I have a survey on a website, and there seems to be some issues with the users hitting enter (I don't know why) and accidentally submitting the survey (form) without clicking the submit button. Is there a way to prevent this?
I'm using HTML, PHP 5.2.9, and jQuery on the survey.
You can use a method such as
$(document).ready(function() {
$(window).keydown(function(event){
if(event.keyCode == 13) {
event.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
});
In reading the comments on the original post, to make it more usable and allow people to press Enter if they have completed all the fields:
function validationFunction() {
$('input').each(function() {
...
}
if(good) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
$(document).ready(function() {
$(window).keydown(function(event){
if( (event.keyCode == 13) && (validationFunction() == false) ) {
event.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
});
Disallow enter key anywhere
If you don't have a <textarea> in your form, then just add the following to your <form>:
<form ... onkeydown="return event.key != 'Enter';">
Or with jQuery:
$(document).on("keydown", "form", function(event) {
return event.key != "Enter";
});
This will cause that every key press inside the form will be checked on the key. If it is not Enter, then it will return true and anything continue as usual. If it is Enter, then it will return false and anything will stop immediately, so the form won't be submitted.
The keydown event is preferred over keyup as the keyup is too late to block form submit. Historically there was also the keypress, but this is deprecated, as is the KeyboardEvent.keyCode. You should use KeyboardEvent.key instead which returns the name of the key being pressed. When Enter is checked, then this would check 13 (normal enter) as well as 108 (numpad enter).
Note that $(window) as suggested in some other answers instead of $(document) doesn't work for keydown/keyup in IE<=8, so that's not a good choice if you're like to cover those poor users as well.
Allow enter key on textareas only
If you have a <textarea> in your form (which of course should accept the Enter key), then add the keydown handler to every individual input element which isn't a <textarea>.
<input ... onkeydown="return event.key != 'Enter';">
<select ... onkeydown="return event.key != 'Enter';">
...
To reduce boilerplate, this is better to be done with jQuery:
$(document).on("keydown", ":input:not(textarea)", function(event) {
return event.key != "Enter";
});
If you have other event handler functions attached on those input elements, which you'd also like to invoke on enter key for some reason, then only prevent event's default behavior instead of returning false, so it can properly propagate to other handlers.
$(document).on("keydown", ":input:not(textarea)", function(event) {
if (event.key == "Enter") {
event.preventDefault();
}
});
Allow enter key on textareas and submit buttons only
If you'd like to allow enter key on submit buttons <input|button type="submit"> too, then you can always refine the selector as below.
$(document).on("keydown", ":input:not(textarea):not(:submit)", function(event) {
// ...
});
Note that input[type=text] as suggested in some other answers doesn't cover those HTML5 non-text inputs, so that's not a good selector.
Section 4.10.22.2 Implicit submission of the W3C HTML5 spec says:
A form element's default button is the first submit button in tree order whose form owner is that form element.
If the user agent supports letting the user submit a form implicitly (for example, on some platforms hitting the "enter" key while a text field is focused implicitly submits the form), then doing so for a form whose default button has a defined activation behavior must cause the user agent to run synthetic click activation steps on that default button.
Note: Consequently, if the default button is disabled, the form is not submitted when such an implicit submission mechanism is used. (A button has no activation behavior when disabled.)
Therefore, a standards-compliant way to disable any implicit submission of the form is to place a disabled submit button as the first submit button in the form:
<form action="...">
<!-- Prevent implicit submission of the form -->
<button type="submit" disabled style="display: none" aria-hidden="true"></button>
<!-- ... -->
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
One nice feature of this approach is that it works without JavaScript; whether or not JavaScript is enabled, a standards-conforming web browser is required to prevent implicit form submission.
If you use a script to do the actual submit, then you can add "return false" line to the onsubmit handler like this:
<form onsubmit="return false;">
Calling submit() on the form from JavaScript will not trigger the event.
I had to catch all three events related to pressing keys in order to prevent the form from being submitted:
var preventSubmit = function(event) {
if(event.keyCode == 13) {
console.log("caught ya!");
event.preventDefault();
//event.stopPropagation();
return false;
}
}
$("#search").keypress(preventSubmit);
$("#search").keydown(preventSubmit);
$("#search").keyup(preventSubmit);
You can combine all the above into a nice compact version:
$('#search').bind('keypress keydown keyup', function(e){
if(e.keyCode == 13) { e.preventDefault(); }
});
Use:
$(document).on('keyup keypress', 'form input[type="text"]', function(e) {
if(e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
This solution works on all forms on a website (also on forms inserted with Ajax), preventing only Enters in input texts. Place it in a document ready function, and forget this problem for a life.
