HTML form readonly SELECT tag/input

Question

According to HTML specs, the select tag in HTML doesn't have a readonly attribute, only a disabled attribute. So if you want to keep the user from changing the dropdown, you have to use disabled.

The only problem is that disabled HTML form inputs don't get included in the POST / GET data.

What's the best way to emulate the readonly attribute for a select tag, and still get the POST data?

Answer 1

You should keep the select element disabled but also add another hidden input with the same name and value.

If you reenable your SELECT, you should copy its value to the hidden input in an onchange event and disable (or remove) the hidden input.

Here is a demo:

$('#mainform').submit(function() {
    $('#formdata_container').show();
    $('#formdata').html($(this).serialize());
    return false;
});

$('#enableselect').click(function() {
    $('#mainform input[name=animal]')
        .attr("disabled", true);
    
    $('#animal-select')
        .attr('disabled', false)
     .attr('name', 'animal');
    
    $('#enableselect').hide();
    return false;
});

#formdata_container {
    padding: 10px;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div>
    <form id="mainform">
        <select id="animal-select" disabled="true">
            <option value="cat" selected>Cat</option>
            <option value="dog">Dog</option>
            <option value="hamster">Hamster</option>
        </select>
        <input type="hidden" name="animal" value="cat"/>
        <button id="enableselect">Enable</button>
        
        <select name="color">
            <option value="blue" selected>Blue</option>
            <option value="green">Green</option>
            <option value="red">Red</option>
        </select>

        <input type="submit"/>
    </form>
</div>

<div id="formdata_container" style="display:none">
    <div>Submitted data:</div>
    <div id="formdata">
    </div>
</div>

Answer 2

We could also disable all except the selected option.

This way the dropdown still works (and submits its value) but the user can not select another value.

Demo

<select>
    <option disabled>1</option>
    <option selected>2</option>
    <option disabled>3</option>
</select>

Answer 3

You can re-enable the select object on submit.

EDIT: i.e., normally disabling the select tag (with the disabled attribute) and then re-enabling it automatically just before submiting the form:

Example with jQuery:

• To disable it:

  $('#yourSelect').prop('disabled', true);
  

• To re-enable it before submission so that GET / POST data is included:

  $('#yourForm').on('submit', function() {
      $('#yourSelect').prop('disabled', false);
  });
  

In addition, you could re-enable every disabled input or select:

$('#yourForm').on('submit', function() {
    $('input, select').prop('disabled', false);
});

Answer 4

another way of doing a readOnly attribute to a select element is by using css

you could do like :

$('#selection').css('pointer-events','none');

DEMO

Answer 5

Simple jQuery solution

Use this if your selects have the readonly class

jQuery('select.readonly option:not(:selected)').attr('disabled',true);

Or this if your selects have the readonly="readonly" attribute

$('select[readonly="readonly"] option:not(:selected)').attr('disabled',true);

Answer 6

I know that it is far too late, but it can be done with simple CSS:

select[readonly] option, select[readonly] optgroup {
    display: none;
}

The style hides all the options and the groups when the select is in readonly state, so the user can not change his selection.

No JavaScript hacks are needed.

Answer 7

<select id="countries" onfocus="this.defaultIndex=this.selectedIndex;" onchange="this.selectedIndex=this.defaultIndex;">
<option value="1">Country1</option>
<option value="2">Country2</option>
<option value="3">Country3</option>
<option value="4">Country4</option>
<option value="5">Country5</option>
<option value="6">Country6</option>
<option value="7" selected="selected">Country7</option>
<option value="8">Country8</option>
<option value="9">Country9</option>
</select>

Tested and working in IE 6, 7 & 8b2, Firefox 2 & 3, Opera 9.62, Safari 3.2.1 for Windows and Google Chrome.

Answer 8

Simple CSS solution:

select[readonly]{
    background: #eee;
    cursor:no-drop;
}

select[readonly] option{
    display:none;
}

This results in Select to be gray with nice "disable" cursor on hover
and on select the list of options is "empty" so you can not change its value.

