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Setting focus to a specific text field?

Thread began 2/24/2010 11:00 am by Mikel Jones | Last modified 2/25/2010 5:51 am by Mikel Jones | 2938 views | 4 replies |

2/24/2010 11:00 am | #1 Mikel Jones

Setting focus to a specific text field?

Is there any way to set the focus when a page loads to have the input on a specific text field?

Example: When the user is directed to the login page I want the email address field to be selected and have the keyboard focus.

2/24/2010 11:59 am | #2 CraigRBeta Tester

i think you can do this with a bit of javascript.

to focus on a field called message, try this..

<script type="text/javascript">
function setFocus(){
document.getElementById("message").focus();
}
</script>
<body onload="setFocus()">

2/24/2010 12:23 pm | #3 Mikel Jones

Hmm... OK, that works on a test page but I now have another problem...

My body tag is located on a template and I don't have access to it on the page I need to set the focus on.

Or, to be more precise, I would like to dynamically set the control that gets the focus based on the page that is loading...

So... Can I put the java script code in the base template? Then I need a way to set the body tag on each page to the correct control for the page.

I think I would like to do something like the following in the body tag.
I know my syntax is not correct but you get the idea ...

First set a param $NameVar on the page that is loading to the control name.

<?php $NameVar = "message"; ?>

Then call the function with $NameVar as a param.

"<body <?php if( $NameVar <> null ) echo( onload="setFocus( $NameVar )" ); ?> >"

Sorry for the noob questions but I'm an old C++ guy and fresh into web development. I'm learning the code but Java Script has been down the priority list a bit. :) PhP, HTML, and XML among others have been quite enough to keep me busy so far.

...

2/24/2010 12:33 pm | #4 CraigRBeta Tester

not sure about a general solution, though i suppose you could store the name of the first field on a page in a database and retrieve the appropriate name at runtime. you could then pass this value into your function.

re your template issue, i remember a link i found a while ago about making the body tag editable.

i haven't tried it but here is a link...

1454.htm

2/25/2010 5:51 am | #5 Mikel Jones

I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to get with me on this. The tech support you guys provide on this forum is outstanding.

Anyway, after doing some research based on what you gave me as a starting point I came up with the following code that works for me.

The following javascript function "setFocus()" will set the focus and select the text in the first form element on a page if the page has at least one form and that form has at least one element.

<script type="text/javascript">
function setFocus()
{
if( (document.forms.length > 0) && (document.forms[0].elements.length > 0) )
{
document.forms[0].elements[0].select();
document.forms[0].elements[0].focus();
}
}
</script>

Then it's just a matter of putting the function in your base template and calling it from the onload portion of the body tag as you have already stated.

<body onload = "setFocus();">

Easy squeezy! Now every page that has an input form based on that template will set the focus to the first input box on the page. No more code more needed.

Thanks again for all your help. You guys rock!

- Mikel

...

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