Question

I have multiple textareas in my HTML form followed by an edit link for each. When I click an
edit link, the corresponding textarea should be enabled. My code is as follows:

<script type="text/javascript">

    $(document).ready(function() {

        $(".edit").click(function(){
            $(this).attr("id").removeAttr("disabled");
        });

    });  

</script>

<textarea  id="txt1"  disabled="true"></textarea>
<a class="edit" id="txt1" >edit</a>

<textarea  id="txt2"  disabled="true"></textarea>
<a class="edit" id="txt2" >edit</a>

Why is the textarea not being enabled when the corresponding link is clicked?

Answer 1

ids can only be used once in a page. you can’t have 2 elements (or more) having the same id.

instead, do this:

<form id="myform">
    <!-- group each in divs -->
    <div>
        <textarea disabled="true"></textarea>
        <a class="edit">edit</a>
    </div>
    <div>
        <textarea disabled="true"></textarea>
        <a class="edit">edit</a>
    </div>
</form>
<script>
    $(function(){
        $('#myform').on('click','.edit',function(){ 
            $(this)                       //when edit is clicked
                .siblings('textarea')     //find it's pair textarea
                .prop("disabled", false)  //and enable
            return false;
        });
    });
</script>

if you can’t use divs, then you can use prev('textarea') instead of siblings('textarea') to get the preceding textarea.