Answer 9

Easier still: add the style attribute to your select tag:

style="pointer-events: none;"

Answer 10

[SIMPLEST SOLUTION]

Since the OP specifically asked that he does not want to disable the select element, here is what i use to make a select readonly

In html

<select style="pointer-events: none;" onclick="return false;" onkeydown="return false;" ></select>

THAT's IT

Explanation

• setting pointer-events to none disables the editing of the "select-element" with mouse/cursor events
• setting the onclick & onkeydown functions to return false disables the editing of the "select-element" with keyboard

This way you don't have to create any extra element, or disable/re-enable the element with javascript or messing with form-submission logic, or use any third party library.

Plus you can easily add css-styling like setting backgrouns-color to grey or text color to grey to imply that element is readonly. I haven't added that to code, since that is pretty specific to your site-theme

Or if you want to do it via javascript

let isReadOnly = true ;

selectElement.onclick = function () {
    return !isReadOnly ;
};
selectElement.onkeydown =function(){
    return !isReadOnly ;
} ;
selectElement.style.pointerEvents = isReadOnly ? "none" : "all" ;

Answer 11

Yet another more contemporary option (no pun intended) is to disable all the options of the select element other then the selected one.

note however that this is an HTML 4.0 feature and ie 6,7,8 beta 1 seem to not respect this.

http://www.gtalbot.org/BrowserBugsSection/MSIE7Bugs/OptionDisabledSupport.html

Answer 12

This is the best solution I have found:

$("#YourSELECTIdHere option:not(:selected)").prop("disabled", true);

The code above disables all other options not selected while keeping the selected option enabled. Doing so the selected option will make it into the post-back data.

Answer 13

A bit late to the party. But this seems to work flawlessly for me

select[readonly] {
    pointer-events:none;
}

Answer 14

In addition to disabling the options that should not be selectable i wanted to actually make them dissapear from the list, but still be able to enable them should i need to later:

$("select[readonly]").find("option:not(:selected)").hide().attr("disabled",true);

This finds all select elements with a readonly attribute, then finds all options inside those selects that are not selected, then it hides them and disables them.

It is important to separate the jquery query in 2 for performance reasons, because jquery reads them from right to left, the code:

$("select[readonly] option:not(:selected)")

will first find all unselected options in the document and then filter those that are inside selects with a readonly attribute.

Answer 15

If you disable a form field, this won't be sent when form is submitted. So if you need a readonly that works like disabled but sending values do this :

After any change in readonly properties of an element.

$('select.readonly option:not(:selected)').attr('disabled',true);

$('select:not([readonly]) option').removeAttr('disabled');

Answer 16

This is the simplest and best solution. You will set a readolny attr on your select, or anyother attr like data-readonly, and do the following

$("select[readonly]").live("focus mousedown mouseup click",function(e){
    e.preventDefault();
    e.stopPropagation();
});

Answer 17

Solution with tabindex. Works with select but also text inputs.

Simply use a .disabled class.

CSS:

.disabled {
    pointer-events:none; /* No cursor */
    background-color: #eee; /* Gray background */
}

JS:

$(".disabled").attr("tabindex", "-1");

HTML:

<select class="disabled">
    <option value="0">0</option>
</select>

<input type="text" class="disabled" />

---

Edit: With Internet Explorer, you also need this JS:

$(document).on("mousedown", ".disabled", function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
});

Answer 18

Set the select disabled when you plan for it to be read-only and then remove the disabled attribute just before submitting the form.