Instead of preventing users from pressing Enter, which may seem unnatural, you can leave the form as is and add some extra client-side validation: When the survey is not finished the result is not sent to the server and the user gets a nice message telling what needs to be finished to complete the form. If you are using jQuery, try the Validation plugin:
http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation
This will require more work than catching the Enter button, but surely it will provide a richer user experience.
I can't comment yet, so I'll post a new answer
Accepted answer is ok-ish, but it wasn't stopping submit on numpad enter. At least in current version of Chrome. I had to alter the keycode condition to this, then it works.
if(event.keyCode == 13 || event.keyCode == 169) {...}
A nice simple little jQuery solution:
$("form").bind("keypress", function (e) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
return false;
}
});
A completely different approach:
The first <button type="submit"> in the form will be activated on pressing Enter.
This is true even if the button is hidden with style="display:none;
The script for that button can return false, which aborts the submission process.
You can still have another <button type=submit> to submit the form. Just return true to cascade the submission.
Pressing Enter while the real submit button is focussed will activate the real submit button.
Pressing Enter inside <textarea> or other form controls will behave as normal.
Pressing Enter inside <input> form controls will trigger the first <button type=submit>, which returns false, and thus nothing happens.
Thus:
<form action="...">
<!-- insert this next line immediately after the <form> opening tag -->
<button type=submit onclick="return false;" style="display:none;"></button>
<!-- everything else follows as normal -->
<!-- ... -->
<button type=submit>Submit</button>
</form>
It is my solution to reach the goal,
it is clean and effective.
$('form').submit(function () {
if ($(document.activeElement).attr('type') == 'submit')
return true;
else return false;
});
You can also use javascript:void(0) to prevent form submission.
<form action="javascript:void(0)" method="post">
<label for="">Search</label>
<input type="text">
<button type="sybmit">Submit</button>
</form>
<form action="javascript:void(0)" method="post">
<label for="">Search</label>
<input type="text">
<button type="sybmit">Submit</button>
</form>
Not putting a submit button could do. Just put a script to the input (type=button) or add eventListener if you want it to submit the data in the form.
Rather use this
<input type="button" onclick="event.preventDefault();this.closest('form').submit();">
than using this
<input type="submit">
Note: onclick is needed here to actually submit the form when clicked. By default, type="button" is not sufficient enough to submit.
Giving the form an action of 'javascript:void(0);' seems to do the trick
<form action="javascript:void(0);">
<input type="text" />
</form>
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$(window).keydown(function(event){
if(event.keyCode == 13) {
alert('Hello');
}
});
});
</script>
Do not use type="submit" for inputs or buttons.
Use type="button" and use js [Jquery/angular/etc] to submit form to server.
This is the perfect way, You will not be redirected from your page
$('form input').keydown(function (e) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
I needed to prevent only specific inputs from submitting, so I used a class selector, to let this be a "global" feature wherever I need it.
<input id="txtEmail" name="txtEmail" class="idNoEnter" .... />
And this jQuery code:
$('.idNoEnter').keydown(function (e) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
}
});
Alternatively, if keydown is insufficient:
$('.idNoEnter').on('keypress keydown keyup', function (e) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
}
});
Some notes:
Modifying various good answers here, the Enter key seems to work for keydown on all the browsers. For the alternative, I updated bind() to the on() method.
I'm a big fan of class selectors, weighing all the pros and cons and performance discussions. My naming convention is 'idSomething' to indicate jQuery is using it as an id, to separate it from CSS styling.
You could make a JavaScript method to check to see if the Enter key was hit, and if it is, to stop the submit.
<script type="text/javascript">
function noenter() {
return !(window.event && window.event.keyCode == 13); }
</script>
Just call that on the submit method.
There are many good answers here already, I just want to contribute something from a UX perspective. Keyboard controls in forms are very important.
The question is how to disable from submission on keypress Enter. Not how to ignore Enter in an entire application. So consider attaching the handler to a form element, not the window.
