want to mark as "readonly", as in the user cannot modify the value, but the value is still submitted with the form. Using the disabled attribute prevents the user from changing the value, but does not submit the value with the form.

The readonly attribute is only available for input and textarea fields, but that's basically what I want. Is there any way to get that working?

Two possibilities I'm considering include:

• Instead of disabling the select, disable all of the options and use CSS to gray out the select so it looks like its disabled.
• Add a click event handler to the submit button so that it enables all of the disabled dropdown menus before submitting the form.

Answer 1

<select disabled="disabled">
    ....
</select>
<input type="hidden" name="select_name" value="selected value" />

Where select_name is the name that you would normally give the <select>.

Another option.

<select name="myselect" disabled="disabled">
    <option value="myselectedvalue" selected="selected">My Value</option>
    ....
</select>
<input type="hidden" name="myselect" value="myselectedvalue" />

Now with this one, I have noticed that depending on what webserver you are using, you may have to put the hidden input either before, or after the <select>.

If my memory serves me correctly, with IIS, you put it before, with Apache you put it after. As always, testing is key.

Answer 2

Disable the fields and then enable them before the form is submitted:

jQuery code:

jQuery(function ($) {        
  $('form').bind('submit', function () {
    $(this).find(':input').prop('disabled', false);
  });
});

Answer 3

I`ve been looking for a solution for this, and since i didnt find a solution in this thread i did my own.

// With jQuery
$('#selectbox').focus(function(e) {
    $(this).blur();
});

Simple, you just blur the field when you focus on it, something like disabling it, but you actually send its data.

Answer 4

I was faced with a slightly different scenario, in that I only wanted to not allow the user to change the selected value based on an earlier selectbox. What I ended up doing was just disabling all the other non-selected options in the selectbox using

$('#toSelect')find(':not(:selected)').attr('disabled','disabled');

Answer 5

Same solution suggested by Tres without using jQuery

<form onsubmit="document.getElementById('mysel').disabled = false;" action="..." method="GET">

   <select id="mysel" disabled="disabled">....</select>

   <input name="submit" id="submit" type="submit" value="SEND FORM">
</form>

This might help someone understand more, but obviously is less flexible than the jQuery one.

Answer 6

it dows not work with the :input selector for select fields, use this:

    jQuery(function() {

    jQuery('form').bind('submit', function() {
        jQuery(this).find(':disabled').removeAttr('disabled');
    });

    });

Answer 7

I use next code for disable options in selections

<select class="sel big" id="form_code" name="code" readonly="readonly">
   <option value="user_played_game" selected="true">1 Game</option>
   <option value="coins" disabled="">2 Object</option>
   <option value="event" disabled="">3 Object</option>
   <option value="level" disabled="">4 Object</option>
   <option value="game" disabled="">5 Object</option>
</select>

// Disable selection for options
$('select option:not(:selected)').each(function(){
 $(this).attr('disabled', 'disabled');
});

Answer 8

Just add a line before submit.

$("#XYZ").removeAttr("disabled");

Answer 9

The easiest way i found was to create a tiny javascript function tied to your form :

function enablePath() {
    document.getElementById('select_name').disabled= "";
}

and you call it in your form here :

<form action="act.php" method="POST" name="form_name" onSubmit="enablePath();">

Or you can call it in the function you use to check your form :)

Answer 10

Or use some JavaScript to change the name of the select and set it to disabled. This way the select is still submitted, but using a name you aren't checking.

Answer 11

I found a workable solution: remove all the elements except the selected one. You can then change the style to something that looks disabled as well. Using jQuery:

jQuery(function($) {
    $('form').submit(function(){
        $('select option:not(:selected)', this).remove();
    });
});

Answer 12

I whipped up a quick (Jquery only) plugin, that saves the value in a data field while an input is disabled. This just means as long as the field is being disabled programmaticly through jquery using .prop() or .attr()... then accessing the value by .val(), .serialize() or .serializeArra() will always return the value even if disabled :)

Shameless plug: https://github.com/Jezternz/jq-disabled-inputs

Answer 13

Based on the solution of the Jordan, I created a function that automatically creates a hidden input with the same name and same value of the select you want to become invalid. The first parameter can be an id or a jquery element; the second is a Boolean optional parameter where "true" disables and "false" enables the input. If omitted, the second parameter switches the select between "enabled" and "disabled".

function changeSelectUserManipulation(obj, disable){
    var $obj = ( typeof obj === 'string' )? $('#'+obj) : obj;
    disable = disable? !!disable : !$obj.is(':disabled');

    if(disable){
        $obj.prop('disabled', true)
            .after("<input type='hidden' id='select_user_manipulation_hidden_"+$obj.attr('id')+"' name='"+$obj.attr('name')+"' value='"+$obj.val()+"'>");
    }else{
        $obj.prop('disabled', false)
            .next("#select_user_manipulation_hidden_"+$obj.attr('id')).remove();
    }
}

changeSelectUserManipulation("select_id");

Answer 14

<select id="example">
    <option value="">please select</option>
    <option value="0" >one</option>
    <option value="1">two</option>
</select>



if (condition){
    //you can't select
    $("#example").find("option").css("display","none");
}else{
   //you can select
   $("#example").find("option").css("display","block");
}

Answer 15

Another option is to use the readonly attribute.

<select readonly="readonly">
    ....
</select>

With readonly the value is still submitted, the input field is grayed out and the user cannot edit it.

Edit:

Quoted from http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#adef-readonly:

• Read-only elements receive focus but cannot be modified by the user.
• Read-only elements are included in tabbing navigation.
• Read-only elements may be successful.

When it says the element may be succesful, it means it may be submitted, as stated here: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#successful-controls