// global variable to store original event/handler for save button
var form_save_button_func = null;

// function to get jQuery object for save button
function get_form_button_by_id(button_id) {
    return jQuery("input[type=button]#"+button_id);
}

// alter value of disabled element
function set_disabled_elem_value(elem_id, value)  {
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).removeAttr("disabled");
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).val(value);
    jQuery("#"+elem_id).attr('disabled','disabled');
}

function set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic(msg) {
    // save original event/handler that was either declared
    // through javascript or html onclick attribute
    // in a global variable
    form_save_button_func = get_form_button_by_id('BtnSave').prop('onclick'); // jQuery 1.6
    //form_save_button_func = get_form_button_by_id('BtnSave').prop('onclick'); // jQuery 1.7

    // unbind original event/handler (can use any of following statements below)
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').unbind('click');
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').removeAttr('onclick');

    // alternate save code which also calls original event/handler stored in global variable
    get_form_button_by_value('BtnSave').click(function(event){
        event.preventDefault();
        var confirm_result = confirm(msg);
        if (confirm_result) {
            if (jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').filter(".disabled-form-elem").length > 0) {
                jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').filter(".disabled-form-elem").removeAttr("disabled");
            }

            // disallow further editing of fields once save operation is underway
            // by making them readonly
            // you can also disallow form editing by showing a large transparent
            // div over form such as loading animation with "Saving" message text
            jQuery("form.anyForm").find('input[type=text], textarea, select').attr('ReadOnly','True');

            // now execute original event/handler
            form_save_button_func();
        }
    });
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    // if you want to define save button code in javascript then define it now

    // code below for record update
    set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic("Do you really want to update this record?");
    // code below for new record
    //set_form_bottom_button_save_custom_code_generic("Do you really want to create this new record?");

    // start disabling elements on form load by also adding a class to identify disabled elements
    jQuery("input[type=text]#phone").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("input[type=text]#fax").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("select#country").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');
    jQuery("textarea#address").addClass('disabled-form-elem').attr('disabled','disabled');

    set_disabled_elem_value('phone', '123121231');
    set_disabled_elem_value('fax', '123123123');
    set_disabled_elem_value('country', 'Pakistan');
    set_disabled_elem_value('address', 'address');

}); // end of $(document).ready function

Answer 19

One simple server-side approach is to remove all the options except the one that you want to be selected. Thus, in Zend Framework 1.12, if $element is a Zend_Form_Element_Select:

 $value =  $element->getValue();
 $options = $element->getAttrib('options');
 $sole_option = array($value => $options[$value]);
 $element->setAttrib('options', $sole_option);

Answer 20

input being your <select> element:

input.querySelectorAll(':not([selected])').forEach(option => {
  option.disabled = true
})

This will keep the select in the data (as it's not disabled) and only the option that are not selected are disabled, therefore not selectable. The result is a readable select that cannot be changed (=> read only).

Answer 21

Following on from Grant Wagners suggestion; here is a jQuery snippet that does it with handler functions instead of direct onXXX attributes:

var readonlySelect = function(selector, makeReadonly) {

    $(selector).filter("select").each(function(i){
        var select = $(this);

        //remove any existing readonly handler
        if(this.readonlyFn) select.unbind("change", this.readonlyFn);
        if(this.readonlyIndex) this.readonlyIndex = null;

        if(makeReadonly) {
            this.readonlyIndex = this.selectedIndex;
            this.readonlyFn = function(){
                this.selectedIndex = this.readonlyIndex;
            };
            select.bind("change", this.readonlyFn);
        }
    });

};

Answer 22

Rather than the select itself, you could disable all of the options except for the currently selected option. This gives the appearance of a working drop-down, but only the option you want passed in is a valid selection.

Answer 23

What I found works great, with plain javascript (ie: no JQuery library required), is to change the innerHTML of the <select> tag to the desired single remaining value.

Before:

<select name='day' id='day'>
  <option>SUN</option>
  <option>MON</option>
  <option>TUE</option>
  <option>WED</option>
  <option>THU</option>
  <option>FRI</option>
  <option>SAT</option>
</select>

Sample Javascript:

document.getElementById('day').innerHTML = '<option>FRI</option>';

After:

<select name='day' id='day'>
  <option>FRI</option>
</select>

This way, no visiual effect change, and this will POST/GET within the <FORM>.

