HTML select form with option to enter custom value

125
votes

I would like to have an input field that users can enter custom text value or choose from drop down. A regular <select> only offers drop down options.

How can I make a <select> accept custom value? For instance: Ford?

<select>
  <option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
  <option value="saab">Saab</option>
  <option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
  <option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>
6
htmlforms
You could use javascript to dynamically add an option to the select but then using this information would become a real pain. - David
I did not add that option for custom values on my website finnmglas.com/contact however someone contacted me with a custom value. That is so weird - finnmglas

6 Answers

304
votes

HTML5 has a built-in combo box. You create a text input and a datalist. Then you add a list attribute to the input, with a value of the id of the datalist.

Update: As of March 2019 all major browsers (now including Safari 12.1 and iOS Safari 12.3) support datalist to the level needed for this functionality. See caniuse for detailed browser support.

It looks like this:

<input type="text" list="cars" />
<datalist id="cars">
  <option>Volvo</option>
  <option>Saab</option>
  <option>Mercedes</option>
  <option>Audi</option>
</datalist>
28
votes

Alen Saqe's latest JSFiddle didn't toggle for me on Firefox, so I thought I would provide a simple html/javascript workaround that will function nicely within forms (regarding submission) until the day that the datalist tag is accepted by all browsers/devices. For more details and see it in action, go to: http://jsfiddle.net/6nq7w/4/ Note: Do not allow any spaces between toggling siblings!

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<script>
function toggleField(hideObj,showObj){
  hideObj.disabled=true;        
  hideObj.style.display='none';
  showObj.disabled=false;   
  showObj.style.display='inline';
  showObj.focus();
}
</script>
<body>
<form name="BrowserSurvey" action="#">
Browser: <select name="browser" 
          onchange="if(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value=='customOption'){
              toggleField(this,this.nextSibling);
              this.selectedIndex='0';
          }">
            <option></option>
            <option value="customOption">[type a custom value]</option>
            <option>Chrome</option>
            <option>Firefox</option>
            <option>Internet Explorer</option>
            <option>Opera</option>
            <option>Safari</option>
        </select><input name="browser" style="display:none;" disabled="disabled" 
            onblur="if(this.value==''){toggleField(this,this.previousSibling);}">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

17
votes

jQuery Solution!

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/69wP6/2/

Another Demo Below(updated!)

I needed something similar in a case when i had some fixed Options and i wanted one other option to be editable! In this case i made a hidden input that would overlap the select option and would be editable and used jQuery to make it all work seamlessly.

I am sharing the fiddle with all of you!

HTML

<div id="billdesc">
    <select id="test">
      <option class="non" value="option1">Option1</option>
      <option class="non" value="option2">Option2</option>
      <option class="editable" value="other">Other</option>
    </select>
    <input class="editOption" style="display:none;"></input>
</div>

CSS

body{
    background: blue;
}
#billdesc{
    padding-top: 50px;
}
#test{
    width: 100%;
    height: 30px;
}
option {
    height: 30px;
    line-height: 30px;
}

.editOption{
    width: 90%;
    height: 24px;
    position: relative;
    top: -30px

}

jQuery 

var initialText = $('.editable').val();
$('.editOption').val(initialText);

$('#test').change(function(){
var selected = $('option:selected', this).attr('class');
var optionText = $('.editable').text();

if(selected == "editable"){
  $('.editOption').show();


  $('.editOption').keyup(function(){
      var editText = $('.editOption').val();
      $('.editable').val(editText);
      $('.editable').html(editText);
  });

}else{
  $('.editOption').hide();
}
});

Edit : Added some simple touches design wise, so people can clearly see where the input ends!

JS Fiddle : http://jsfiddle.net/69wP6/4/

11
votes

If the datalist option doesn't fulfill your requirements, take a look to the Select2 library and the "Dynamic option creation"

$(".js-example-tags").select2({
  tags: true
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.6-rc.0/css/select2.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.6-rc.0/js/select2.min.js"></script>


<select class="form-control js-example-tags">
  <option selected="selected">orange</option>
  <option>white</option>
  <option>purple</option>
</select>
10
votes

You can't really. You'll have to have both the drop down, and the text box, and have them pick or fill in the form. Without javascript you could create a separate radio button set where they choose dropdown or text input, but this seems messy to me. With some javascript you could toggle disable one or the other depending on which one they choose, for instance, have an 'other' option in the dropdown that triggers the text field.

1
votes

Using one of the above solutions ( @mickmackusa ), I made a working prototype in React 16.8+ using Hooks.

https://codesandbox.io/s/heuristic-dewdney-0h2y2

I hope it helps someone.