Question

I have a situation where I have multiple drop down lists that are hidden or shown depending on the situation. I will always show one of the drop down lists.

So for example, I might have something like this:

<select name="number">
  <option value="1">1</option>
  <option value="11">11</option>
</select>

<select name="number">
  <option value="2">2</option>
  <option value="22">22</option>
</select>

<select name="number">
  <option value="3">3</option>
  <option value="33">33</option>
</select>

Depending on the scenario, one of the drop down lists will be shown whereas the other two will be hidden. Let’s say the first drop down list is shown and the other two are hidden. In my controller, I want to retrieve the select value of the drop down list that is not hidden. How would I ensure that the value of the parameter “number” is the one that is shown and not one of the hidden ones?

I could give each of the select elements a different name, but that would require extra logic behind the scenes. It may be the solution but I was just curious as to whether it was possible to give all three select elements the same name and still get the (visible) selected value.

Answer 1

You can try using jquery….

You may do the following….

1. Give the same class name to all the select elements like class=”number”

2. Then using jquery, you can cycle through the select elements and find the value of the one that is not hidden like

    $('.number').each(function(){
    if($(this).css(display) != 'none'){
     var value = $(this).val();
    }   });
   

and by the way.. i don’t think it’s good programming practice to have more than one element in a form with the same name..!!! 🙂