[jquery] jQuery: how to get which button was clicked upon form submission?

I have a .submit() event set up for form submission. I also have multiple forms on the page, but just one here for this example. I'd like to know which submit button was clicked without applying a .click() event to each one.

Here's the setup:

<html>
<head>
  <title>jQuery research: forms</title>
  <script type='text/javascript' src='../jquery-1.5.2.min.js'></script>
  <script type='text/javascript' language='javascript'>
      $(document).ready(function(){
          $('form[name="testform"]').submit( function(event){ process_form_submission(event); } );
      });
      function process_form_submission( event ) {
          event.preventDefault();
          //var target = $(event.target);
          var me = event.currentTarget;
          var data = me.data.value;
          var which_button = '?';       // <-- this is what I want to know
          alert( 'data: ' + data + ', button: ' + which_button );
      }
  </script>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Here's my form:</h2>
<form action='nothing' method='post' name='testform'>
  <input type='hidden' name='data' value='blahdatayadda' />
  <input type='submit' name='name1' value='value1' />
  <input type='submit' name='name2' value='value2' />
</form>
</body>
</html>

Live example on jsfiddle

Besides applying a .click() event on each button, is there a way to determine which submit button was clicked?

This question is related to jquery forms

The answer is


Here is my solution:

   $('#form').submit(function(e){   
        console.log($('#'+e.originalEvent.submitter.id));
        e.preventDefault();
    });

When the form is submitted:

  • document.activeElement will give you the submit button that was clicked.

  • document.activeElement.getAttribute('value') will give you that button's value.

Note that if the form is submitted by hitting the Enter key, then document.activeElement will be whichever form input that was focused at the time. If this wasn't a submit button then in this case it may be that there is no "button that was clicked."


$('form').submit(function (ev) {
  let clickedButton = ev.originalEvent.explicitOriginalTarget;
});

$("form input[type=submit]").click(function() {
    $("<input />")
        .attr('type', 'hidden')
        .attr('name', $(this).attr('name'))
        .attr('value', $(this).attr('value'))
    .appendTo(this)
});

add hidden field


Building on what Stan and yann-h did but this one defaults to the first button. The beauty of this overall approach is that it picks up both the click and the enter key (even if the focus was not on the button. If you need to allow enter in the form, then just respond to this when a button is focused (i.e. Stan's answer). In my case, I wanted to allow enter to submit the form even if the user's current focus was on the text box.

I was also using a 'name' attribute rather than 'id' but this is the same approach.

var pressedButtonName =
     typeof $(":input[type=submit]:focus")[0] === "undefined" ?
     $(":input[type=submit]:first")[0].name :
     $(":input[type=submit]:focus")[0].name;

Similar to Stan answer but :

  • if you have more than one button, you have to get only the first button => [0]
  • if the form can be submitted with the enter key, you have to manage a default => myDefaultButtonId

$(document).on('submit', function(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    var pressedButtonId = 
         typeof $(":input[type=submit]:focus")[0] === "undefined" ? 
         "myDefaultButtonId" :
         $(":input[type=submit]:focus")[0].id;
    ...
 }

It helped me https://stackoverflow.com/a/17805011/1029257

Form submited only after submit button was clicked.

var theBtn = $(':focus');
if(theBtn.is(':submit'))
{
  // ....
  return true;
}

return false;

I was able to use jQuery originalEvent.submitter on Chrome with an ASP.Net Core web app:

My .cshtml form:

<div class="form-group" id="buttons_grp">
    <button type="submit" name="submitButton" value="Approve" class="btn btn-success">Approve</button>
    <button type="submit" name="submitButton" value="Reject" class="btn btn-danger">Reject</button>
    <button type="submit" name="submitButton" value="Save" class="btn btn-primary">Save</button>
    ...

The jQuery submit handler:

@section Scripts {
    @{await Html.RenderPartialAsync("_ValidationScriptsPartial");}
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
    ...
    // Ensure that we log an explanatory comment if "Reject"
    $('#update_task_form').on('submit', function (e) {
        let text = e.originalEvent.submitter.textContent;
        if (text == "Reject") {
           // Do stuff...
        }
    });
    ...

The jQuery Microsoft bundled with my ASP.Net Core environment is v3.3.1.


You can create input type="hidden" as holder for a button id information.

