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optgroup object

Browser support:

Defines a group of option elements in a select form field.

The optgroup element is used to group option elements in a select element.

Syntax:

Methods that return the object:

•	document.createElement ("optgroup")

The base interface, through which you can add new functionalities to the optGroup object, is the HTMLOptGroupElement interface.

If you want to see the HTML objects by categories, please visit this page.

HTML page for this element: optgroup

Possible members:

Properties

Methods

Events

Style properties

accessKey

Sets or retrieves an access key to an element.

all

Represents a collection of all elements contained by an element or the entire document.

attributes

Represents a collection of attribute nodes that belong to an element.

baseURI

			10

Returns the base URL for the object.

behaviorUrns

Represents a collection of the Uniform Resource Names for all behaviors attached to an element.

canHaveChildren

Retrieves a Boolean value that indicates whether the element can contain child elements.

canHaveHTML

Retrieves a Boolean value that indicates whether the element can contain HTML formatted text.

childElementCount

9	3.5

Returns the number of element nodes that are direct descendants of the current element.

childNodes

Represents a collection of all nodes that are direct descendants of an element.

children

	3.5

Represents a collection of all element nodes that are direct descendants of an element.

className

Sets or retrieves the style class or classes that belong to the element.

clientHeight

Returns the height of the visible area for an object, in pixels. The value contains the height with the padding, but it does not include the scrollBar, border, and the margin.

clientLeft

Returns the width of the left border in pixels.

clientTop

Returns the height of the top border in pixels.

clientWidth

Returns the width of the visible area for an object, in pixels. The value contains the width with the padding, but does not include the scrollBar, border, and the margin.

contentEditable

	3

Sets or retrieves whether the contents of the object are editable.

currentStyle

Represents the computed style settings for an element.

dir

Sets or retrieves the text direction as related to the lang property.

disabled

8

Sets or retrieves the state of an object for user interaction.

firstChild

Returns a reference to the first child of the current element.

firstElementChild

9	3.5

Returns a reference to the first child element of the current element.

form

Returns a reference to the form element in which the object is placed.

Sets or retrieves a unique identifier for the object.

index

Specifies or returns an integer that indicates the position of an option element within a selection list.

innerHTML

Sets or retrieves the inner HTML content (the source code between the opening and closing tags) of an element.

innerText

Sets or returns the text content of an element including the text content of its descendants.

isContentEditable

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the contents of the object are editable by the user.

isDisabled

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the object is disabled.

isMultiLine

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the contents of an element can be multiline or not.

isTextEdit

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the createTextRange method can be used for the element.

label

Sets or retrieves the text to show as the contents of the option group element.

lang

Specifies or returns the language of the element.

language

Sets or retrieves the scripting language for the current element. Use it only for the script element.

lastChild

Returns a reference to the last child of the current element.

lastElementChild

9	3.5

Returns a reference to the last child element of the current element.

localName

9

Returns the local part of the qualified name of the current node.

name

Sets or retrieves the name of an element.

namespaceURI

9	3.6

Sets or returns the namespace URI of the current node.

nextElementSibling

9	3.5

Returns a reference to the next child element of the current element's parent.

nextSibling

Returns a reference to the next child of the current element's parent.

nodeName

Returns the name of the current node.

nodeType

Returns an integer that indicates the type of the node.

nodeValue

Sets or returns the value of the current node.

offsetHeight

Returns the height of the visible area for an object, in pixels. The value contains the height with the padding, scrollBar, and the border, but does not include the margin.

offsetLeft

Returns the left position of an object relative to the left side of its offsetParent element, in pixels.

offsetParent

Returns a reference to the closest ancestor element in the DOM hierarchy from which the position of the current element is calculated.

offsetTop

Returns the top position of the object relative to the top side of its offsetParent element, in pixels.

offsetWidth

Returns the width of the visible area for an object, in pixels. The value contains the width with the padding, scrollBar, and the border, but does not include the margin.

