Is there an onSelect event or equivalent for HTML <select>?

Question

I have an input form that lets me select from multiple options, and do something when the user changes the selection. Eg,

<select onChange="javascript:doSomething();">
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

Now, doSomething() only gets triggered when the selection changes.

I want to trigger doSomething() when the user selects any option, possibly the same one again.

I have tried using an "onClick" handler, but that gets triggered before the user starts the selection process.

So, is there a way to trigger a function on every select by the user?

Update:

The answer suggested by Darryl seemed to work, but it doesn't work consistently. Sometimes the event gets triggered as soon as user clicks the drop-down menu, even before the user has finished the selection process!

Answer 1

This may not directly answer your question, but this problem could be solved by simple design level adjustments. I understand this may not be 100% applicable to all use-cases, but I strongly urge you to consider re-thinking your user flow of your application and if the following design suggestion can be implemented.

I decided to do something simple than hacking alternatives for onChange() using other events that were not really meant for this purpose (blur, click, etc.)

The way I solved it:

Simply pre-pend a placeholder option tag such as select that has no value to it.

So, instead of just using the following structure, which requires hack-y alternatives:

<select>
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

Consider using this:

<select>
  <option disabled selected="selected">Select...</option>
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

So, this way, your code is a LOT more simplified and the onChange will work as expected, every time the user decides to select something other than the default value. You could even add the disabled attribute to the first option if you don't want them to select it again and force them to select something from the options, thus triggering an onChange() fire.

At the time of this answer, I'm writing a complex Vue application and I found that this design choice has simplified my code a lot. I spent hours on this problem before I settled down with this solution and I didn't have to re-write a lot of my code. However, if I went with the hacky alternatives, I would have needed to account for the edge cases, to prevent double firing of ajax requests, etc. This also doesn't mess up the default browser behaviour as a nice bonus (tested on mobile browsers as well).

Sometimes, you just need to take a step back and think about the big picture for the simplest solution.

Answer 2

you should try using option:selected

$("select option:selected").click(doSomething);

Answer Edited on 13-Nov-2023

$(document).ready(function(){
    $("select").on('change',function(){
        console.log('option selected',$(this).val());
    });
});

https://jsfiddle.net/u5j87Lr9/

Answer 3

If you don't mind using jQuery UI, it has a selectmenuselect event, which fires even if the same option is selected:

$('#area').selectmenu();
$('#area').on('selectmenuselect', function() {
    console.log($(this).val()); 
});

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.12.1/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.12.1/jquery-ui.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<select id="area">
    <option value="Something">Hi</option>
    <option value="Another">Bye</option>
</select>

Answer 4

Try this (event triggered exactly when you select an option, without the option changing):

$("select").mouseup(function() {
    var open = $(this).data("isopen");
    if(open) {
        alert('selected');
    }
    $(this).data("isopen", !open);
});

Answer 5

Just an idea, but is it possible to put an onclick on each of the <option> elements?

<!-- DOESN'T WORK -->
<select>
  <option onclick="doSomething(this);">A</option>
  <option onclick="doSomething(this);">B</option>
  <option onclick="doSomething(this);">C</option>
</select>

---

Another option could be to use onblur on the select. This will fire anytime the user clicks away from the select. At this point you could determine what option was selected. To have this even trigger at the correct time, the onclick of the option's could blur the field (make something else active or just .blur() in jQuery).

Answer 6

2022 VANILLA JAVASCRIPT

...because this is a top hit on Google.

Original Poster did NOT ask for a JQuery solution, yet all existing answers ONLY demonstrate JQuery or inline SELECT tag event. Here is how you would do it using Vanilla Javascript instead:

Use an event listener with the 'change' event.

const selectDropdown = document.querySelector('select');
selectDropdown.addEventListener('change', function (e) { /* your code */ });

... or call a seperate function:

function yourFunc(e) { /* your code here */ }

const selectDropdown = document.querySelector('select');
selectDropdown.addEventListener('change', yourFunc);

Answer 7

Very old question, but right now the event on click works perfectly, that is, it triggers even when the user re-selects the same option.

