Obtain form input fields using jQuery?

I have a form with many input fields.

When I catch the submit form event with jQuery, is it possible to get all the input fields of that form in an associative array?

Solution 1:

$('#myForm').submit(function() {
    // get all the inputs into an array.
    var $inputs = $('#myForm :input');

    // not sure if you wanted this, but I thought I'd add it.
    // get an associative array of just the values.
    var values = {};
    $inputs.each(function() {
        values[this.name] = $(this).val();
    });

});

Thanks to the tip from Simon_Weaver, here is another way you could do it, using serializeArray:

var values = {};
$.each($('#myForm').serializeArray(), function(i, field) {
    values[field.name] = field.value;
});

Note that this snippet will fail on <select multiple> elements.

It appears that the new HTML 5 form inputs don't work with serializeArray in jQuery version 1.3. This works in version 1.4+

Solution 2:

Late to the party on this question, but this is even easier:

$('#myForm').submit(function() {
    // Get all the forms elements and their values in one step
    var values = $(this).serialize();

});

Solution 3:

The jquery.form plugin may help with what others are looking for that end up on this question. I'm not sure if it directly does what you want or not.

There is also the serializeArray function.

Solution 4:

Sometimes I find getting one at a time is more useful. For that, there's this:

var input_name = "firstname";
var input = $("#form_id :input[name='"+input_name+"']"); 

Solution 5:

Here is another solution, this way you can fetch all data about the form and use it in a serverside call or something.

$('.form').on('submit', function( e )){ 
   var form = $( this ), // this will resolve to the form submitted
       action = form.attr( 'action' ),
         type = form.attr( 'method' ),
         data = {};

     // Make sure you use the 'name' field on the inputs you want to grab. 
   form.find( '[name]' ).each( function( i , v ){
      var input = $( this ), // resolves to current input element.
          name = input.attr( 'name' ),
          value = input.val();
      data[name] = value;
   });

  // Code which makes use of 'data'.

 e.preventDefault();
}

You can then use this with ajax calls:

function sendRequest(action, type, data) {
       $.ajax({
            url: action,
           type: type,
           data: data
       })
       .done(function( returnedHtml ) {
           $( "#responseDiv" ).append( returnedHtml );
       })
       .fail(function() {
           $( "#responseDiv" ).append( "This failed" );
       });
}

Hope this is of any use for any of you :)