How can I submit a form using JavaScript?

I have a form with id theForm which has the following div with a submit button inside:

<div id="placeOrder"
     style="text-align: right; width: 100%; background-color: white;">
    <button type="submit"
            class='input_submit'
            style="margin-right: 15px;"
            onClick="placeOrder()">Place Order
    </button>
</div>

When clicked, the function placeOrder() is called. The function changes the innerHTML of the above div to be "processing ..." (so the submit button is now gone).

The above code works, but now the problem is that I can't get the form to submit! I've tried putting this in the placeOrder() function:

document.theForm.submit();

But that doesn't work.

How can I get the form to submit?

Solution 1:

Set the name attribute of your form to "theForm" and your code will work.

Solution 2:

You can use...

document.getElementById('theForm').submit();

...but don't replace the innerHTML. You could hide the form and then insert a processing... span which will appear in its place.

var form = document.getElementById('theForm');

form.style.display = 'none';

var processing = document.createElement('span');

processing.appendChild(document.createTextNode('processing ...'));

form.parentNode.insertBefore(processing, form);

Solution 3:

It works perfectly in my case.

document.getElementById("form1").submit();

Also, you can use it in a function as below:

function formSubmit()
{
    document.getElementById("form1").submit();
}