Test yourself:

const e = document.getElementById('myOptions')

e.addEventListener('click', () => {
  const text = e.options[e.selectedIndex].text;
  console.log(text)
})

<select id="myOptions">
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

Answer 8

The best solution I have found is to add a disabled option as the first element within your select element so that all other items will be available to respond to click in the onchange event.

<select onchange="doSomething()">
  <option disabled selected value> -- select an option -- </option>
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

Answer 9

The only solution that worked for me was totally resetting the SELECT on "onFocus" event. This way, the SELECT always "changes" on "onChange" event:

$('select').on('focus', function(ev) {
    var $select = $(this);
    var options = $select.html();
    $select.empty();
    $select.append(options);
});

$('select').on('change', function(ev) {
    // Now the select element ALWAYS fires onChange
});

Answer 10

Another solution is using the onMouseUp event. OnMouseUp works also with the same option re-selected as well as changed option.

Only disadvantage. The code is called when the dropdown box is openemd and a second time when the selection is made. Keep that in mind for AJAX requests. If this is not harming your logic you can use it as a simple inline hack.

<select id="bla" onmouseup="console.log( document.getElementById('bla').options[document.getElementById('bla').selectedIndex].value );">
  <option value="0">A</option>
  <option value="1">B</option>
</select>

Answer 11

I know this question is very old now, but for anyone still running into this problem, I have achieved this with my own website by adding an onInput event to my option tag, then in that called function, retrieving the value of that option input.

<select id='dropdown' onInput='myFunction()'>
  <option value='1'>1</option>
  <option value='2'>2</option>
</select>

<p>Output: </p> 
<span id='output'></span>

<script type='text/javascript'>
function myFunction() {
 var optionValue = document.getElementById("dropdown").value;
 document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = optionValue;
}
</script>

Answer 12

There are a few things you want to do here to make sure it remembers older values and triggers an onchange event even if the same option is selected again.

The first thing you want is a regular onChange event:

$("#selectbox").on("change", function(){
    console.log($(this).val());
    doSomething();
});

To have the onChange event trigger even when the same option is selected again, you can unset selected option when the dropdown receives focus by setting it to an invalid value. But you also want to store the previously selected value to restore it in case the user does not select any new option:

prev_select_option = ""; //some kind of global var

$("#selectbox").on("focus", function(){
    prev_select_option = $(this).val(); //store currently selected value
    $(this).val("unknown"); //set to an invalid value
});

The above code will allow you to trigger onchange even if the same value is selected. However, if the user clicks outside the select box, you want to restore the previous value. We do it on onBlur:

$("#selectbox").on("blur", function(){
    if ($(this).val() == null) { 
       //because we previously set an invalid value 
       //and user did not select any option
        $(this).val(prev_select_option);
    }
});

Answer 13

Add an extra option as the first, like the header of a column, which will be the default value of the dropdown button before click it and reset at the end of doSomething(), so when choose A/B/C, the onchange event always trigs, when the selection is State, do nothing and return. onclick is very unstable as many people mentioned before. So all we need to do is to make an initial button label which is different as your true options so the onchange will work on any option.

<select id="btnState" onchange="doSomething(this)">
  <option value="State" selected="selected">State</option>  
  <option value="A">A</option>
  <option value="B">B</option>
  <option value="C">C</option>
</select>


function doSomething(obj)
{
    var btnValue = obj.options[obj.selectedIndex].value;

    if (btnValue == "State")
    {
      //do nothing
      return;
    }

    // Do your thing here

    // reset 
    obj.selectedIndex = 0;
}

Answer 14

I needed something exactly the same. This is what worked for me:

<select onchange="doSomething();" onfocus="this.selectedIndex = -1;">
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

Supports this:

when the user selects any option, possibly the same one again

Answer 15

first of all u use onChange as an event handler and then use flag variable to make it do the function u want every time u make a change

<select

var list = document.getElementById("list");
var flag = true ; 
list.onchange = function () {
if(flag){
document.bgColor ="red";
flag = false;

}else{
document.bgColor ="green";
flag = true;
}
}

<select id="list"> 
<option>op1</option>
<option>op2</option>
<option>op3</option>
</select>

Answer 16

<script>
function abc(selectedguy) {
alert(selectedguy);
}
</script>

<select onchange="abc(this.selectedIndex);">
<option>option one</option>
<option>option two</option>
</select>

Here you have the index returned, and in the js code you can use this return with one switch or anything you want.

