form serialize javascript (no framework)

Here is pure JavaScript approach:

var form = document.querySelector('form');
var data = new FormData(form);
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.send(data);

Though it seems to be working only for POST requests.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FormData

For modern browsers only

If you target browsers that support the URLSearchParams API (most recent browsers) and FormData(formElement) constructor (most recent browsers), use this:

new URLSearchParams(new FormData(formElement)).toString()

Everywhere except IE

For browsers that support URLSearchParams but not the FormData(formElement) constructor, use this FormData polyfill and this code (works everywhere except IE):

new URLSearchParams(Array.from(new FormData(formElement))).toString()

Example

var form = document.querySelector('form');
var out = document.querySelector('output');

function updateResult() {
  try {
    out.textContent = new URLSearchParams(Array.from(new FormData(form)));
    out.className = '';
  } catch (e) {
    out.textContent = e;
    out.className = 'error';
  }
}

updateResult();
form.addEventListener('input', updateResult);

body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; }
input[type="text"] { margin-left: 6px; max-width: 30px; }
label + label { margin-left: 10px; }
output { font-family: monospace; }
.error { color: #c00; }
div { margin-right: 30px; }

<!-- FormData polyfill for older browsers -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/formdata.min.js"></script>
<div>
  <h3>Form</h3>
  <form id="form">
    <label>x:<input type="text" name="x" value="1"></label>
    <label>y:<input type="text" name="y" value="2"></label>
    <label>
    z:
    <select name="z">
      <option value="a" selected>a</option>
      <option value="b" selected>b</option>
    </select>
  </label>
  </form>
</div>
<div>
  <h3>Query string</h3>
  <output for="form"></output>
</div>

Compatible with IE 10

For even older browsers (e.g. IE 10), use the FormData polyfill, an Array.from polyfill if necessary and this code:

Array.from(
  new FormData(formElement),
  function(e) { return e.map(encodeURIComponent).join('='); }
).join('&')

The miniature from-serialize library doesn't rely on a framework. Other than something like that, you'll need to implement the serialization function yourself. (though at a weight of 1.2 kilobytes, why not use it?)

function serialize (form) {
    if (!form || form.nodeName !== "FORM") {
            return;
    }
    var i, j, q = [];
    for (i = form.elements.length - 1; i >= 0; i = i - 1) {
        if (form.elements[i].name === "") {
            continue;
        }
        switch (form.elements[i].nodeName) {
            case 'INPUT':
                switch (form.elements[i].type) {
                    case 'text':
                    case 'tel':
                    case 'email':
                    case 'hidden':
                    case 'password':
                    case 'button':
                    case 'reset':
                    case 'submit':
                        q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].value));
                        break;
                    case 'checkbox':
                    case 'radio':
                        if (form.elements[i].checked) {
                                q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].value));
                        }                                               
                        break;
                }
                break;
                case 'file':
                break; 
            case 'TEXTAREA':
                    q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].value));
                    break;
            case 'SELECT':
                switch (form.elements[i].type) {
                    case 'select-one':
                        q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].value));
                        break;
                    case 'select-multiple':
                        for (j = form.elements[i].options.length - 1; j >= 0; j = j - 1) {
                            if (form.elements[i].options[j].selected) {
                                    q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].options[j].value));
                            }
                        }
                        break;
                }
                break;
            case 'BUTTON':
                switch (form.elements[i].type) {
                    case 'reset':
                    case 'submit':
                    case 'button':
                        q.push(form.elements[i].name + "=" + encodeURIComponent(form.elements[i].value));
                        break;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    return q.join("&");
}

Source: http://code.google.com/p/form-serialize/source/browse/trunk/serialize-0.1.js

Here's a slightly modified version of TibTibs':

function serialize(form) {
    var field, s = [];
    if (typeof form == 'object' && form.nodeName == "FORM") {
        var len = form.elements.length;
        for (i=0; i<len; i++) {
            field = form.elements[i];
            if (field.name && !field.disabled && field.type != 'file' && field.type != 'reset' && field.type != 'submit' && field.type != 'button') {
                if (field.type == 'select-multiple') {
                    for (j=form.elements[i].options.length-1; j>=0; j--) {
                        if(field.options[j].selected)
                            s[s.length] = encodeURIComponent(field.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(field.options[j].value);
                    }
                } else if ((field.type != 'checkbox' && field.type != 'radio') || field.checked) {
                    s[s.length] = encodeURIComponent(field.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(field.value);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return s.join('&').replace(/%20/g, '+');
}

Disabled fields are discarded and names are also URL encoded. Regex replace of %20 characters takes place only once, before returning the string.

The query string is in identical form to the result from jQuery's $.serialize() method.