Question

0

Can I use JavaScript to set the 'name' attribute?

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 2] / answers: 1 / hits: 41404 / 15 Years ago, tue, september 1, 2009, 12:00:00

According to SitePoint (and my own experiments), the IE implementation of setAttribute() is buggy and unreliable.

Also according to SitePoint, the name attribute is read-only.

Is there another way I can set the name attributes on elements? I need this for use with radio buttons. If possible, I'd like a solution without jQuery, as I'm currently not using the library.

Thanks in advance!

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

lucillemariselal

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 108

Total Questions: 97

Total Answers: 119

Location: Thailand

Member since Thu, May 6, 2021

3 Years ago

answered 15 Years ago stacie · Accepted Answer

Sitepoint ~~lies~~is talking about a different usage of ‘name’ (see Anthony's comment). It's not read-only, it's just there's a long-standing IE bug (up to v7) where setting ‘name’ on form fields is only partially effective. Radio buttons in particular don't accept it properly.

The Microsoft-endorsed solution, as detailed here is to use a horrific misfeature of IE's version of the createElement call to set attributes at the same time:

var radio= document.createElement('<input type=radio name=test value=a />');

Probably a better way would simply be to use good old innerHTML, eg.:

var div= document.createElement('div');

div.innerHTML= '<input type=radio name=test value=a />';

var radio= div.firstChild;