Answer 17

The one True answer is to not use the select field (if you need to do something when you re-select same answer.)

Create a dropdown menu with conventional div, button, show/hide menu. Link: https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_js_dropdown.asp

Could have been avoided had one been able to add event listeners to options. If there had been an onSelect listener for select element. And if clicking on the select field didn't aggravatingly fire off mousedown, mouseup, and click all at the same time on mousedown.

Answer 18

Going to expand on jitbit's answer. I found it weird when you clicked the drop down and then clicked off the drop down without selecting anything. Ended up with something along the lines of:

var lastSelectedOption = null;

DDChange = function(Dd) {
  //Blur after change so that clicking again without 
  //losing focus re-triggers onfocus.
  Dd.blur();

  //The rest is whatever you want in the change.
  var tcs = $("span.on_change_times");
  tcs.html(+tcs.html() + 1);
  $("span.selected_index").html(Dd.prop("selectedIndex"));
  return false;
};

DDFocus = function(Dd) {
  lastSelectedOption = Dd.prop("selectedIndex");
  Dd.prop("selectedIndex", -1);

  $("span.selected_index").html(Dd.prop("selectedIndex"));
  return false;
};

//On blur, set it back to the value before they clicked 
//away without selecting an option.
//
//This is what is typically weird for the user since they 
//might click on the dropdown to look at other options,
//realize they didn't what to change anything, and 
//click off the dropdown.
DDBlur = function(Dd) {
  if (Dd.prop("selectedIndex") === -1)
    Dd.prop("selectedIndex", lastSelectedOption);

  $("span.selected_index").html(Dd.prop("selectedIndex"));
  return false;
}; 

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<select id="Dd" onchange="DDChange($(this));" onfocus="DDFocus($(this));" onblur="DDBlur($(this));">
  <option>1</option>
  <option>2</option>
</select>
<br/>
<br/>Selected index: <span class="selected_index"></span>
<br/>Times onchange triggered: <span class="on_change_times">0</span>

This makes a little more sense for the user and allows JavaScript to run every time they select any option including an earlier option.

The downside to this approach is that it breaks the ability to tab onto a drop down and use the arrow keys to select the value. This was acceptable for me since all the users click everything all the time until the end of eternity.

Answer 19

I had faced a similar need and ended up writing a angularjs directive for the same -

guthub link - angular select

Used element[0].blur(); to remove the focus off the select tag. Logic is to trigger this blur on second click of the dropdown.

as-select gets triggered even when user selects the same value in the dropdown.

DEMO - link

Answer 20

So my goal was to be able to select the same value multiple times which essentially overwrites the the onchange() function and turn it into a useful onclick() method.

Based on the suggestions above I came up with this which works for me.

<select name="ab" id="hi" onchange="if (typeof(this.selectedIndex) != undefined) {alert($('#hi').val()); this.blur();}" onfocus="this.selectedIndex = -1;">
    <option value="-1">--</option>
    <option value="1">option 1</option>
    <option value="2">option 2</option>
    <option value="3">option 3</option>
</select>

http://jsfiddle.net/dR9tH/19/

Answer 21

I found out this solution .

set the selectedIndex of select element to 0 initially

//set selected Index to 0

doSomethingOnChange(){

     blah ..blah ..

     set selected Index to 0

}

call this method onChange event

Answer 22

The onclick approach is not entirely bad but as said, it will not be triggered when the value isn't changed by a mouse-click.
It is however possible to trigger the onclick event in the onchange event.