outerHTML

Sets or retrieves the outer HTML content (the source code including the opening and closing tags) of an element.

outerText

Sets or returns the text content of an element including the text content of its descendants.

ownerDocument

Returns the document object that contains the current node.

parentElement

Returns the parent element of the object in the DOM hierarchy.

parentNode

Returns the parent element of the current node in the DOM hierarchy.

parentTextEdit

Returns the closest ancestor element of the current element in the DOM hierarchy that can be used to create a TextRange object.

previousElementSibling

9	3.5

Returns a reference to the previous child element of the current element's parent.

previousSibling

Returns a reference to the previous node of the current element's parent.

readyState

Returns a string value that represents the state of the object.

runtimeStyle

Represents the overridden style settings for an element.

scopeName

Retrieves the local name of the namespace declared for the current element.

sourceIndex

Returns the position of the current object in the all collection of the document.

style

Represents the inline style settings for an element or a CSS rule.

tabIndex

Specifies or returns the tabbing order for keyboard navigation using the TAB key.

tagName

Returns the tag name of the current element.

tagUrn

Sets or retrieves the Uniform Resource Name (URN) of the namespace declared for the current element.

text

Sets or returns a string that represents the text of an option element.

textContent

9

Sets or returns the text content of an element including the text content of its descendants.

title

Specifies or returns a tooltip for an element.

uniqueID

Returns the unique identifier generated by the browser for the object.

addBehavior

Attaches the specified behavior to the current element.

addEventListener

9

Registers an event handler function (event listener) for the specified event on the current object.

appendChild

Inserts an element after the last child of the current element.

applyElement

Inserts the specified element as a child or parent of the current element.

attachEvent

Registers an event handler function (event listener) for the specified event on the current object.

clearAttributes

Clears all attributes from the current element, except the id, name, style, value and event attributes.

cloneNode

Returns an exact copy of the current node.

compareDocumentPosition

9

Compares the placement of the specified node with the current node in the DOM hierarchy.

contains

Returns whether the specified element is a descendant of the current element.

detachEvent

Removes the specified event handler from the current element that was registered earlier with the attachEvent method.

dispatchEvent

9

Dispatches the specified event to the current element.

fireEvent

Initializes an event object and dispatches it to the current element.

getAdjacentText

Returns the contents of the TextNode located at the specified position relative to the current element.

getAttribute

Returns the value of the attribute with the specified name from the current element.

getAttributeNode

Returns the attribute node with the specified name from the current element.

getAttributeNodeNS

9

Returns the attribute node with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

getAttributeNS

9

Returns the value of the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

getBoundingClientRect

	3

Returns a TextRectangle object that specifies the bounding rectangle of the current element or TextRange object, in pixels, relative to the upper-left corner of the browser's client area.

getClientRects

	3

Retrieves a TextRectangles collection that specifies the exact shape of the current element or TextRange object.

getElementsByClassName

9	3

Returns a NodeList collection that contains all descendant elements of the current element with the specified class name.

getElementsByTagName

Returns a NodeList collection that contains all descendant elements of the current element with the specified tag name.

getElementsByTagNameNS

9

Returns a NodeList collection that contains all descendant elements of the current element with the specified namespace URI and local name.

getExpression


9

Returns the dynamic expression for the specified DHTML property on the current element.

hasAttribute

8

Returns whether the current element has an attribute with the specified name or not.

hasAttributeNS

9

Returns whether the current element has an attribute with the specified namespace and name or not.

hasAttributes

8

Returns whether the current element has any attributes specified or not.

hasChildNodes

Returns whether the current node has any child nodes or not.

insertAdjacentElement

Inserts an element at the specified position relative to the current element.

insertAdjacentHTML

Inserts a HTML formatted text at the specified position relative to the current element.

insertAdjacentText

Creates a new TextNode from the specified text and inserts it at the specified position relative to the current element.

insertBefore

Inserts an element before the specified child of the current element.

isDefaultNamespace

9

Returns whether the specified namespace URI is the default namespace in the scope of the current node.

