Form Input Types

Examples

Select Boxes

HTML

<select class="form-control" id="beverage">
  <option value="coffee">Coffee</option>
  <option value="tea">Tea</option>
  <option value="kombucha">Kombucha</option>
  <option value="water">Water</option>
</select>

JavaScript

const beverage = $("#beverage").val();

Radio Buttons

HTML

<div class="radio">
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="flavor" value="chocolate" checked>
    Chocolate
  </label>
</div>
<div class="radio">
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="flavor" value="vanilla">
    Vanilla
  </label>
</div>
<div class="radio">
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="flavor" value="cookiesandcream">
    Cookies & Cream
  </label>
</div>

JavaScript

const flavor = $("input:radio[name=flavor]:checked").val();

Date Picker

HTML

<div class="form-group">
  <label for="born">Date of birth:</label>
  <input id="born" class="form-control" type="date">
</div>

const dob = $("#born").val();

Color Picker

<div class="form-group">
  <label for="color">What is your favorite color?</label>
  <input id="color" class="form-control" type="color">
</div>

JavaScript

const favoriteColor = $("#color").val();

Tips

• Marking your HTML input field as number, date, or tel, doesn't mean it will automatically be a JavaScript number type. type="number" just means that the form field will only accept number values. But when you use .val() to read the input, it will still come in as a JavaScript string, not a number.

Branching

Terminology

• Branching: Determining the flow of your code based on certain conditions. (ie: If something is true, do one thing. If this same thing is false, do a different thing.)
• Boolean: Returns true or false. When JavaScript is attempting to discern whether a condition is true, it's looking for a boolean.
• Comparison operators: ===, >, <, >=, <=.
• = sets a variable; === compares two things. Don't use ==.

Examples

One branch:

if (age > 21) {
  $('#drinks').show();
}

Two branches:

if (age > 21) {
  $('#drinks').show();
} else {
  $('#under-21').show();
}

Three branches:

if (age > 21) {
  $('#drinks').show();
} else if (age === 21) {
  $('#drinks').show();
} else {
  $('#under-21').show();
}

Branching can use a variable whose value is a boolean:

const over21 = true;
if (over21) {
  $('#drinks').show();
}

Comparison operators return booleans:

3 > 2;
// returns true

Terminology

Logical operators:

• && means and: gender === 'male' && age < 26
• || means or: gender === 'male' || age < 26
• ! means not: !under18
• Empty strings, the number 0, the number NaN, undefined, null, and false itself are falsey. If JavaScript sees any of these as a branching condition, it will treat them as false. Everything else is truthy.