Disabling Enter for form submission should still allow the following:
Form submission via Enter when submit button is focused.
Form submission when all fields are populated.
Interaction with non-submit buttons via Enter.
This is just boilerplate but it follows all three conditions.
$('form').on('keypress', function(e) {
// Register keypress on buttons.
$attr = $(e.target).attr('type');
$node = e.target.nodeName.toLowerCase();
if ($attr === 'button' || $attr === 'submit' || $node === 'textarea') {
return true;
}
// Ignore keypress if all fields are not populated.
if (e.which === 13 && !fieldsArePopulated(this)) {
return false;
}
});
ONLY BLOCK SUBMIT but not other, important functionality of enter key, such as creating a new paragraph in a <textarea>:
window.addEventListener('keydown', function(event) {
//set default value for variable that will hold the status of keypress
pressedEnter = false;
//if user pressed enter, set the variable to true
if (event.keyCode == 13)
pressedEnter = true;
//we want forms to disable submit for a tenth of a second only
setTimeout(function() {
pressedEnter = false;
}, 100)
})
//find all forms
var forms = document.getElementsByTagName('form')
//loop through forms
for (i = 0; i < forms.length; i++) {
//listen to submit event
forms[i].addEventListener('submit', function(e) {
//if user just pressed enter, stop the submit event
if (pressedEnter == true) {
updateLog('Form prevented from submit.')
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
updateLog('Form submitted.')
})
}
var log = document.getElementById('log')
updateLog = function(msg) {
log.innerText = msg
}
input,
textarea {
display: inline-block;
margin-bottom: 1em;
border: 1px solid #6f6f6f;
padding: 5px;
border-radius: 2px;
width: 90%;
font-size: 14px;
}
input[type=submit] {
background: lightblue;
color: #fff;
}
<form>
<p>Sample textarea (try enter key):</p>
<textarea rows="4">Hit enter, a new line will be added. But the form won't submit</textarea><br/>
<p>Sample textfield (try enter key):</p>
<input type="text" placeholder="" />
<br/>
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
<h3 id="log"></h3>
</form>
If you're using Alpine, you can use the following to prevent form submission by pressing Enter:
<div x-data>
<form x-on:keydown.prevent.enter="">...</form>
</div>
Alternatively you can use the .window modifier to register the event listener on the root window object on the page instead of the element.
<form>
<div x-data>
<input x-on:keydown.window.prevent.enter="" type="text">
</div>
</form>
I have use this Code to disable 'ENTER' key press on both input type [text] and input type [password], you can add other too like input type [email] or also can apply on your desired Input type.
$(document).on('keyup keypress', 'form input[type="text"] , input[type="password"]', function(e) {
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
$(document).on("keydown","form", function(event)
{
node = event.target.nodeName.toLowerCase();
type = $(event.target).prop('type').toLowerCase();
if(node!='textarea' && type!='submit' && (event.keyCode == 13 || event.keyCode == 169))
{
event.preventDefault();
return false;
}
});
It works perfectly!
If using Vue, use the following code to prevent users from submitting the form by hitting Enter:
<form #submit.prevent>...</form>
I had a similiar problem, where I had a grid with "ajax textfields" (Yii CGridView) and just one submit button. Everytime I did a search on a textfield and hit enter the form submitted. I had to do something with the button because it was the only common button between the views (MVC pattern). All I had to do was remove type="submit" and put onclick="document.forms[0].submit()
I think it's well covered with all the answers, but if you are using a button with some JavaScript validation code you could just set the form's onkeypress for Enter to call your submit as expected:
<form method="POST" action="..." onkeypress="if(event.keyCode == 13) mySubmitFunction(this); return false;">
The onkeypress JS could be whatever you need to do. There's no need for a larger, global change. This is especially true if you're not the one coding the app from scratch, and you've been brought into fix someone else's web site without tearing it apart and re-testing it.