isEqualNode

9

Returns whether the current node is equal to the specified one.

isSameNode

9

Returns whether the current node is the same node as the specified one.

isSupported

9

Returns whether the specified DOM module and version is supported by the current node.

mergeAttributes

Copies all attributes and its values from the specified element to the current element.

normalize

Puts the subtree that belongs to the current node into a 'normalized' form.

querySelector

8	3.5

Returns a reference to the first descendant element of the current element, that matches the specified selectors.

querySelectorAll

8	3.5

Returns a NodeList collection that contains all descendant elements of the current element that match the specified selectors.

releaseCapture

Releases the mouse capture from the browser window that was previously set by the setCapture method and restores the normal event processing.

removeAttribute

Removes the attribute with the specified name from the current element.

removeAttributeNode

Removes the specified attribute node from the current element.

removeAttributeNS

9

Removes the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

removeBehavior

Removes the specified behavior from the current element.

removeChild

Removes the specified child node from the current element.

removeEventListener

9

Removes the specified event handler from the current element that was registered earlier with the addEventListener method.

removeExpression


9

Removes the dynamic expression from the specified DHTML property on the current element.

removeNode

Removes the current element with or without its children from the document tree.

replaceChild

Replaces the specified child element of the current element with a new element.

replaceNode

Replaces the current element with the specified element.

scrollIntoView

Scrolls the specified element into the visible area of the document.

setAttribute

Adds an attribute with the specified name and value to the current element.

setAttributeNode

Adds the specified attribute node to the current element.

setAttributeNodeNS

9

Adds the specified attribute node to the current element.

setAttributeNS

9

Adds an attribute with the specified namespace, name and value to the current element.

setCapture

Sets the current object to capture mouse events that occur within the entire browser window.

setExpression


9

Sets a dynamic expression for the specified DHTML property on the current element.

swapNode

Interchanges the positions of the current element and the specified element in the document hierarchy.

background

Specifies or returns up to five separate background properties, in a shorthand form.

backgroundColor

Specifies or returns the color to use for the background of the object.

behavior

Sets or retrieves the URL of a behavior file.

border

Sets or retrieves up to three separate border properties, in a shorthand form.

borderBottom

Sets or retrieves the color, style and width properties for the element's bottom border, in a shorthand form.

borderBottomColor

Specifies or returns the color of the element's bottom border.

borderBottomStyle

Specifies or returns the style of the element's bottom border.

borderBottomWidth

Specifies or returns the width of the element's bottom border.

borderColor

Specifies or returns the color of the element's border.

borderLeft

Specifies or returns the color, style and width properties for the element's left border, in a shorthand form.

borderLeftColor

Specifies or returns the color of the element's left border.

borderLeftStyle

Specifies or returns the style of the element's left border.

borderLeftWidth

Specifies or returns the width of the element's left border.

borderRight

Specifies or returns the color, style and width properties for the element's right border, in a shorthand form.

borderRightColor

Specifies or returns the color of the element's right border.

borderRightStyle

Specifies or returns the style of the element's right border.

borderRightWidth

Specifies or returns the width of the element's right border.

borderStyle

Specifies or returns the style of the element's border.

borderTop

Specifies or returns the color, style and width properties for the element's top border, in a shorthand form.

borderTopColor

Specifies or returns the color of the element's top border.

borderTopStyle

Specifies or returns the style of the element's top border.

borderTopWidth

Specifies or returns the width of the element's top border.

borderWidth

Specifies or returns the width of the element's border.

color

Specifies or returns the color of the element's text content.

cssText

Sets or retrieves the contents of a style declaration as a string.

direction

Specifies or returns the text direction.

display

Specifies or returns the element's display type.

font

Specifies or returns up to six separate font properties, in a shorthand form.

fontFamily

Specifies or returns the font face for text.

fontSize

Specifies or returns the font size of the text.

fontSizeAdjust

Specifies or returns font aspect value (font size divided by x-height).

