jquery: get value of custom attribute

Question

html5 supports the placeholder attribute on input[type=text] elements, but I need to handle non-compliant browsers. I know there are a thousand plugins out there for placeholder but I'd like to create the 1001st.

I am able to get a handle on the input[placeholder] element but trying to get the value of the placeholder attribute is returning undefined - $("input[placeholder]").attr("placeholder").

I'm using jquery 1.6.2.

Here is the jsfiddle. I modified the code to work in a browser that is html5 compatible just for testing purposes.

html

<input type="text" name="email" size="10" placeholder="EMAIL ADDRESS">

jquery

function SupportsInputPlaceholder() {
    var i = document.createElement("input");
    return "placeholder" in i;
}

$(document).ready(function(){
    if(!SupportsInputPlaceholder()) {
        //set initial value to placeholder attribute
        $("input[placeholder]").val($("input[placeholder]").attr("placeholder"));

        //create event handlers for focus and blur
        $("input[placeholder]").focus(function() {
            if($(this).val() == $(this).attr("placeholder")) {
                $(this).val("");
            }
        }).blur(function() {
            if($(this).val() == "") {
                $(this).val($(this).attr("placeholder"));
            }
        });
    }
});

Thanks for any and all help, B

Dennis · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-02 16:53:11Z

84

You need some form of iteration here, as val (except when called with a function) only works on the first element:

$("input[placeholder]").val($("input[placeholder]").attr("placeholder"));

should be:

$("input[placeholder]").each( function () {
    $(this).val( $(this).attr("placeholder") );
});

or

$("input[placeholder]").val(function() {
    return $(this).attr("placeholder");
});

edited Sep 2, 2013 at 16:53

answered Aug 24, 2011 at 14:53

Dennis

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9 Comments

Richard Dalton Over a year ago

Wouldn't $("input[placeholder]").val(function() { return $(this).attr("placeholder"); }); be better?

bflemi3 Over a year ago

Thanks Dennis. when i set a breakpoint on each i found that it's not even entering the function, like it's not finding any elements that match that selector. But when I put a watch on $("input[placeholder]").val() I see "" and if I give the element an initial value I'll see the value.

Dennis Over a year ago

@Richard Yeah, that's a bit better. Probably not too much difference thought. bflemi3, What browser are you using? Your code works in Chrome and IE7

bflemi3 Over a year ago

I'm using firefox 5 and I've commented out the if statement that checks if the browser supports the placeholder attribute since firefox 5 supports html5.

Dennis Over a year ago

I can't reproduce the problem. The code you have provided works fine. Can you make a jsfiddle/jsbin that shows it?

|

Prince Patel · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-01 08:24:39Z

13

You can also do this by passing function with onclick event

<a onclick="getColor(this);" color="red">

<script type="text/javascript">

function getColor(el)
{
     color = $(el).attr('color');
     alert(color);
}

</script>

edited Feb 1, 2020 at 8:24

answered Mar 10, 2017 at 13:15

Prince Patel

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1 Comment

devhl Over a year ago

onlick...hmmm...maybe should be onclick :)

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