Something I have not seen answered here: when you tab through the elements on the page, pressing Enter when you get to the submit button will trigger the onsubmit handler on the form, but it will record the event as a MouseEvent. Here is my short solution to cover most bases:
This is not a jQuery-related answer
HTML
<form onsubmit="return false;" method=post>
<input type="text" /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="this.form.submit()" value="submit via mouse or keyboard" />
<input type="button" onclick="submitMouseOnly(event)" value="submit via mouse only" />
</form>
JavaScript
window.submitMouseOnly=function(evt){
let allow=(evt instanceof MouseEvent) && evt.x>0 && evt.y>0 && evt.screenX > 0 && evt.screenY > 0;
if(allow)(evt.tagName=='FORM'?evt.target:evt.target.form).submit();
}
To find a working example: https://jsfiddle.net/nemesarial/6rhogva2/
Using Javascript (without checking any input field):
<script>
window.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
if (e.keyIdentifier == 'U+000A' || e.keyIdentifier == 'Enter' || e.keyCode == 13) {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
}, true);
</script>
If someone wants to apply this on specific fields, for example input type text:
<script>
window.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
if (e.keyIdentifier == 'U+000A' || e.keyIdentifier == 'Enter' || e.keyCode == 13) {
if (e.target.nodeName == 'INPUT' && e.target.type == 'text') {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
}
}, true);
</script>
This works well in my case.
Go into your css and add that to it then will automatically block the submission of your formular as long as you have submit input if you no longer want it you can delete it or type activate and deactivate instead
input:disabled {
background: gainsboro;
}
input[value]:disabled {
color: whitesmoke;
}
This disables enter key for all the forms on the page and does not prevent enter in textarea.
// disable form submit with enter
$('form input:not([type="submit"])').keydown((e) => {
if (e.keyCode === 13) {
e.preventDefault();
return false;
}
return true;
});
GOAL:
When a user types character in a text box, make a button appear. When the user clears the text box using the backspace key but holds down that key for a few extra seconds, hide the button instantly.
ISSUE:
If a user types in a single character, and uses the backspace to remove it—by holding down the backspace key a few extra seconds—there is a delay before the button is hidden. This only happens when the user typed only one character and then held down the the backspace key without letting go. If instead the user typed multiple characters, and then held down the backspace key until the textbox was empty, there was no delay in hiding the button.
<input type="text" id="tbox"></text>
<button type="button" id="btn" style="display:none;">push me</button>
$('#tbox').on('keydown keypress keyup',function(){
if($('#tbox').val() !== '') {
$('#btn').css({'display':'block'});
} else {
$('#btn').css({'display':'none'});
}
});
JSFIDDLE:
http://jsfiddle.net/odkut0dh/
A little walkthrough the situation :
Assuming that <input> value is "x" and you type backspace :
- When the keydown event fires the input's value is still "x".
- When the keypress fires, it still "x".
If you don't release the key :
__ keydown fires again, after some delay, depending on os I guess value is now "".
__ keypress fires again, value is still "".
__ When you release the key, keyup fires, value is "".
If you do release the key :
__ keypress fires directly, value is "".
The solution For IE10+ is to use the input event which will fire when the textEditable element's content has changed or, as suggested by #Mayhem, the change event, which won't even listen for key inputs and has a better browser support than input
$('#tbox').on('input change',function(e){
if($('#tbox').val() !== '') {
$('#btn').css({'display':'block'});
} else {
$('#btn').css({'display':'none'});
}
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input type="text" id="tbox"></text>
<button type="button" id="btn" style="display:none;">push me</button>
As i've aleady made comments on this one, did a quick google and came across this post which might make it a little easier.. Detect all changes to a <input type="text"> (immediately) using JQuery
So i put it into a fiddle here for you to test: Slight Modded Version
The HTML
<input type="text" value="Some Value" id="text1" />
<button id="btn1">Click Me</button>
The JS
$('#text1').each(function() {
var elem = $(this);
elem.data('oldVal', elem.val());
elem.bind("propertychange change click keyup input paste", function(event){
if (elem.data('oldVal') != elem.val()) {
if (elem.val().length == 0 ) {
$("#btn1").hide();
} else {
$("#btn1").show();
}
elem.data('oldVal', elem.val());
}
});
});
As i dont have to much time to break this code down into sections... By the looks of it.. You dont need the elem.data... Just the bind event...
... ah seems i decided to shorten the code for you...
http://jsfiddle.net/z2ew3fqz/3/
Using the same HTML...
