Select list with "other" option

choose "other" and user could custom input another item

[neophyte]

Got a client who wants a "semi-static" select list of author names.

BUT, he also wants an item in the select list to say "Other"...no big deal...so far.

If a user chooses the "other" item, the select list would then "turn into" (his words) an editable text field of sorts which the user could then use to input a non-listed name.

Anybody know how to do this? Or something simular? It seems like I've seen this before, but not very often.

All help greatly appreciated.

Neophyte

[Span]

Looks like you need a site search engine..

[R1chard]

If only Comboboxes were part of html...

As it is, I've seen several home-made solutions. I guess the simplest is to have a neighboring textbox which is hidden by CSS. When they select "Other", you have a function that makes it visible (and maybe gives focus).

[TheDoctor]

You could write a Java applet ;)

[StupidScript]

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function chkOther(fld,len,idx) {
if ((idx+1)==len) {
other=prompt("Please indicate 'Other' value:");
fld.options[idx].value=other;
fld.options[idx].text=other;
}
}
</script>
<form name="selectform">
Choose: <select name="choices" onchange="chkOther(this,this.options.length,this.options.selectedIndex)">
<option value="Home" />Home
<option value="Work" />Work
<option value="" />Other
</select>
</form>

Instead of using a prompt(), you could pop up another small form in a window and send the new value to the parent window, if XPSP2 lets you. :)

[neophyte]

Thanks to all who replied to this thread. I'll try StupidScript's solution to see if that fits the bill.

Neophyte

[dcrombie]

We get clients requesting this every now and then. They seem to think the web is the same as Access. If you can explain that it's not then you make life a lot easier.

Otherwise:

The reason you'd use a SELECT box is to _restrict_ user input.
The reason they want 'other' is that they've come up with something to enter that's not in the list.

So, my solution is to place a SELECT box (nameless) above a (named) INPUT box.
When a value's selected (onChange), copy it into the INPUT box.
Or they can type what they want. Problem solved!

The beauty of this, if you're using a database, is that you can populate the SELECT box using "SELECT DISTINCT(value) FROM table". I can almost guarantee that after a few weeks or months they'll come back to you asking for the 'Other' option to be taken out because they can see for themselves how much crap has been entered ;)

[StupidScript]

dcrombie, excellent solution! Quite neat.

[neophyte]

dcrombie - yes, this is a nice and handy option. I'll show that to them. Thanks for the reply.