fontStyle

Specifies or returns whether the style of the font is normal, italic or oblique.

fontVariant

Specifies or returns a variation of the specified or default fontFamily.

fontWeight

Specifies or returns the font weight of the text.

hasLayout

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the object has layout or not.

height

Specifies or returns the height of the visible area for an element.

length

9

Returns the number of properties that have been set in the current style object.

letterSpacing

Specifies or returns the amount of space between letters.

margin

Specifies or returns a shorthand property for setting the top, right, bottom and left margins, in that order.

marginBottom

Specifies or returns the bottom margin of the object.

marginLeft

Specifies or returns the left margin of the object.

marginRight

Specifies or returns the right margin of the object.

marginTop

Specifies or returns the top margin of the object.

MozBackgroundClip

Sets or retrieves which part of background is visible.

MozBackgroundInlinePolicy

Specifies or retrieves how the backgroundImage of an inline element is determined when the contents of the inline element wrap onto multiple lines.

MozBackgroundOrigin

Specifies or retrieves how the backgroundPosition property is determined, i.e. it defines the reference point that the backgroundImage is relative to.

MozBinding

Sets or retrieves the URL of the XBL (Extensible Binding Language) file containing the binding.

MozBorderBottomColors

Sets or retrieves the border colors for the bottom edge. You can specify as many color values as you want. All specified colors will appear as a 1px thick line.

MozBorderLeftColors

Sets or retrieves the border colors for the left edge. You can specify as many color values as you want. All specified colors will appear as a 1px thick line.

MozBorderRadius

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the corners of the border.

MozBorderRadiusBottomleft

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the lower left corner of the border.

MozBorderRadiusBottomright

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the lower right corner of the border.

MozBorderRadiusTopleft

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the upper left corner of the border.

MozBorderRadiusTopright

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the upper right corner of the border.

MozBorderRightColors

Sets or retrieves the border colors for the right edge. You can specify as many color values as you want. All specified colors will appear as a 1px thick line.

MozBorderTopColors

Sets or retrieves the border colors for the top edge. You can specify as many color values as you want. All specified colors will appear as a 1px thick line.

MozFloatEdge

Specifies or retrieves whether the height and width properties of the element include the margin, border, or padding thickness.

MozMarginEnd

Specifies or retrieves the width of the left or the right margin, depends on the writing direction.

MozMarginStart

Specifies or retrieves the width of the left or the right margin, depends on the writing direction.

MozOpacity

Sets or retrieves the opacity level. For a cross-browser solution, use the opacity property in Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera, and the filter property ('filter:Alpha(opacity=50)') in Internet Explorer.

MozOutline


	3.6

Sets or retrieves the outline of the element.

MozOutlineColor


	3.6

Sets or retrieves the color of the outline.

MozOutlineOffset


	3.6

Sets or retrieves the amount of space between the outline and the border or the edge of the element.

MozOutlineRadius

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the outline corners.

MozOutlineRadiusBottomleft

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the lower left outline corner.

MozOutlineRadiusBottomright

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the lower right outline corner.

MozOutlineRadiusTopleft

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the upper left outline corner.

MozOutlineRadiusTopright

Sets or retrieves the rounding of the upper right outline corner.

MozOutlineStyle


	3.6

Sets or retrieves the style of the left, right, top, and bottom borders of the object.

MozOutlineWidth


	3.6

Sets or retrieves the width of the outline.

MozUserFocus

Specifies or retrieves whether the element can have focus.

MozUserInput

Specifies or retrieves whether the element can have the input focus.

MozUserModify

Specifies or retrieves which part of the contents of an element can be modified by the user.

MozUserSelect

Specifies or retrieves whether the text of the element can be selected.

opacity

Sets or retrieves the transparency level of an element. For Internet Explorer, use filter with 'Alpha(opacity=percent)'.

opPhonemes

Specifies or retrieves a phonetic pronunciation for the text contained by the corresponding element.

opVoicePitch

Specifies or retrieves the average frequency of the speaking voice.

opVoicePitchRange

Specifies or retrieves the variation from the average pitch of the voice.

opVoiceRate

Specifies or returns the number of spoken words per minute.

opVoiceStress

Specifies or retrieves the strength of emphasis to be applied.

opVoiceVolume

Sets or retrieves the volume of a spoken element.

