.serialize()
Categories: Helper Functions | Forms
.serialize()Returns: String
Description: Encode a set of form elements as a string for submission.
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.serialize()
version added: 1.0
The .serialize()
method creates a text string in standard URL-encoded notation. It operates on a jQuery object representing a set of form elements. The form elements can be of several types:
<form> <div><input type="text" name="a" value="1" id="a" /></div> <div><input type="text" name="b" value="2" id="b" /></div> <div><input type="hidden" name="c" value="3" id="c" /></div> <div> <textarea name="d" rows="8" cols="40">4</textarea> </div> <div><select name="e"> <option value="5" selected="selected">5</option> <option value="6">6</option> <option value="7">7</option> </select></div> <div> <input type="checkbox" name="f" value="8" id="f" /> </div> <div> <input type="submit" name="g" value="Submit" id="g" /> </div> </form>
The .serialize()
method can act on a jQuery object that has selected individual form elements, such as <input>
, <textarea>
, and <select>
. However, it is typically easier to select the <form>
tag itself for serialization:
$('form').submit(function() { alert($(this).serialize()); return false; });
This produces a standard-looking query string:
a=1&b=2&c=3&d=4&e=5
Warning: selecting both the form and its children will cause duplicates in the serialized string.
Note: Only "successful controls" are serialized to the string. No submit button value is serialized since the form was not submitted using a button. For a form element's value to be included in the serialized string, the element must have a name
attribute. Values from checkboxes and radio buttons (input
s of type "radio" or "checkbox") are included only if they are checked. Data from file select elements is not serialized.
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Serialize a form to a query string, that could be sent to a server in an Ajax request.
HTML:
<form> <select name="single"> <option>Single</option> <option>Single2</option> </select> <br /> <select name="multiple" multiple="multiple"> <option selected="selected">Multiple</option> <option>Multiple2</option> <option selected="selected">Multiple3</option> </select> <br/> <input type="checkbox" name="check" value="check1" id="ch1"/> <label for="ch1">check1</label> <input type="checkbox" name="check" value="check2" checked="checked" id="ch2"/> <label for="ch2">check2</label> <br /> <input type="radio" name="radio" value="radio1" checked="checked" id="r1"/> <label for="r1">radio1</label> <input type="radio" name="radio" value="radio2" id="r2"/> <label for="r2">radio2</label> </form> <p><tt id="results"></tt></p>
CSS:
body, select { font-size:12px; } form { margin:5px; } p { color:red; margin:5px; font-size:14px; } b { color:blue; }
Code:
function showValues() { var str = $("form").serialize(); $("#results").text(str); } $(":checkbox, :radio").click(showValues); $("select").change(showValues); showValues();