Answer 24

If you are using jquery validate, you can do the following below, I used the disabled attribute without a problem:

$(function(){
    $('#myform').validate({
        submitHandler:function(form){
            $('select').removeAttr('disabled');
            form.submit();
        }
    });
});

Answer 25

<select id="case_reason" name="case_reason" disabled="disabled">

disabled="disabled" ->will get your value from database dan show it in the form. readonly="readonly" ->you can change your value in selectbox, but your value couldn't save in your database.

Answer 26

If the select dropdown is read-only since birth and does not need to change at all, perhaps you should use another control instead? Like a simple <div> (plus hidden form field) or an <input type="text">?

Added: If the dropdown is not read-only all the time and JavaScript is used to enable/disable it, then this is still a solution - just modify the DOM on-the-fly.

Answer 27

What's the best way to emulate the readonly attribute for a select tag, and still get the POST data?

Just make it an input/text field and add the 'readonly' attribute to it. If the select is effectively 'disabled', then you can't change the value anyway, so you don't need the select tag, and you can simply display the "selected" value as a readonly text input. For most UI purposes I think this should suffice.

Answer 28

I resolved it with jquery:

      $("select.myselect").bind("focus", function(){
        if($(this).hasClass('readonly'))
        {
          $(this).blur();   
          return;
        }
      });

Answer 29

html solution:

<select onfocus="this.blur();">

javascript ones:

selectElement.addEventListener("focus", selectElement.blur, true); selectElement.attachEvent("focus", selectElement.blur); //thanks, IE

to remove:

selectElement.removeEventListener("focus", selectElement.blur, true); selectElement.detachEvent("focus", selectElement.blur); //thanks, IE

edit: added remove methods

Answer 30

In IE I was able to defeat the onfocus=>onblur approach by double-clicking. But remembering the value and then restoring it in the onchange event seems to handle that issue.

<select onfocus="this.oldvalue=this.value;this.blur();" onchange="this.value=this.oldvalue;">
....
</select>

You can do similar without expando properties by using a javascript variable.

Answer 31

Here's an attempt to use a custom jQuery function to achieve the functionality (as mentioned here):

$(function(){

 $.prototype.toggleDisable = function(flag) {
    // prepare some values
    var selectId = $(this).attr('id');
    var hiddenId = selectId + 'hidden';
    if (flag) {
      // disable the select - however this will not submit the value of the select
      // a new hidden form element will be created below to compensate for the 
      // non-submitted select value 
      $(this).attr('disabled', true);

      // gather attributes
      var selectVal = $(this).val();
      var selectName = $(this).attr('name');

      // creates a hidden form element to submit the value of the disabled select
      $(this).parents('form').append($('<input></input>').
        attr('type', 'hidden').
        attr('id', hiddenId).
        attr('name', selectName).
        val(selectVal) );
    } else {
      // remove the newly-created hidden form element
      $(this).parents('form').remove(hiddenId);
      // enable back the element
      $(this).removeAttr('disabled');
    }
  }

  // Usage
  // $('#some_select_element').toggleDisable(true);
  // $('#some_select_element').toggleDisable(false);

});

Answer 32

Simply, remove the disabled attribute before submit the form.

    $('form').submit(function () {
        $("#Id_Unidade").attr("disabled", false);
    });

Answer 33

    var selectedOpt;//initialize var
    var newIdForHidden;//initialize var
    $('.disabledOnEdit').focusin(function(){
        selectedOpt = $(this).find(":selected").val();
        newIdForHidden = $(this).attr('id')+'Hidden';
        //alert(selectedOpt+','+newIdForHidden);
        $(this).append('');
        $(this).find('input.hiddenSelectedOpt').attr('id',newIdForHidden).val(selectedOpt);
    });
    $('.disabledOnEdit').focusout(function(){
        var oldSelectedValue=$(this).find('input.hiddenSelectedOpt').val();
        $(this).val(oldSelectedValue);
    });

