[html] HTML: Is it possible to have a FORM tag in each TABLE ROW in a XHTML valid way?

I can best describe this as follows:

I want this (entire table in editmode and save button in every row).

<table>
    <tr>
        <td>Id</td>
        <td>Name</td>
        <td>Description</td>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><input type="hidden" name="id" value="1" /></td>
        <td><input type="text" name="name" value="Name" /></td>
        <td><input type="text" name="description" value="Description" /></td>
        <td><input type="submit" value="Save" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><input type="hidden" name="id" value="2" /></td>
        <td><input type="text" name="name" value="Name2" /></td>
        <td><input type="text" name="description" value="Description2" /></td>
        <td><input type="submit" value="Save" /></td>
    </tr>
    <!-- and more rows here ... -->
</table>

Where should I put the <form> tags?

In fact I have the problem with a form on each row of a table, with javascript (actually jquery) :

like Lothre1 said, "some browsers in the process of rendering will close form tag right after the declaration leaving inputs outside of the element"

which makes my input fields OUTSIDE the form, therefore I can't access the children of my form through the DOM with JAVASCRIPT..

typically, the following JQUERY code won't work :

$('#id_form :input').each(function(){/*action*/});
// this is supposed to select all inputS 
// within the form that has an id ='id_form'

BUT the above exemple doesn't work with the rendered HTML :

<table>
    <form id="id_form"></form>
    <tr id="tr_id">
    <td><input type="text"/></td>
    <td><input type="submit"/></td>
    </tr>
    </table>

I'm still looking for a clean solution (though using the TR 'id' parameter to walk the DOM would fix this specific problem)

dirty solution would be (for jquery):

$('#tr_id :input').each(function(){/*action*/});
// this will select all the inputS
// fields within the TR with the id='tr_id'

the above exemple will work, but it's not really "clean", because it refers to the TR instead of the FORM, AND it requires AJAX ...

EDIT : complete process with jquery/ajax would be :

//init data string
// the dummy init value (1=1)is just here 
// to avoid dealing with trailing &
// and should not be implemented
// (though it works)
var data_str = '1=1'; 
// for each input in the TR
$('#tr_id :input').each(function(){

 //retrieve field name and value from the DOM
 var field = $(this).attr('name');
 var value = $(this).val();

 //iterate the string to pass the datas
 // so in the end it will render s/g like
 // "1=1&field1_name=value1&field2_name=value2"...
 data_str += '&' + field + '=' + value; 


});

//Sendind fields datawith ajax 
// to be treated 
$.ajax({
 type:"POST",
 url: "target_for_the_form_treatment",
 data:data_string,
 success:function(msg){
    /*actions on success of the request*/
 });
});

this way, the "target_for_the_form_treatment" should receive POST data as if a form was sent to him (appart from the post[1] = 1, but to implement this solution i would recommand dealing with the trailing '&' of the data_str instead).

still I don't like this solution, but I'm forced to use TABLE structure because of the dataTables jquery plugin...

I had a similar question and this answer in question HTML: table of forms? solved it for me. (Not sure if it is XHTML, but it works in an HTML5 browser.)

You can use css to give table layout to other elements.

.table { display: table; } 
.table>* { display: table-row; }
.table>*>* { display: table-cell; }

Then you use the following valid html.

<div class="table"> 
    <form>
        <div>snake<input type="hidden" name="cartitem" value="55"></div>
        <div><input name="count" value="4" /></div>
    </form>
</div>

<table > 
<thead > 
   <tr>
    <th>No</th><th>ID</th><th>Name</th><th>Ip</th><th>Save</th> 
   </tr>
</thead>
<tbody id="table_data"> 
         <tr>
            <td> 
                <form method="POST" autocomplete="off" id="myForm_207" action="save.php">
                    <input type="hidden" name="pvm" value="207"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="customer_records_id" value="2"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="name_207" id="name_207" value="BURÇIN MERYEM ONUK"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="ip_207" id="ip_207" value="89.19.24.118"> 

                </form> 
                1 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                207 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                <input type="text" id="nameg_207" value="BURÇIN MERYEM ONUK"> 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                <input type="text" id="ipg_207" value="89.19.24.118"> 
            </td> 
            <td>
                <button type="button" name="Kaydet_207" class="searchButton" onclick="postData('myForm_207','207')">SAVE</button>
            </td>
        </tr> 
        <tr>
            <td> 
                <form method="POST" autocomplete="off" id="myForm_209" action="save.php">
                    <input type="hidden" name="pvm" value="209"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="customer_records_id" value="2"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="name_209" id="name_209" value="BALA BASAK KAN"> 
                    <input type="hidden" name="ip_209" id="ip_209" value="217.17.159.22"> 
                </form> 
                2 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                209 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                <input type="text" id="nameg_209" value="BALA BASAK KAN"> 
            </td> 
            <td> 
                <input type="text" id="ipg_209" value="217.17.159.22"> 
            </td> 
            <td>
                <button type="button" name="Kaydet_209" class="searchButton" onclick="postData('myForm_209','209')">SAVE</button>
            </td>
        </tr> 
</tbody> 
</table> 
<script> 
function postData(formId,keyy){ 
    //alert(document.getElementById(formId).length);
    //alert(document.getElementById('name_'+keyy).value);
    document.getElementById('name_'+keyy).value=document.getElementById('nameg_'+keyy).value;
    document.getElementById('ip_'+keyy).value=document.getElementById('ipg_'+keyy).value;

