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HTML

Posted by paul cullum
paul cullum
2,382 Points

Javascript GetElementById of a textbox

hi i have been trying to get the value entered in a text box by running this function but with no luck , where am i going wrong please?

var textbox = document.getElementsByName('paul').value;
function myFunction(){

    alert('you typed - '  + textbox);

}

I run this function in html through the onClick method, i appreciate the help all i get back is undefined every time :(

1 Answer

Matt West
Matt West
14,545 Points
Matt West
Matt West
14,545 Points

Hi Paul,

The code you posted uses getElementsByName which returns an array of elements (even if there is just one element that matches).

You either need to select the first element in the array...

var textbox = document.getElementsByName('paul')[0].value;

... or you could just use getElementById

var textbox = document.getElementsById('paul').value;

I'd recommend using the later.

Hope this helps :)