<input type="hidden" name="button" id="button">
<input type="submit" onClick="document.form_name.button.value = 1;" value="Do something" name="do_something">

In this case form passes value "1" (id of your button) on submit. This works if onClick occurs before submit (?), what I am not sure if it is always true.


For me, the best solutions was this:

$(form).submit(function(e){

   // Get the button that was clicked       
   var submit = $(this.id).context.activeElement;

   // You can get its name like this
   alert(submit.name)

   // You can get its attributes like this too
   alert($(submit).attr('class'))

});

I found that this worked.

$(document).ready(function() {
    $( "form" ).submit(function () {
        // Get the submit button element
        var btn = $(this).find("input[type=submit]:focus" );
    });
}

This works for me:

$("form").submit(function() {
   // Print the value of the button that was clicked
   console.log($(document.activeElement).val());
}

You can simply get the event object when you submit the form. From that, get the submitter object. As below:

$(".review-form").submit(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault(); // avoid to execute the actual submit of the form.

        let submitter_btn = $(e.originalEvent.submitter);
        
        console.log(submitter_btn.attr("name"));
}

In case you want to send this form to the backend, you can create a new form element by new FormData() and set the key-value pair for which button was pressed, then access it in the backend. Something like this -

$(".review-form").submit(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault(); // avoid to execute the actual submit of the form.

        let form = $(this);
        let newForm = new FormData($(form)[0]);
        let submitter_btn = $(e.originalEvent.submitter);
        
        console.log(submitter_btn.attr("name"));

        if (submitter_btn.attr("name") == "approve_btn") {
            newForm.set("action_for", submitter_btn.attr("name"));
        } else if (submitter_btn.attr("name") == "reject_btn") {
            newForm.set("action_for", submitter_btn.attr("name"));
        } else {
            console.log("there is some error!");
            return;
        }
}

I was basically trying to have a form where user can either approve or disapprove/ reject a product for further processes in a task. My HTML form is something like this -

<form method="POST" action="{% url 'tasks:review-task' taskid=product.task_id.id %}"
    class="review-form">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <input type="hidden" name="product_id" value="{{product.product_id}}" />
    <input type="hidden" name="task_id" value="{{product.task_id_id}}" />
    <button type="submit" name="approve_btn" class="btn btn-link" id="approve-btn">
        <i class="fa fa-check" style="color: rgb(63, 245, 63);"></i>
    </button>
    <button type="submit" name="reject_btn" class="btn btn-link" id="reject-btn">
            <i class="fa fa-times" style="color: red;"></i>
    </button>
</form>

Let me know if you have any doubts.


This one worked for me

$('#Form').submit(function(){
var btn= $(this).find("input[type=submit]:focus").val();
alert('you have clicked '+ btn);

}

Another possible solution is to add a hidden field in your form:

<input type="hidden" id="btaction"/>

Then in the ready function add functions to record what key was pressed:

$('form#myForm #btnSubmit').click(function() {
    $('form#myForm #btaction').val(0);
});

$('form#myForm #btnSubmitAndSend').click(function() {
    $('form#myForm #btaction').val(1);
});

$('form#myForm #btnDelete').click(function() {
    $('form#myForm #btaction').val(2);
});

Now in the form submition handler read the hidden variable and decide based on it:

var act = $('form#myForm #btaction').val();

This is the solution used by me and work very well:

_x000D_
_x000D_
// prevent enter key on some elements to prevent to submit the form_x000D_
function stopRKey(evt) {_x000D_
  evt = (evt) ? evt : ((event) ? event : null);_x000D_
  var node = (evt.target) ? evt.target : ((evt.srcElement) ? evt.srcElement : null);_x000D_
  var alloved_enter_on_type = ['textarea'];_x000D_
  if ((evt.keyCode == 13) && ((node.id == "") || ($.inArray(node.type, alloved_enter_on_type) < 0))) {_x000D_
    return false;_x000D_
  }_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
$(document).ready(function() {_x000D_
  document.onkeypress = stopRKey;_x000D_
  // catch the id of submit button and store-it to the form_x000D_
  $("form").each(function() {_x000D_
    var that = $(this);_x000D_
_x000D_
    // define context and reference_x000D_
    /* for each of the submit-inputs - in each of the forms on_x000D_
    the page - assign click and keypress event */_x000D_
    $("input:submit,button", that).bind("click keypress", function(e) {_x000D_
      // store the id of the submit-input on it's enclosing form_x000D_
      that.data("callerid", this.id);_x000D_
    });_x000D_
  });_x000D_
_x000D_
  $("#form1").submit(function(e) {_x000D_
    var origin_id = $(e.target).data("callerid");_x000D_
    alert(origin_id);_x000D_
    e.preventDefault();_x000D_
_x000D_
  });_x000D_
});
_x000D_
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>_x000D_
<form id="form1" name="form1" action="" method="post">_x000D_
  <input type="text" name="text1" />_x000D_
  <input type="submit" id="button1" value="Submit1" name="button1" />_x000D_
  <button type="submit" id="button2" name="button2">_x000D_
    Submit2_x000D_
  </button>_x000D_
  <input type="submit" id="button3" value="Submit3" name="button3" />_x000D_
</form>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


