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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-10T19:12:26+00:00

currently I have a method of showing / hiding a div based on a

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currently I have a method of showing / hiding a div based on a form checkbox field as per below. What I do want however is to not use a form to show hide rather just call the show / hide function based on a simple on a link . I hope this makes sense what I am attempting to do. Any help /advice would be really valued!

<!-- Show hide-->
<script language="JavaScript">
function showhidefield()
{
if (document.goform.areas.checked)
{
document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "block";
document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "none";
}
else
{
document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "none";
document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "block";

}
}
</script>

<form name="goform" id="goform" action="xxxx" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">

<label><input name="areas" type="checkbox" onclick="showhidefield()" value="1"> Yes </label>

</form>

<div id="areaone" style="display:none;">
Area One
</div><!-- / Hideable area -->


<div id="areatwo" style="display:block;">
Area two
</div>

Changing the above so that rather than using a form checkbox to showhide, have a toggle effect based on event e.g.

<a href="xxx">Show Areaone / Hide Areatwo</a>

<a href="xxx">Show Areatwo / Hide Areaone</a>
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    General Approach

    The general approach is to use the onclick property of link tags. You can set this directly on the tag like this:

    <a onclick="showhidefield()" href="javascript:void(0);">Show/Hide</a>

    Example 1

    Here’s a full working example:

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <div id="areaone" style="display:none;">
      Area one
    </div>
    <div id="areatwo" style="display:block;">
      Area two
    </div>
    <script type='text/javascript'>
      function showOneHideTwo(){
          document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "block";
          document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "none";
      }

      function showTwoHideOne(){
          document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "none";
          document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "block";
      }      
    </script>
    <a onclick="showOneHideTwo()" href="javascript:void(0);">Show one / Hide two</a>
    <a onclick="showTwoHideOne()" href="javascript:void(0);">Show two / Hide one</a>
  </body>
</html>

    Example 2 (Better!)

    However, for a variety of reasons, it is preferable, if slightly less intuitive, to use javascript to set the onclick property instead of adding it to the html directly. Here is a better full working example:

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <div id="areaone" style="display:none;">
      Area one
    </div>
    <div id="areatwo" style="display:block;">
      Area two
    </div>
    <a id='showOneLink' href=''>Show one / Hide two</a>
    <a id='showTwoLink' href=''>Show two / Hide one</a>
    <script type='text/javascript'> <!-- This allows for better placement of the script as well... -->
      //Same functions as before
      function showOneHideTwo(){
          document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "block";
          document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "none";
      }

      function showTwoHideOne(){
          document.getElementById("areaone").style.display = "none";
          document.getElementById("areatwo").style.display = "block";
      }

      //this time, we set the onclick here
      //this is better form- it keeps the content (html) and the scripting (javascript) seperate
      document.getElementById("showOneLink").onclick = function(){showOneHideTwo(); return false;}
      document.getElementById("showTwoLink").onclick = function(){showTwoHideOne(); return false;}
    </script> 
  </body>
</html>
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