Question

This is my JavaScript code:

<script>
function change(name){
    var element = document.all.name.value;
}
</script>

It returns an error. How to pass to the function the element’s name in order to change its value?

Answer 1

For a quick fix:

var element = document.all[name].value;

But keep in mind this gets the value, not the element itself. To get the element, then change the value, do:

var element = document.all[name];
element.value = 'whee';

Also, you should consider using another way to access the elements instead of document.all. Look into using IDs instead of names with the document.getElementById() function. See this JavaScript best practices list.

As Peter Bailey points out in his answer, many HTML elements can have the same name. This is one reason why document.getElementById() is preferable: element IDs are unique (in valid HTML, of course).