As I can't comment on the accepted answer, I bring here a modified version that should take into account elements that are outside the form (ie: attached to the form using the form attribute). This is for modern browser: http://caniuse.com/#feat=form-attribute . The closest('form') is used as a fallback for unsupported form attribute

$(document).on('click', '[type=submit]', function() {
    var form = $(this).prop('form') || $(this).closest('form')[0];
    $(form.elements).filter('[type=submit]').removeAttr('clicked')
    $(this).attr('clicked', true);
});

$('form').on('submit', function() {
    var submitter = $(this.elements).filter('[clicked]');
})

Wow, some solutions can get complicated! If you don't mind using a simple global, just take advantage of the fact that the input button click event fires first. One could further filter the $('input') selector for one of many forms by using $('#myForm input').

    $(document).ready(function(){
      var clkBtn = "";
      $('input[type="submit"]').click(function(evt) {
        clkBtn = evt.target.id;
      });

      $("#myForm").submit(function(evt) {
        var btnID = clkBtn;
        alert("form submitted; button id=" + btnID);
      });
    });

Try this:

$(document).ready(function(){
    
    $('form[name="testform"]').submit( function(event){
      
        // This is the ID of the clicked button
        var clicked_button_id = event.originalEvent.submitter.id; 
        
    });
});

You want to use window.event.srcElement.id like this:

function clickTheButton() {

var Sender = window.event.srcElement;
alert("the item clicked was " + Sender.id)

}

for a button that looks like:

<input type="button" id="myButton" onclick="clickTheButton();" value="Click Me"/>

you will get an alert that reads: "the item clicked was myButton.

In your improved example you can add window.event.srcElement to process_form_submission and you will have a reference to whichever element invoked the process.


A simple way to distinguish which <button> or <input type="button"...> is pressed, is by checking their 'id':

$("button").click(function() {
  var id = $(this).attr('id');
  ... 
});

Here's the approach that seems cleaner for my purposes.

First, for any and all forms:

$('form').click(function(event) {
  $(this).data('clicked',$(event.target))
});

When this click event is fired for a form, it simply records the originating target (available in the event object) to be accessed later. This is a pretty broad stroke, as it will fire for any click anywhere on the form. Optimization comments are welcome, but I suspect it will never cause noticeable issues.

Then, in $('form').submit(), you can inquire what was last clicked, with something like

if ($(this).data('clicked').is('[name=no_ajax]')) xhr.abort();

Here is a sample, that uses this.form to get the correct form the submit is into, and data fields to store the last clicked/focused element. I also wrapped submit code inside a timeout to be sure click events happen before it is executed (some users reported in comments that on Chrome sometimes a click event is fired after a submit).

Works when navigating both with keys and with mouse/fingers without counting on browsers to send a click event on RETURN key (doesn't hurt though), I added an event handler for focus events for buttons and fields.

You might add buttons of type="submit" to the items that save themselves when clicked.

In the demo I set a red border to show the selected item and an alert that shows name and value/label.

