Question

I have the following code that works each and every time an element change happens within my web form:

<!--

jQuery.support.cors = true; // needed for ajax to work in certain older browsers and versions

$(document).ready(function(){

    $(this).change(function(){
        alert('form element changed!');
    });

}); // end .ready()

//-->

What I have been struggling with is how to capture the form field element id, name and changed value when the change event is triggered.

Can anyone help me out on this?

Thanks!

** JAVASCRIPT FILE **

// Sarfraz
$(this).change(function(){
   var id, name, value;
   id = this.id, name = this.name, value = this.value;
    alert('id=' + id); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert('name=' + name); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert('value=' + value); // this returns 'undefined'
});
//

// rjz
$(this).change(function(){
  var $this = $(this),
    id = $this.attr('id'),
    name = $this.attr('name'),
    value = $this.val();

    alert(id); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert(name); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert(value); // this returns blank
});

// Jamie
$(this).change(function(){
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
    var name = $(this).attr('name');
    var value = $(this).attr('value');

    alert('id=' + id); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert('name=' + name); // this returns 'undefined'
    alert('value=' + value); // this returns 'undefined'
});
//

//James Allardice
$(this).change(function(e) {
    var elem = e.target;
    alert('elem=' + elem); // this returns 'objectHTMLTextAreaElement'
});
//

// Surreal Dreams
$("#my-form input").change(function(){
    alert('form element changed!');
    var value = $(this).val();
    var id = $(this).attr("id");
    var name = $(this).attr("name");

    alert(id); // nothing happens
    alert(name); // nothing happens
    alert(value); // nothing happens
});
//

//Jamie - Second Try
$('.jamie2').each(function() {
    $(this).change(function(){
        var id = $(this).attr('id');
        alert(id); // nothing happens
    });
});
//

Answer 1

As far as I understand it, this refers to a form element and you want to get a reference to the descendant of that form element which triggered the event.

If that’s right, you can use the target property of the event object:

$(this).change(function(e) {
    var elem = e.target;
});

Here’s a working example.

In the above code, elem will refer to the element which triggered the event. You can then access properties of that element, such as id:

$(this).change(function(e) {
    var elemId = e.target.id;
});