SELECTNN 2   IE 3   DOM 1

The SELECT object reflects the SELECT element. This element is a form control that contains OPTION elements. Note that the innerHTML and innerText properties are not available on the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer 4.

 
HTML Equivalent
<SELECT>
 
Object Model Reference
NN [window.]document.formName.selectName
[window.]document.forms[i].elements[i]
IE [window.]document.formName.selectName
[window.]document.forms[i].elements[i]
[window.]document.all.elementID
accessKeyNN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a
 Read/Write
 

A single character key that brings focus to the element. The browser and operating system determine whether the user must press a modifier key (e.g., Ctrl, Alt, or Command) with the access key to bring focus to the element. In IE 4/Windows, the Alt key is required, and the key is not case sensitive. Not working in IE 4/Mac.

 
Example
document.entryForm.mySelect.accessKey = "n"
 
Value
Single alphanumeric (and punctuation) keyboard character.
 
Default None.
dataFldNN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a
 Read/Write
 

Used with IE 4 data binding to associate a remote data source column name with the selectedIndex property of the SELECT object. A DATASRC attribute must also be set for the element. Setting both the dataFld and dataSrc properties to empty strings breaks the binding between element and data source.

 
Example
document.forms[0].mySelect.dataFld = "choice"
 
Value
Case-sensitive identifier of the data source column.
 
Default None.
dataSrcNN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a
 Read/Write
 

Used with IE 4 data binding to specify the name of the remote ODBC data source (such as an Oracle or SQL Server database) to be associated with the element. Setting both the dataFld and dataSrc properties to empty strings breaks the binding between element and data source.

 
Example
document.forms[0].mySelect.dataSrc = "#DBSRC3"
 
Value
Case-sensitive identifier of the data source.
 
Default None.
disabledNN n/a   IE 4   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

Whether the element is available for user interaction. When set to true, the element cannot receive focus or be modified by the user. It is also not submitted with the form.

 
Example
document.forms[0].elements[3].disabled = true
 
Value
Boolean value: true | false.
 
Default false
formNN 2   IE 3   DOM n/a
 Read-only
 

Returns a reference to the FORM element that contains the current element (if any). This property is most often passed as a parameter for an event handler, using the this keyword to refer to the current form control.

 
Example
<SELECT NAME="units" onChange="recalc(this.form)">
 
Value
Object reference.
 
Default None.
lengthNN 2   IE 3   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

The number of OPTION objects nested inside the SELECT object. You can adjust this value upward or downward, but there is some browser-specific behavior to watch out for. To genuinely add options to a SELECT object, you must follow the browser-specific way of creating new OPTION objects (see the options object for details). If you set this property to a number smaller than its original value, OPTION objects are deleted from the bottom of the list. A value of zero does not cause the element to disappear, but there are no selectable options in the element.

 
Example
document.forms[0].mySelect.length = 3
 
Value
Integer.
 
Default None.
multipleNN n/a   IE 4   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

Whether the browser should render the SELECT element as a list box and allow users to make multiple selections from the list of options. By default the size property is set to the number of nested OPTION elements, but the value may be overridden with the size property setting. Users can select contiguous items by Shift-clicking on the first and last items of the group. To make discontiguous selections, Windows users must Ctrl-click on each item; Mac users must Command-click on each item. The multiple property has no effect when size is set to 1 to display a pop-up menu.

 
Example
if (document.entryForm.list3.multiple) {
    ...
}
 
Value
Boolean value: true | false.
 
Default false
nameNN 2   IE 3   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

The identifier associated with the form control. The value of this property is submitted as one-half of the name/value pair when the form is submitted to the server. Names are hidden from user view, since control labels are assigned via other means, depending on the control type. Form control names may also be used by script references to the objects.

 
Example
document.orderForm.payment.name = "credcard"
 
Value
Case-sensitive identifier that follows the rules of identifier naming: it may contain no whitespace, cannot begin with a numeral, and should avoid punctuation except for the underscore character.
 
Default None.
recordNumberNN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a
 Read-only
 

Used with data binding, returns an integer representing the record within the data set that generated the element (i.e., an element whose content is filled via data binding). Values of this property can be used to extract a specific record from an Active Data Objects (ADO) record set (see recordset property).

 
Example
<SCRIPT FOR="tableTemplate" EVENT="onclick">
    myDataCollection.recordset.absoluteposition = this.recordNumber
    ...
</SCRIPT>
 
Value
Integer.
 
Default None.
selectedIndexNN 2   IE 3   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

The zero-based integer of the option selected by the user. If the SELECT element is set to allow multiple selections, the selectedIndex property returns the index of the first selected item (see the selected property). You can use this property to gain access to the value or text of the selected item, as shown in the example.

 
Example
var list = document.forms[0].selectList
var listValue = list.options[list.selectedIndex].value
 
Value
Positive integer.
 
Default None.
tabIndexNN n/a   IE 4   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

A number that indicates the sequence of this element within the tabbing order of all focusable elements in the document. Tabbing order follows a strict set of rules. Elements that have values other than zero assigned to their tabIndex properties are first in line when a user starts tabbing in a page. Focus starts with the element with the lowest tabIndex value and proceeds in order to the highest value, regardless of physical location on the page or in the document. If two elements have the same tabIndex values, the element that comes earlier in the document receives focus first. Next come all elements that either don't support the tabIndex property or have the value set to zero. These elements receive focus in the order in which they appear in the document. A value of -1 removes the element from tabbing order altogether.

Note that the Macintosh user interface does not provide for giving focus to elements other than text and password INPUT fields.

 
Example
document.forms[0].choices.tabIndex = 6
 
Value
Integer.
 
Default None.
typeNN 3   IE 4   DOM 1
 Read-only
 

Returns the type of form control element. A SELECT object has two possible values, depending on whether the element is set to be a multiple-choice list. The value is returned in all lowercase letters. It may be necessary to cycle through all form elements in search of specific types to do some processing on (e.g., emptying all form controls of type "text" while leaving other controls untouched).

 
Example
if (document.forms[0].elements[3].type == "select-multiple") {
    ...
}
 
Value
Any of the following constants (as a string): button | checkbox | file | hidden | image | password | radio | reset | select-multiple | select-one | submit | text | textarea.
 
Default Depends on value of multiple.
valueNN n/a   IE 4   DOM 1
 Read/Write
 

Current value associated with the form control that is submitted with the name/value pair for the element. All values are strings, but they may represent other kinds of data, including Boolean and numeric values. Internet Explorer automatically stuffs the value property of the selected OPTION object into the SELECT object's value property.

 
Example
if (document.forms[0].medium.value == "CD-ROM") {
    ...
}
 
Value
String.
 
Default None.
blur( )NN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a

Removes focus from the current element and fires an onBlur event (in IE). No other element necessarily receives focus as a result.

 
Returned Value
None.
 
Parameters
None.
focus( )NN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a

Gives focus to the current element and fires the onFocus event (in IE). If another element had focus at the time, it receives an onBlur event.

 
Returned Value
None.
 
Parameters
None.
options[ ]NN 2   IE 3   DOM 1

An array of all OPTION objects contained by the current element. Items in this array are indexed (zero based) in source code order. For details on using this collection for adding and removing OPTION elements from a SELECT element in Internet Explorer, see the options object.

tags[ ]NN n/a   IE 4   DOM n/a

An array of all objects of a specific HTML tag type contained by the current element.

 
Syntax
selectObject.tags("tagName")[i].objectPropertyOrMethod