Here is the FIDDLE

And here is the (same) code:

Javascript:

$("form").submit(function(e) {
  e.preventDefault();
  // Use this for rare/buggy cases when click event is sent after submit
  setTimeout(function() {

    var $this=$(this);
    var lastFocus = $this.data("lastFocus");
    var $defaultSubmit=null;

    if(lastFocus) $defaultSubmit=$(lastFocus);

    if(!$defaultSubmit || !$defaultSubmit.is("input[type=submit]")) {
      // If for some reason we don't have a submit, find one (the first)
      $defaultSubmit=$(this).find("input[type=submit]").first();
    }

    if($defaultSubmit) {
      var submitName=$defaultSubmit.attr("name");
      var submitLabel=$defaultSubmit.val();

       // Just a demo, set hilite and alert
      doSomethingWith($defaultSubmit);
      setTimeout(function() {alert("Submitted "+submitName+": '"+submitLabel+"'")},1000);
    } else {
      // There were no submit in the form
    }

  }.bind(this),0);

});

$("form input").focus(function() {
  $(this.form).data("lastFocus", this);
});
$("form input").click(function() {
  $(this.form).data("lastFocus", this);
});

// Just a demo, setting hilite
function doSomethingWith($aSelectedEl) {
  $aSelectedEl.css({"border":"4px solid red"});
  setTimeout(function() { $aSelectedEl.removeAttr("style"); },1000);
}

DUMMY HTML:

<form>
<input type="text" name="testtextortexttest" value="Whatever you write, sir."/>
<input type="text" name="moretesttextormoretexttest" value="Whatever you write, again, sir."/>

<input type="submit" name="test1" value="Action 1"/>
<input type="submit" name="test2" value="Action 2"/>
<input type="submit" name="test3" value="Action 3"/>
<input type="submit" name="test4" value="Action 4"/>
<input type="submit" name="test5" value="Action 5"/>
</form>

DUMB CSS:

input {display:block}

Working with this excellent answer, you can check the active element (the button), append a hidden input to the form, and optionally remove it at the end of the submit handler.

$('form.form-js').submit(function(event){
    var frm = $(this);
    var btn = $(document.activeElement);
    if(
        btn.length &&
        frm.has(btn) &&
        btn.is('button[type="submit"], input[type="submit"], input[type="image"]') &&
        btn.is('[name]')
    ){
        frm.append('<input type="hidden" id="form-js-temp" name="' + btn.attr('name') + '" value="' + btn.val() + '">');
    }

    // Handle the form submit here

    $('#form-js-temp').remove();
});

Side note: I personally add the class form-js on all forms that are submitted via JavaScript.


I write this function that helps me

var PupulateFormData= function (elem) {
var arr = {};
$(elem).find("input[name],select[name],button[name]:focus,input[type='submit']:focus").each(function () {
    arr[$(this).attr("name")] = $(this).val();
});
return arr;
};

and then Use

var data= PupulateFormData($("form"));

I have found the best solution is

$(document.activeElement).attr('id')

This not only works on inputs, but it also works on button tags. Also it gets the id of the button.


I also made a solution, and it works quite well:
It uses jQuery and CSS


First, I made a quick CSS class, this can be embedded or in a seperate file.

<style type='text/css'>
    .Clicked {
        /*No Attributes*/
    }
</style>


Next, On the click event of a button within the form,add the CSS class to the button. If the button already has the CSS class, remove it. (We don't want two CSS classes [Just in case]).

    // Adds a CSS Class to the Button That Has Been Clicked.
    $("form :input[type='submit']").click(function () 
    {
        if ($(this).hasClass("Clicked"))
        {
            $(this).removeClass("Clicked");
        }
        $(this).addClass("Clicked");
    });


Now, test the button to see it has the CSS class, if the tested button doesn't have the CSS, then the other button will.

    // On Form Submit
    $("form").submit(function ()
    {
        // Test Which Button Has the Class
        if ($("input[name='name1']").hasClass("Clicked"))
        {
            // Button 'name1' has been clicked.
        }
        else
        {
           // Button 'name2' has been clicked.
        }
    });

Hope this helps! Cheers!


If what you mean by not adding a .click event is that you don't want to have separate handlers for those events, you could handle all clicks (submits) in one function:

$(document).ready(function(){
  $('input[type="submit"]').click( function(event){ process_form_submission(event); } );
});

function process_form_submission( event ) {
  event.preventDefault();
  //var target = $(event.target);
  var input = $(event.currentTarget);
  var which_button = event.currentTarget.value;
  var data = input.parents("form")[0].data.value;
//  var which_button = '?';       // <-- this is what I want to know
  alert( 'data: ' + data + ', button: ' + which_button );
}