Question

I have had a hunt but can’t get this to work. If an input on a form is empty, it needs to have a value added to it, and then be submitted, if it already has a value, then it is submitted with that value.

Code so far

    <form name="form1" action="http://csster.com/generate.php" method="post" id="formit">
Name: <input name="name" type="text" /><br/>
Mothers Name: <input id="desti" name="mname" type="text" /><br/>
Fathers Name: <input name="fname" type="text" /><br/>
<input name="submit" type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>


    $("#formit").submit(function(){
        if($("#desti:empty").text('Australia'));
});

Check the fiddle

EDIT – Is it possible to make it so the added value is not visible before submitting, it may confuse people on the particular form.

Answer 1

You should use val method for form elements.

$("#formit").submit(function(){
    $("#desti").val(function(i, v){
        return $.trim(v) === '' ? 'Australia' : v;
    })
});

---

$("#formit").submit(function(){
    var $e = $("#desti");
    if ($e.val() === '') $e.val('Australia').addClass('aClass')
});