Example 1
This example contains two select elements. When an item is selected in the first select, the choices in the other select are updated appropriately. The first select element contains a list of continents. The second select element will contain a partial list of countries located in the selected continent. There is an onchange event associated with the continent select. When the continent selection changes, the items in the country select are modified using JavaScript via the Document Object Model (DOM). All of the data required, the list of countries and continents, is included within the Web page.
Overview of the code below
countryLists
array variable which contains the list of countries for each continent in the trigger select element.
countryChange()
function which is called by the onchange event of the continent select element.
The HTML code to create the select elements in the body of the Web page.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<meta charset=utf-8">
<title>Dynamic Select Statements</title>
<script>
// array of possible countries in the same order as they appear
// in the country selection list
var countryLists = new Array(4)
countryLists["empty"] = ["Select a Country"];
countryLists["North America"] = ["Canada", "United States", "Mexico"];
countryLists["South America"] = ["Brazil", "Argentina", "Chile", "Ecuador"];
countryLists["Asia"] = ["Russia", "China", "Japan"];
countryLists["Europe"]= ["Britain", "France", "Spain", "Germany"];
/* CountryChange() is called from the onchange event of a select element.
* param selectObj - the select object which fired the on change event.
function countryChange(selectObj) {
// get the index of the selected option
var idx = selectObj.selectedIndex;
// get the value of the selected option
var which = selectObj.options[idx].value;
// use the selected option value to retrieve the list of items
// from the countryLists array
cList = countryLists[which];
// get the country select element via its known id
var cSelect = document.getElementById("country");
// remove the current options from the country select
var len=cSelect.options.length;
while (cSelect.options.length > 0) {
cSelect.remove(0);
var newOption;
// create new options
for (var i=0; i<cList.length; i++) {
newOption = document.createElement("option");
newOption.value = cList[i]; // assumes option string and value are the same
newOption.text=cList[i];
// add the new option
try {
cSelect.add(newOption); // this will fail in DOM browsers but is needed for IE
catch (e) {
cSelect.appendChild(newOption);
</script>
</head>
<h1>Dynamic Select Statements</h1>
<label for="continent">Select Continent</label>
<select id="continent" onchange="countryChange(this);">
<option value="empty">Select a Continent</option>
<option value="North America">North America</option>
<option value="South America">South America</option>
<option value="Asia">Asia</option>
<option value="Europe">Europe</option>
</select>
<label for="country">Select a country</label>
<select id="country">
<option value="0">Select a country</option>
</select>
</body>
</html>
Here is a working example:
Dynamic Select