Answer 34

select multiple does not respond nearly as well to the above code suggestions. With MUCH sledgehammering and kludging, I ended up with this:

var thisId="";
var thisVal="";
function selectAll(){
    $("#"+thisId+" option").each(function(){
        if(!$(this).prop("disabled"))$(this).prop("selected",true);
    });
    $("#"+thisId).prop("disabled",false);
}
$(document).ready(function(){
    $("select option:not(:selected)").attr('disabled',true);
    $("select[multiple]").focus(function(){
        thisId=$(this).prop("id");
        thisVal=$(this).val();
        $(this).prop("disabled",true).blur();
        setTimeout("selectAll();",200);
    });
});

Answer 35

very simple. First store value in variable. Then on change event set value to stored variable that holds initial value of

I have a whose name is mapping. Then my code will be as follows;

$("document").ready(function(){ 
    var mapping=$("select[name=mapping]").val();
    $("select[name=mapping]").change(function(){
        $("select[name=mapping]").val(mapping);
    });
});

Answer 36

If you have a select tag that should be readonly you have to, logically, transform the select box in a single "text" field.

I say logically because it's like: "I have to display a value to user"

No matter if the value comes from a select tag, is still a single value and cannot be changed (readonly).

So, logically, you use a select tag only when you first insert the value.

Then, when you need to display this value, you have to put it on a "text field-readonly".

Same for a multiple-select that becomes a list of values (the selected value) if readonly

I use "text" because a readonly-tag doesn't need a "type" attribute. Cheers

Answer 37

I know this won't help everyone (if you are client side only) but will help some who are full stack and have control of backend as well as front.

If a user does not have priviledge to edit a field, I only return the current selection for the drop down.

Here is some of my backend controller:

        #region Prepare Action Priviledges
        editAuditVM.ExtAuditEditRoleMatrixVM = new ExtAuditEditRoleMatrixVM
        {
            CanEditAcn = _extAuditEditRoleMatrixHelper.CanEditAcn(user, audit),
            CanEditSensitiveDesignation = _extAuditEditRoleMatrixHelper.CanEditSensitiveDesignation(user, audit),
            CanEditTitle = _extAuditEditRoleMatrixHelper.CanEditTitle(),
            CanEditAuditScope = _extAuditEditRoleMatrixHelper.CanEditAuditScope(user, audit)
        };
        #endregion


        #region Prepare SelectLists for Drop Downs
        #region AuditScope List
        IQueryable<SelectListItem> auditScopes = _auditTypesRepo.AuditTypes
            .Where(at => at.AuditTypeClassCode.ToLower() == "e")
            .Select(at => new SelectListItem
            { Text = at.AuditTypeText, Value = at.AuditTypeID.ToString() });
        // Cannot make a select readonly on client side.
        //  So only return currently selected option.
        if (!editAuditVM.ExtAuditEditRoleMatrixVM.CanEditAuditScope)
        {
            auditScopes = auditScopes
                .Where(ascopeId => ascopeId.Value == editAuditVM.ExternalAudit.AuditTypeID.ToString());
        }
        #endregion
        #endregion

Answer 38

So for whatever reason all jquery based solutions mentioned here did not work for me. So here is a pure javascript solution which should also preserve the selected value when doing a POST.

setDropdownReadOnly('yourIdGoesHere',true/false)

    function setDropdownReadOnly(controlName, state) {
        var ddl = document.getElementById(controlName);

        for (i = 0; i < ddl.length; i++) {
            if (i == ddl.selectedIndex)
                ddl[i].disabled = false;
            else
                ddl[i].disabled = state;
        }
    }

Answer 39

My solution is to add select[readonly] { pointer-events: none; } style as many people here suggested, and then add this JS to handle keyboard events:

$(document).on('keydown', 'select[readonly]', function(e) {
    if (e.keyCode != 9) {
        if (e.preventDefault) {
            e.preventDefault();
        }

        e.returnValue = false;
        e.cancel = true;
    }
});

This still allows traversing through the element with tab.

