Using JavaScript To Run Form Events

Using JavaScript To Run Form Events

13th March 2008 - 4 minutes read time

Creating a form as part of an AJAX control is a common practice, but when you include a submit button within the form the default behaviour of the form is to redirect to the destination supplied in action. To run a form using JavaScript you need to include two things.

<form action="javascript:return false;" method="post" id="analysisForm" >

In order to overwrite the normal operation of a form you will need to replace the action attribute with some JavaScript code that returns false. This is can be done in the form of come in-line JavaScript code (commonly called a bookmarklet) in the place of any URL in the action attribute of the form.

Next, in order to actually get JavaScript to intercept the form submission action an onsubmit event is added to the form tag.

<form action="javascript:return false;" method="post" id="analysisForm" onsubmit="return runForm();" >

This will allow you to have a function in place to action whatever it is that the form will do. In the example above the function runForm() is run.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Related Content

Drupal 11: Finding A Better Way To Display Code Examples

18th January 2026

I've been running this site for about 18 years now and the code I post has been in much the same format since it was started. The code is rendered onto the page using a <code> element and (mostly) syntax highlighted using a JavaScript plugin.

Read more

Using Colour Schemes To Create Light And Dark Modes In CSS

31st August 2025

Allowing users to switch between light and dark colour schemes on websites is a popular feature. You can often see a small sun or moon icon that allows you to change from light mode to dark colour scheme, or visa versa. Some operating systems and user agents also have the ability to activate a dark colour scheme, which websites also pick up and use.

Read more

Creating A Mouse "Looking" Script With JavaScript

24th November 2024

I've seen lots of "our team" pages over the years, but one of the ones that stood out to me the most were those that had an interactive element to them. For me, it adds a bit of personality to the page and makes it feel more alive than a bunch of silhouettes of the directors.

Read more