CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjqueryhtml
Pez Cuckow
Pez Cuckow

Reputation: 14422

jQuery access the default value of a text area

If I have a text input and have set a default value in the HTML, is there anyway to access the original value after jquery has changed the current value using .val()?

It was my understanding that jQuery should be changing the value property and not the value attribute?

Edit: Note I'm not asking how I could store the default value to retrieve it later (e.g. in data or in a var) I'm interested in why jQuery is modifying the attribute of the input field (and in turn the defaultValue) and not just the property.

For this example:

<input id="me" type="hidden" value="starting value" />

<script>
var $field = $('#me');
console.log($field.val());
console.log($field.prop('defaultValue'));
console.log($field.val('new value'));
console.log($field.val());
console.log($field.prop('defaultValue'));
console.log($field.attr('value'));
console.log($field.prop('value'));
</script>

We see:

starting value
starting value
[input#me, context: document, selector: "#me", jquery: "2.1.0", constructor: function, toArray: function…]
new value
new value
new value
new value

Fiddle:

http://jsfiddle.net/jLsqmxg7/1/

Upvotes: 2

Views: 937

Answers (1)

Rubens Pinheiro
Rubens Pinheiro

Reputation: 500

jQuery "val" setter always change both the attribute and the property. They do this to not confuse the developer with a ambiguous behavior. If you really want to change only the property and let the tag attribute with the same value do this:

var $input = $("<input>", {value: 'original'}); // Using the jQuery constructor to create a input :)
$input[0].value = "foo"; // Changing the value property of this HTMLInputElement instance

console.log($input.val()); // foo
console.log($input.prop('value')); // foo
console.log($input.attr('value')); // original

With this, you're changing only the HTMLInputElement value property, not the tag attribute. So, was I say, this turns the code a little confunsing.

Upvotes: 2

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