Denotes one choice in a select element.
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HTML information
| Closing Tag | forbidden |
|---|---|
| CSS Display | block |
DOM Information
Inheritance Hierarchy
Members
The option object has these types of members:
Events
The option object has these events.
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| abort |
Fires when the user aborts the download. |
| blur |
Fires when the object loses the input focus. |
| change |
Fires when the contents of the object or selection have changed. |
| error |
Fires when an error occurs during object loading. |
| input |
Occurs when the text content of an element is changed through the user interface. |
| load |
Fires immediately after the client loads the object. |
| onselect |
Fires when the current selection changes. |
| readystatechange |
Fires when the state of the object has changed. |
| reset |
Fires when the user resets a form. |
| resize |
Fires when the size of the object is about to change. |
Methods
The option object has these methods.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| appendChild |
Appends an element as a child to the object. |
| applyElement |
Makes the element either a child or parent of another element. |
| clearAttributes |
Removes all attributes and values from the object. |
| click |
Simulates a click by causing the onclick event to fire. |
| cloneNode |
Copies a reference to the object from the document hierarchy. |
| compareDocumentPosition |
Compares the position of two nodes in a document. |
| componentFromPoint |
Returns the component located at the specified coordinates via certain events. |
| contains |
Checks whether the given element is contained within the object. |
| doScroll |
Simulates a click on a scroll bar component. |
| dragDrop |
Initiates a drag event. |
| getAdjacentText |
Returns the adjacent text string. |
| getAttribute |
Retrieves the value of the specified attribute. |
| getAttributeNode |
Retrieves an attribute object referenced by the attribute.name property. |
| getAttributeNodeNS |
Gets an attribute object that matches the specified namespace and name. |
| getAttributeNS |
Gets the value of the specified attribute within the specified namespace. |
| getBoundingClientRect |
Retrieves an object that specifies the bounds of a collection of TextRectangle objects. |
| getClientRects |
Retrieves a collection of rectangles that describes the layout of the contents of an object or range within the client. Each rectangle describes a single line. |
| getElementsByClassName |
Gets a collection of objects that are based on the value of the class attribute. |
| getElementsByTagNameNS |
Gets a collection of objects that are based on the specified element names within a specified namespace. |
| hasAttribute |
Determines whether an attribute with the specified name exists. |
| hasAttributeNS |
Determines whether an attribute that has the specified namespace and name exists. |
| hasAttributes |
Determines whether one or more attributes exist for the object. |
| hasChildNodes |
Returns a value that indicates whether the object has children. |
| insertAdjacentElement |
Inserts an element at the specified location. |
| insertAdjacentHTML |
Inserts the given HTML text into the element at the location. |
| insertAdjacentText |
Inserts the given text into the element at the specified location. |
| insertBefore |
Inserts an element into the document hierarchy as a child node of a parent object. |
| isDefaultNamespace |
Indicates whether or not a namespace is the default namespace for a document. |
| isEqualNode |
Determines if two nodes are equal. |
| isSameNode |
Determines if two node references refer to the same node. |
| isSupported |
Returns a value indicating whether or not the object supports a specific DOM standard. |
| lookupNamespaceURI |
Gets the URI of the namespace associated with a namespace prefix, if any. |
| lookupPrefix |
Gets the namespace prefix associated with a URI, if any. |
| mergeAttributes |
Copies all read/write attributes to the specified element. |
| msMatchesSelector |
Determines whether an object matches the specified selector. |
| normalize |
Merges adjacent DOM objects to produce a normalized document object model. |
| releaseCapture |
Removes mouse capture from the object in the current document. |
| removeAttribute |
Removes an attribute from an object. |
| removeAttributeNode |
Removes an attribute object from the object. |
| removeAttributeNS |
Removes the specified attribute from the object. |
| removeChild |
Removes a child node from the object. |
| removeNode |
Removes the object from the document hierarchy. |
| replaceAdjacentText |
Replaces the text adjacent to the element. |
| replaceChild |
Replaces an existing child element with a new child element. |
| replaceNode |
Replaces the object with another element. |
| setActive |
Sets the object as active without setting focus to the object. |
| setAttribute |
Sets the value of the specified attribute. |
| setAttributeNode |
Sets an attribute object node as part of the object. |
| setAttributeNodeNS |
Sets an attribute object as part of the object. |
| setAttributeNS |
Sets the value of the specified attribute within the specified namespace. |
| setCapture |
Sets the mouse capture to the object that belongs to the current document. |
| swapNode |
Exchanges the location of two objects in the document hierarchy. |
Properties
The option object has these properties.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
|
Retrieves a collection of attributes of the object. | |
|
Gets a value indicating whether the object can contain child objects. | |
|
Retrieves the value indicating whether the object can contain rich HTML markup. | |
|
Retrieves the number of immediate child nodes of the current element or a zero if the element does not contain any child nodes. childElementCount does not return all child nodes, only child nodes that are nodeType =1, or element nodes. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the class of the object. | |
|
Retrieves the height of the object including padding, but not including margin, border, or scroll bar. | |
|
Retrieves the distance between the offsetLeft property and the true left side of the client area. | |
|
Retrieves the distance between the offsetTop property and the true top of the client area. | |
|
