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forms collection

Browser support:
Represents a collection of all form elements in the current document.
The elements in the collection are sorted in source code order.

Syntax:

The base interface, through which you can add new functionalities to the forms collection, is the HTMLCollection interface.

Possible members:

Properties:
length
Returns an integer that specifies the number of elements in the current collection.

This property is read-only.
Methods:
[nameOrIndex]
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name or index.

Parameters:

nameOrIndex
Required. A string or a zero-based integer that specifies the element or elements to retrieve.
  • If an integer value is specified, it specifies the index of the element to retrieve.
  • If this parameter is a string, then it specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns undefined.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching form element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a forms sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
In Firefox, if more than one match is found, the first matching element is returned.
item (nameOrIndex [, subIndex])
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name or index.

Parameters:

nameOrIndex
Required. A string or a zero-based integer that specifies the element or elements to retrieve.
  • If an integer value is specified, it specifies the index of the element to retrieve.
  • If this parameter is a string, then it specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.
Firefox does not support string values.
subIndex
Optional. Supported by Internet Explorer only. If more than one matching element is found for the index parameter (possible only if it is a string), the item method creates a forms sub-collection filled with the matching elements. In that case, the subIndex property specifies the position of the element in the sub-collection to retrieve. In other cases, the subIndex property has no meaning.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns null in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, and returns undefined in Google Chrome and Safari.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching form element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a forms sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
namedItem (name)
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name.

Parameters:

name
Required. String that specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns null in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, and returns undefined in Google Chrome and Safari.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching form element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a forms sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
In Firefox, if more than one match is found, the first matching element is returned.
tags
Returns a NodeList collection that contains all elements from the current collection with the specified tag name.
urns
Returns a NodeList collection that contains all elements to which the specified behavior is attached.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the forms collection:
<head>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function GetForms () {
            alert ("The number of forms is " + document.forms.length);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <form>
        <input type="text" value="Text input in the first form" size="30"/>
    </form>
    <form>
        <input type="text" value="Text input in the second form" size="30"/>
    </form>
    <br />
    <button onclick="GetForms ();">Get the number of forms!</button>
</body>
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