Shortest version i could make from the example given above
The HTML
<input type="text" value="Some Value" id="text1" />
<button id="btn1">Click Me</button>
The JS
$('#text1').bind("propertychange change click keyup input paste", function(event){
if ($(this).val().length == 0 ) {
$("#btn1").hide();
} else {
$("#btn1").show();
}
});
I've quickly tested this on chrome.. mouse/function keys all seem to affect it correctly... Other browsers i'll leave upto the OP to test.. Let me know if any issues in a particular browser..
IE10 seems to be the min support for this .. IE9 might be able to have a js prototype done.. But how important is this for support in your project? to support IE<10?
The Problem is that $('#tbox').val(); is not empty ('') when backspace is pressed. So You have to delay the value check.
When you press down the key, the first thing what happend is that the keydown event is fired, then after that the key action will be performed on the input field.
$('#tbox').on('keydown keypress keyup',function(){
setTimeout(function () {
if($('#tbox').val() !== '') {
$('#btn').css({'display':'block'});
} else {
$('#btn').css({'display':'none'});
}
},0);
});
You can prevent repeating keydown by control it on key up by an global variable:
var allow = true;
$(document).on('keydown', function(e) {
if (e.repeat != undefined) {
allow = !e.repeat;
}
if (!allowed) return;
allowed = false;
if($('#tbox').val() !== '') {
$('#btn').css({'display':'block'});
} else {
$('#btn').css({'display':'none'});
}
});
$(document).keyup(function(e) {
allowed = true;
});
I have code similar to this:
<div id="div1" onclick="myfunc()">
<span class="myspan"></span>
</div>
Now, if a user clicks on a button elsewhere on the page, an input box is dynamically added to the span. The button also gives the input box focus.
The input box has code like this:
<input type=text onkeypress="runthis()" onblur="runthis()">
The problem is, if I try to select text in the input box, the parent onclick and onblur fire. I want to edit the input box until I click away (or hit enter).
This is basically a quick edit box. A user clicks an edit button, the input box appears. They click out or hit enter and it saves.
Edit (actual code):
<div class="plBoxContainer">
<a href="playlists" onClick="playlists(id); return false;" onMouseOver="if(RUNPLAYLIST){this.getElementsByTagName('span')[0].style.textDecoration='underline'}" onMouseOut="this.getElementsByTagName('span')[0].style.textDecoration='none'">
<br><span class="folderName">Some Name</span>
<span class="plEdit" onClick="PlEditBox(this.previousSibling); document.getElementById('dummydiv').innerHTML=id;"> </span>
Some text</a>
</div>
JS:
function PlEditBox(folderName){
RUNPLAYLIST = 0;
name = folderName.innerHTML;
folderName.innerHTML = '<input type=text id="folderNameChange" value="'+name+'" onkeypress="return PlDoEdit(this.value, document.getElementById(\'dummydiv\').innerHTML, event);" onBlur="PlDoEdit(this.value, document.getElementById(\'dummydiv\').innerHTML, \'blur\')">';
document.getElementById('folderNameChange').focus();
document.getElementById('folderNameChange').select();
}
function PlDoEdit(value, id, e)
{
var keycode;
if (window.event) keycode = window.event.keyCode;
else if (e && e != blur) keycode = e.which;
else keycode = '';
if (keycode == 13 || e == 'blur')
{
RUNPLAYLIST = 1;
//do some unrelated stuff here
return false;
}
else return true;
}
function playlists(plID)
{
if(RUNPLAYLIST==0)
{
RUNPLAYLIST = 1;
return false;
}
//do a bunch of unrelated stuff here
}
I think you should use event.returnValue = false/event.preventDefault in your function to prevent event bubling. Like
event.preventDefault ? event.preventDefault() : event.returnValue = false;
For more see http://mootools.net/docs/core/Types/DOMEvent#Event:stop
JS Fiddle isn't allowing saving/sharing at the moment as they are migrating their servers. In the mean time, there's a screenshot at the bottom of this post that might help.
It looks like you're using pure Javascript, but I used YUI to abstract away the even normalization; nobody should be bothered with that! :)
Basically the event handler for the DIV element won't actually do anything unless the DIV is the true even target (i.e. the DIV was clicked directly rather than the INPUT within).
(Right-click > View Image in Firefox to see full size.)
Update
I made another JS Fiddle that displays a name, turns it into an edit box if you click on it, and saves the value (returning to simple display) when the INPUT loses focus or when ENTER key is pressed.
(Right-click > View Image in Firefox to see full size.)