Question

very simple but guess what, not for me. I have a comma separated list like this: Option1,Option2,Option3 that I want to append to a <select> so it becomes <select><option>Option1</option><option>Option2</option><option>Option3</option></select>

I can “split” the list like this (inside a function that gets the list):

var optionsarray = $(this).val().split(',');

    $(optionsarray).each(function(i){
        var seloption = '<option value="'+optionsarray[i]+'">'+optionsarray[i]+'</option>'; 
    });

But now how do I append seloption to my select list. If I put

$('#selecttoappendto').append('<option value="'+optionsarray[i]+'">'+optionsarray[i]+'</option>');

or

$('#selecttoappendto').append(seloption);

inside the each loop nothing happens. Take it outside the each I can append say optionsarray[0], or optionsarray[1] etc. but I cannot get to append optionsarray[i] which ever way I do it (inside or outside the each). Help please – thanks in advance

Answer 1

Starting with an empty string, you can build a string in the loop usingt +=. Then .append() the string.

var optionsarray = $(this).val().split(',');

var seloption = "";

$.each(optionsarray,function(i){
    seloption += '<option value="'+optionsarray[i]+'">'+optionsarray[i]+'</option>'; 
});

$('#selecttoappendto').append(seloption);

or another option would be to build the elements separately, store them in a container, then append them from the container.

var optionsarray = $(this).val().split(',');

var temp_sel = $('<select>');

$.each(optionsarray,function(i){
    temp_sel.append('<option>',{text:optionsarray[i],
                                value:optionsarray[i]
                                });
});

temp_sel.children().appendTo('#selecttoappendto');

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Fixed missing () after children.