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Asked: 2026-05-11T11:24:50+00:00

I am basing my question and example on Jason’s answer in this question I

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I am basing my question and example on Jason’s answer in this question

I am trying to avoid using an eventListener, and just to call handleClick onsubmit, when the submit button is clicked.

Absolutely nothing happens with the code I have.

Why is handleClick not being called?

<html>   <head>     <script type='text/javascript'>       function getRadioButtonValue(rbutton)       {         for (var i = 0; i < rbutton.length; ++i)         {            if (rbutton[i].checked)             return rbutton[i].value;         }         return null;       }        function handleClick(event)       {         alert('Favorite weird creature: '+getRadioButtonValue(this['whichThing']));         event.preventDefault(); // disable normal form submit behavior         return false; // prevent further bubbling of event       }     </script>   </head> <body>     <form name='myform' onSubmit='JavaScript:handleClick()'>       <input name='Submit'  type='submit' value='Update' onClick='JavaScript:handleClick()'/>       Which of the following do you like best?       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='slithy toves' />Slithy toves</p>       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='borogoves' />Borogoves</p>       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='mome raths' />Mome raths</p>     </form> </body> </html>

edit:

Please do not suggest a framework as a solution.

Here are the relevant changes I have made to the code, which results in the same behavior.

      function handleClick()       {         alert('Favorite weird creature: '+getRadioButtonValue(document.myform['whichThing'])));         event.preventDefault(); // disable normal form submit behavior         return false; // prevent further bubbling of event       }     </script>   </head> <body> <form name='aye'>;       <input name='Submit'  type='submit' value='Update' action='JavaScript:handleClick()'/>       Which of the following do you like best?       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='slithy toves' />Slithy toves</p>       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='borogoves' />Borogoves</p>       <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='mome raths' />Mome raths</p>     </form>
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1 Answer

  1. In this bit of code:

    getRadioButtonValue(this['whichThing']))

    you’re not actually getting a reference to anything. Therefore, your radiobutton in the getradiobuttonvalue function is undefined and throwing an error.

    EDIT To get the value out of the radio buttons, grab the JQuery library, and then use this:

      $('input[name=whichThing]:checked').val()

    Edit 2 Due to the desire to reinvent the wheel, here’s non-Jquery code:

    var t = ''; for (i=0; i<document.myform.whichThing.length; i++) {      if (document.myform.whichThing[i].checked==true) {          t = t + document.myform.whichThing[i].value;      } }

    or, basically, modify the original line of code to read thusly: 

    getRadioButtonValue(document.myform.whichThing))

    Edit 3 Here’s your homework:

          function handleClick() {         alert('Favorite weird creature: ' + getRadioButtonValue(document.aye.whichThing));         //event.preventDefault(); // disable normal form submit behavior         return false; // prevent further bubbling of event       }     </script>   </head> <body> <form name='aye' onSubmit='return handleClick()'>      <input name='Submit'  type='submit' value='Update' />      Which of the following do you like best?      <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='slithy toves' />Slithy toves</p>      <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='borogoves' />Borogoves</p>      <p><input type='radio' name='whichThing' value='mome raths' />Mome raths</p> </form>

    Notice the following, I’ve moved the function call to the Form’s ‘onSubmit’ event. An alternative would be to change your SUBMIT button to a standard button, and put it in the OnClick event for the button. I also removed the unneeded ‘JavaScript’ in front of the function name, and added an explicit RETURN on the value coming out of the function.

    In the function itself, I modified the how the form was being accessed. The structure is: document.[THE FORM NAME].[THE CONTROL NAME] to get at things. Since you renamed your from aye, you had to change the document.myform. to document.aye. Additionally, the document.aye[‘whichThing’] is just wrong in this context, as it needed to be document.aye.whichThing.

    The final bit, was I commented out the event.preventDefault();. that line was not needed for this sample.

    EDIT 4 Just to be clear. document.aye[‘whichThing’] will provide you direct access to the selected value, but document.aye.whichThing gets you access to the collection of radio buttons which you then need to check. Since you’re using the ‘getRadioButtonValue(object)’ function to iterate through the collection, you need to use document.aye.whichThing.

    See the difference in this method:

    function handleClick() {    alert('Direct Access: ' + document.aye['whichThing']);    alert('Favorite weird creature: ' + getRadioButtonValue(document.aye.whichThing));    return false; // prevent further bubbling of event }
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