OTextOverflow

		9

Specifies or returns how to handle the overflowed area of text.

outline

Specifies or returns a shorthand form for all outline properties at once. Outline is a line around an element, but different from the border property.

outlineColor

Specifies or returns the color for the outline for an element.

outlineOffset

Sets or retrieves the amount of space between the outline and the border or the edge of the element.

outlineStyle

Specifies or returns the style for an element's outline.

outlineWidth

Specifies or returns the width for an element's outline.

padding

Specifies or returns a shorthand property for setting the top, right, bottom and left spaces between an element's border and its contents, in that order.

paddingBottom

Specifies or returns the space between an element's bottom border and its contents.

paddingLeft

Specifies or returns the space between an element's left border and its contents.

paddingRight

Specifies or returns the space between an element's right border and its contents.

paddingTop

Specifies or returns the space between an element's top border and its contents.

pixelBottom

Specifies or retrieves the value of the bottom style property, in pixels.

pixelHeight

Specifies or retrieves the value of the height style property, in pixels.

pixelLeft

Specifies or retrieves the value of the left style property, in pixels.

pixelRight

Specifies or retrieves the value of the right style property, in pixels.

pixelTop

Specifies or retrieves the value of the top style property, in pixels.

pixelWidth

Specifies or retrieves the value of the width style property, in pixels.

posBottom

Specifies or retrieves the value of the bottom style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the bottom property.

posHeight

Specifies or retrieves the value of the height style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the height property.

posLeft

Specifies or retrieves the value of the left style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the left property.

posRight

Specifies or retrieves the value of the right style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the right property.

posTop

Specifies or retrieves the value of the top style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the top property.

posWidth

Specifies or retrieves the value of the width style property as a floating-point number that specifies the value in the current unit type of the width property.

textDecoration

Specifies or returns the appearance characteristics of text, whether it is underlined, overlined, lined-through or blinking text.

textTransform

Specifies or returns the case of the text.

unicodeBidi

Specifies or returns whether the text should be overridden to support multiple languages in the same document. Use with the direction property.

visibility

Specifies or returns whether the element is visible.

voiceFamily

Specifies or returns the type of voice to use as speak control.

width

Specifies or returns the width of the visible area for an element.

wordSpacing

Specifies or returns the spacing between words.

XvInterpretAs

Specifies or retrieves how to interpret the contents of the corresponding element.

XvPhonemes

Specifies or retrieves a phonetic pronunciation for the text contained by the corresponding element.

XvVoiceBalance

Sets or retrieves the balance between left and right channels.

XvVoiceDuration

Specifies or retrieves how long a given element is to be rendered.

XvVoicePitch

Specifies or retrieves the average frequency of the speaking voice.

XvVoicePitchRange

Specifies or retrieves the variation from the average pitch of the voice.

XvVoiceRate

Specifies or returns the number of spoken words per minute.

XvVoiceStress

Specifies or retrieves the strength of emphasis to be applied.

XvVoiceVolume

Sets or retrieves the volume of a spoken element.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the optGroup element:

<select>
    <option selected="selected" value="none">None</option>
    <optgroup label="Fruits">
        <option value="Apple">Apple</option>
        <option value="Pear">Pear</option>
        <option value="Peach">Peach</option>
    </optgroup>
    <optgroup label="Vegetables">
        <option value="Bean">Bean</option>
        <option value="Cole">Cole</option>
    </optgroup>
</select>

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External links:

optgroup element (MSDN)
optgroup element (Safari Reference Library)
optgroup element (W3C)

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optgroup object

Syntax:

Possible members:

Example HTML code 1:

Related pages:

External links:

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