<select onchange="{doSomething(...);if(this.options[this.selectedIndex].onclick != null){this.options[this.selectedIndex].onclick(this);}}">
    <option onclick="doSomethingElse(...);" value="A">A</option>
    <option onclick="doSomethingElse(..);" value="B">B</option>
    <option onclick="doSomethingElse(..);" value="Foo">C</option>
</select>

Answer 23

What works for me:

<select id='myID' onchange='doSomething();'>
    <option value='0' selected> Select Option </option>
    <option value='1' onclick='if (!document.getElementById("myID").onchange()) doSomething();' > A </option>
    <option value='2' onclick='if (!document.getElementById("myID").onchange()) doSomething();' > B </option>
</select>

In that way, onchange calls 'doSomething()' when the option changes, and onclick calls 'doSomething()' when onchange event is false, in other words, when you select the same option

Answer 24

<select name="test[]" 
onchange="if(this.selectedIndex < 1){this.options[this.selectedIndex].selected = !1}">
<option>1</option>
<option>2</option>
<option>3</option>
</select>

Answer 25

To properly fire an event every time the user selects something(even the same option), you just need to trick the select box.

Like others have said, specify a negative selectedIndex on focus to force the change event. While this does allow you to trick the select box, it won't work after that as long as it still has focus. The simple fix is to force the select box to blur, shown below.

Standard JS/HTML:

<select onchange="myCallback();" onfocus="this.selectedIndex=-1;this.blur();">
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

jQuery Plugin:

<select>
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
</select>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $.fn.alwaysChange = function(callback) {
        return this.each(function(){
            var elem = this;
            var $this = $(this);

            $this.change(function(){
                if(callback) callback($this.val());
            }).focus(function(){
                elem.selectedIndex = -1;
                elem.blur();
            });
        });
    }


    $('select').alwaysChange(function(val){
        // Optional change event callback,
        //    shorthand for $('select').alwaysChange().change(function(){});
    });
</script>

You can see a working demo here.

Answer 26

A long while ago now but in reply to the original question, would this help ? Just put onClick into the SELECT line. Then put what you want each OPTION to do in the OPTION lines. ie:

<SELECT name="your name" onClick>
<option value ="Kilometres" onClick="YourFunction()">Kilometres
-------
-------
</SELECT>

Answer 27

Try this:

<select id="nameSelect" onfocus="javascript:document.getElementById('nameSelect').selectedIndex=-1;" onchange="doSomething(this);">
    <option value="A">A</option>
    <option value="B">B</option>
    <option value="C">C</option>
</select>

Answer 28

Here's my solution, completely different to any else on here. It uses the mouse position to figure out if an option was clicked as oppose to clicking on the select box to open the dropdown. It makes use of the event.screenY position as this is the only reliable cross browser variable. A hover event has to be attached first so it can figure out the controls position relative to the screen before the click event.

var select = $("select");

var screenDif = 0;
select.bind("hover", function (e) {
    screenDif = e.screenY - e.clientY;
});
select.bind("click", function (e) {
    var element = $(e.target);
    var eventHorizon = screenDif + element.offset().top + element.height() - $(window).scrollTop();
    if (e.screenY > eventHorizon)
        alert("option clicked");
});

Here is my jsFiddle http://jsfiddle.net/sU7EV/4/

Answer 29

I had the same problem when I was creating a design a few months back. The solution I found was to use .live("change", function()) in combination with .blur() on the element you are using.

If you wish to have it do something when the user simply clicks, instead of changing, just replace change with click.

I assigned my dropdown an ID, selected, and used the following:

$(function () {
    $("#selected").live("change", function () {

    // do whatever you need to do

    // you want the element to lose focus immediately
    // this is key to get this working.
    $('#selected').blur();
    });
});

I saw this one didn't have a selected answer, so I figured I'd give my input. This worked excellently for me, so hopefully someone else can use this code when they get stuck.

http://api.jquery.com/live/

Edit: Use the on selector as opposed to .live. See jQuery .on()

Answer 30

What I did when faced with a similar Problem is I added an 'onFocus' to the select box which appends a new generic option ('select an option'or something similar) and default it as the selected option.