View source for Referencing Form Fields in JavaScript

[[JavaScript]] is a powerful language that can do many things. But one of it's most common uses is to dynamically modify the behavior of [[Forms]], using [[Form Scripting]] and [[Field Scripting]].
{{Note| To reference Form fields in JavaScript for the new AgileApps UI, see [[JavaScript Field Type Reference for New AgileApps User Interface]].}}
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====Referencing the Current Form====
In the HTML document object model (DOM), the current form is named <tt>_sdForm</tt>.<br>
This line of code gets a reference to it and puts it in the <tt>form</tt> variable:
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
var form = _sdForm;
</syntaxhighlight>

====Accessing Fields in the Current Form====
To find the name of a field in the platform:
# Go to '''[[File:GearIcon.png]] > Customization > Objects > {object} > Fields'''
# Find the label of the field you're interested in
# Get its name from the '''Field Name''' column<br>That name can then be used in the JavaScript code. 

All fields can be accessed using the platform's JavaScript functions, as described in the [[#Field Types|Field Types]] section below. The most commonly accessed field types (<tt>TextField</tt>, <tt>TextArea</tt>, <tt>Date</tt>, <tt>DateTime</tt>, <tt>Time</tt>, and <tt>URL</tt>) can also be accessed using <tt>_sdForm[0]</tt>. For example, this line of code gets a reference to the <tt>first_name</tt> field, and puts it in the variable <tt>fName_field</tt>:
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
var fName_field = _sdForm[0].first_name;
</syntaxhighlight>

Fields have two properties that you can access in JavaScript:
:* <tt>name</tt>: the name of the field
:* <tt>value</tt>: the value of the field

So this line retrieves the value of the field:
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
var fName = fName_field.value;
</syntaxhighlight>

As does this longer version:
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
var fName = _sdForm[0].first_name.value;
</syntaxhighlight>

Other fields can be accessed using the platform's JavaScript functions.<br>For a complete list, see the [[#Field Types|Field Types]] section below.

====Updating Fields in the Current Form====
The method used to update a field depends on the field type. All of the methods have the general form:
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
set...Value(_sdForm, field, value);
</syntaxhighlight>

Below are some examples of common methods. (The section that follows contains a complete list.)
:<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript" enclose="div">
setTextFieldValue(_sdForm, "first_name", "Adam");

setPickListValue(_sdForm, "first_name", "Adam");

setMultiPickListValue(_sdForm, "first_name", ["new","closed"]); 
    // value is an array of strings

setRadioButtonValue(_sdForm, "first_name", "Adam");

setCheckboxState(_sdForm, "first_name", true);  // checked
setCheckboxState(_sdForm, "first_name", false); // unchecked

setLookupValue(_sdForm, "project_number", "123456", "My Project");
    // where 123456 is the record ID of the target record 
    // "My Project" is the value of the record locator field(s) for that record
</syntaxhighlight>

====Field Type Reference====
{{Note|To view the field type reference in the new AgileApps user interface, see [[JavaScript Field Type Reference for New AgileApps User Interface]].}}
{{:JavaScript Field Type Reference}}