Answer 40

Extract from https://stackoverflow.com/a/71086058/18183749

If you can't use the 'disabled' attribut (as it erases the value's input at POST), and noticed that html attribut 'readonly' works only on textarea and some input(text, password, search, as far I've seen), and finally, if you don't want to bother with duplicating all your select, checkbox and radio with hidden input logics, you might find the following function or any of his inner logics to your liking :

addReadOnlyToFormElements = function (idElement) {
    
        // html readonly don't work on input of type checkbox and radio, neither on select. So, a safe trick is to disable the non-selected items
        $('#' + idElement + ' select>option:not([selected])').prop('disabled',true);
    
        // and, on the selected ones, to mimic readOnly appearance
        $('#' + idElement + ' select').css('background-color','#eee');
    }

And there's nothing easier than to remove these readonly

removeReadOnlyFromFormElements = function (idElement) {

    // Remove the disabled attribut on non-selected 
    $('#' + idElement + ' select>option:not([selected])').prop('disabled',false);

    // Remove readOnly appearance on selected ones
    $('#' + idElement + ' select').css('background-color','');
}

Answer 41

This might be similar in a way with other solutions but is simplified to fewer lines.

Assuming there would be a jquery function that disables the target option...

$("select[id='country']").val('PH').attr("disabled", true);
$("select[id='country']").parent().append("<input type='hidden' id='country' value='PH'>");

And incase you want to re-enable the option...

$("select[id='country']").attr("disabled", false);
$("input[id='country']").remove();

Answer 42

This javascript find all 'select' with 'readonly' atribute, and then put disabled in the 'options' except the selected (for postback)

document.querySelectorAll("select[readonly] > option:not([selected])").forEach( (el) => el.setAttribute("disabled", "disabled") );

without readonly: <select>
  <option>1</option>
  <option selected>2</option>
  <option>3</option>
</select>

<br>
with readonly: <select readonly="readonly">
  <option>1</option>
  <option selected>2</option>
  <option>3</option>
</select>

Answer 43

Based on Yaje's answer, Armen's comment, and my own testing, I have found this workaround to create a readonly select which can be easily reverted back to non-readonly.

Code

function state_change(){
  var readonly_state = $('#your_decider_id').val()
  if (readonly_state == "locked"){
    $('#your_select_id').css('background-color', '#E9ECEF');
    $('#your_select_id').css('pointer-events','none');
    $('#your_select_id').attr('tabIndex',-1);
  } else {
    $('#your_select_id').css('background-color', '');
    $('#your_select_id').css('pointer-events','auto');
    $('#your_select_id').attr('tabIndex',0);
  }
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<select id="your_decider_id" onchange="state_change()">
  <option value="locked">Locked</option>
  <option value="unlocked">Unlocked</option>
</select>

<select id="your_select_id">
  <option value="option1">Option 1</option>
  <option value="option2">Option 2</option>
  <option value="option3">Option 3</option>
</select>

Explanation

The css('background-color', '#E9ECEF') sets the background color to grey so the select looks like it is in readonly state. However, you can still change the values.

The css('pointer-events','none') is then used to add the pointer-events: none; style to the <select> element. This means that the element cannot be targeted by mouse pointer, and thus, you cannot change the value using the mouse.

The attr('tabIndex',0) is then used to add the tabindex="-1" attribute to the <select> element. This means that the element is not reachable via sequential keyboard navigation, and thus, you cannot change the value using the keyboard.

Answer 44

Below worked for me :

$('select[name=country]').attr("disabled", "disabled"); 

Answer 45

I managed it by hiding the select box and showing a span in its place with only informational value. On the event of disabling the .readonly class, we need also to remove the .toVanish elements and show the .toShow ones.

 $( '.readonly' ).live( 'focus', function(e) {
                $( this ).attr( 'readonly', 'readonly' )
                if( $( this ).get(0).tagName == 'SELECT' ) {
                    $( this ).before( '<span class="toVanish readonly" style="border:1px solid; padding:5px">' 
                            + $( this ).find( 'option:selected' ).html() + '</span>' )
                    $( this ).addClass( 'toShow' )
                    $( this ).hide()
            }
    });

Answer 46

In an option you can use disabled="disabled", instead of on the select itself

Answer 47

Had same problem and found very useful property of form - submitdisabledcontrols.

Set that to True and disabled inputs are now POST.