    //alert(document.getElementById('name_'+keyy).value);
    document.getElementById(formId).submit(); 
}
</script> 

If you try to add a form warping a tr element like this

<table>
<form>
<tr>
<td><input type="text"/></td>
<td><input type="submit"/></td>
</tr>
</form>
</table>

some browsers in the process of rendering will close form tag right after the declaration leaving inputs outside of the element

something like this

<table>
    <form></form>
    <tr>
    <td><input type="text"/></td>
    <td><input type="submit"/></td>
    </tr>
    </table>

This issue is still valid for warping multiple table cells

As stereoscott said above, nesting tables are a possible solution which is not recommended. Avoid using tables.

I'd say you can, although it doesn't validate and Firefox will re-arrange the code (so what you see in 'View generated source' when using Web Developer may well surprise). I'm no expert, but putting

<form action="someexecpage.php" method="post">

just ahead of the

<tr>

and then using

</tr></form>

at the end of the row certainly gives the functionality (tested in Firefox, Chrome and IE7-9). Working for me, even if the number of validation errors it produced was a new personal best/worst! No problems seen as a consequence, and I have a fairly heavily styled table. I guess you may have a dynamically produced table, as I do, which is why parsing the table rows is a bit non-obvious for us mortals. So basically, open the form at the beginning of the row and close it just after the end of the row.

The answer of @wmantly is basicly 'the same' as I would go for at this moment. Don't use <form> tags at all and prevent 'inappropiate' tag nesting. Use javascript (in this case jQuery) to do the posting of the data, mostly you will do it with javascript, because only one row had to be updated and feedback must be given without refreshing the whole page (if refreshing the whole page, it's no use to go through all these trobules to only post a single row).

I attach a click handler to a 'update' anchor at each row, that will trigger the collection and 'submit' of the fields on the same row. With an optional data-action attribute on the anchor tag the target url of the POST can be specified.

Example html

<table>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td><input type="hidden" name="id" value="row1"/><input name="textfield" type="text" value="input1" /></td>
            <td><select name="selectfield">
                <option selected value="select1-option1">select1-option1</option>
                <option value="select1-option2">select1-option2</option>
                <option value="select1-option3">select1-option3</option>
            </select></td>
            <td><a class="submit" href="#" data-action="/exampleurl">Update</a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><input type="hidden" name="id" value="row2"/><input name="textfield" type="text" value="input2" /></td>
            <td><select name="selectfield">
                <option selected value="select2-option1">select2-option1</option>
                <option value="select2-option2">select2-option2</option>
                <option value="select2-option3">select2-option3</option>
            </select></td>
            <td><a class="submit" href="#" data-action="/different-url">Update</a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><input type="hidden" name="id" value="row3"/><input name="textfield" type="text" value="input3" /></td>
            <td><select name="selectfield">
                <option selected value="select3-option1">select3-option1</option>
                <option value="select3-option2">select3-option2</option>
                <option value="select3-option3">select3-option3</option>
            </select></td>
            <td><a class="submit" href="#">Update</a></td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Example script

    $(document).ready(function(){
        $(".submit").on("click", function(event){
            event.preventDefault();
            var url = ($(this).data("action") === "undefined" ? "/" : $(this).data("action"));
            var row = $(this).parents("tr").first();
            var data = row.find("input, select, radio").serialize();
            $.post(url, data, function(result){ console.log(result); });
        });
    });

A JSFIddle

You just have to put the <form ... > tag before the <table> tag and the </form> at the end.

Hopte it helps.

It's worth mentioning that this is possible in HTML5, using the "form" attribute for input elements:

<table>
    <tr>
        <td>Id</td>
        <td>Name</td>
        <td>Description</td>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><form id="form1"><input type="hidden" name="id" value="1" /></form></td>
        <td><input form="form1" type="text" name="name" value="Name" /></td>
        <td><input form="form1" type="text" name="description" value="Description" /></td>
        <td><input form="form1" type="submit" value="Save" /></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><form id="form2"><input type="hidden" name="id" value="1" /></form></td>
        <td><input form="form2" type="text" name="name" value="Name" /></td>
        <td><input form="form2" type="text" name="description" value="Description" /></td>
        <td><input form="form2" type="submit" value="Save" /></td>
    </tr>
</table>

While clean in its lack of JS and use of original elements, unfortunately this isn't working in IE10.

Im late to the party, but this worked great for me and the code should explain itself;

<script type="text/javascript">
    function formAJAX(btn){
        var $form = $(btn).closest('[action]');
        var str = $form.find('[name]').serialize();
        $.post($form.attr('action'), str, function(data){
            //do stuff
        });
    }
<script>

HTML:

<tr action="scriptURL.php">
    <td>
        Field 1:<input type="text" name="field1"/>
    </td>
    <td>
        Field 2:<input type="text" name="field2" />
    </td>
    <td><button type="button" onclick="formAJAX(this)">Update</button></td>
</tr>