Retrieves the width of the object including padding, but not including margin, border, or scroll bar. | |
|
Returns a reference to the constructor of an object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the rendering format for the data supplied to the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the source of the data for data binding. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the status of an option. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the reading order of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves a value that indicates whether the user can interact with the object. | |
|
Gets a reference to the first child in the childNodes collection of the object. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the first child element, or null if there are no child elements. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the form that the object is embedded in. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the string identifying the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the ordinal position of an option in a list box. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the HTML between the start and end tags of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the text between the start and end tags of the object. | |
|
Gets the value that indicates whether the user can edit the contents of the object. | |
|
Gets the value that indicates whether the user can interact with the object. | |
|
Retrieves the value indicating whether the content of the object contains one or more lines. | |
|
Retrieves whether a TextRange object can be created using the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves a value that you can use to implement your own label functionality for the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the language to use. | |
|
Gets a reference to the last child in the childNodes collection of an object. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the last child element or null if there are no child elements. | |
|
Retrieves the local name of the fully qualified XML declaration for a node. | |
|
Retrieves the namespace URI of the fully qualified XML declaration for a node. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the sibling element that immediately follows or null if the element does not have any sibling elements that follow it. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the next child of the parent for the object. | |
|
Gets the name of a particular type of node. | |
|
Retrieves the type of the requested node. | |
|
Gets or sets the value of a node. | |
|
Retrieves the height of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. | |
|
Retrieves the calculated left position of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the container object that defines the offsetTop and offsetLeft properties of the object. | |
|
Retrieves the calculated top position of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. | |
|
Retrieves the width of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the object and its content in HTML. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the text of the object. | |
|
Retrieves the document object associated with the node. | |
|
Retrieves the parent object in the object hierarchy. | |
|
Retrieves the parent object in the document hierarchy. | |
|
Retrieves the container object in the document hierarchy that can be used to create a TextRange containing the original object. | |
|
Retrieves the local name of the fully qualified XML declaration for a node. | |
|
Retrieves a reference to the immediately preceding sibling element or null if the element does not have any preceding siblings. | |
|
Gets a reference to the previous child of the parent for the object. | |
|
Retrieves the current state of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the role for this element. | |
|
Retrieves the scrolling height of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the distance between the left edge of the object and the leftmost portion of the content currently visible in the window. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the distance between the top of the object and the topmost portion of the content currently visible in the window. | |
|
Retrieves the scrolling width of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves whether the option in the list box is the default item. | |
|
Retrieves the ordinal position of the object, in source order, as the object appears in the document's all collection. | |
|
Sets an inline style for the element. | |
|
Retrieves the tag name of the object. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the text string specified by the option tag. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the text content of an object and any child objects. | |
|
Sets or retrieves advisory information (a ToolTip) for the object. | |
|
Retrieves an autogenerated, unique identifier for the object. | |
|
Retrieves the element's unique number. | |
|
Sets or retrieves the value which is returned to the server when the form control is submitted. |
Standards information
- HTML 4.01 Specification, Section 17.6
Remarks
You can create new option elements dynamically with the document.createElement method, but you cannot change properties until the new element is added to a select object. Or, you can create fully formed elements by using the Option object, as follows:
var opt = new Option( 'Text', 'Value', fDefaultSelected );
You can add option elements only to a select element that is located in the same window where the option elements are created.
Except for background-color and color, style settings applied through the style object for the option element are ignored. In addition, style settings applied directly to individual options override those applied to the containing select element as a whole.
Examples
This example uses the option element to create individual items in a drop-down list box.
<select id="oCars" onchange="fnChange()" size="1"> <option value="1">BMW</option> <option value="2">PORSCHE</option> <option selected="" value="3">MERCEDES</option> </select> <textarea id="oData"></textarea>
This example uses the options collection to append the selected item of the list box in a text area.
<script language="JavaScript">
function fnChange(){
oData.value+=oCars.options[oCars.selectedIndex].text + "\n";
}
</script>
See also
Build date: 11/28/2012
