Download editable select

Put this into your <HEAD> section

	<style type="text/css">
	body{
		background-image:url('../../images/heading3.gif');
		background-repeat:no-repeat;
		padding-top:85px;	
		font-family: Trebuchet MS, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, sans-serif;
		font-size:0.9em;
		line-height:130%;

	}
	
	
	.selectBoxArrow{
		margin-top:1px;
		float:left;
		position:absolute;
		right:1px;
		

	}	
	.selectBoxInput{
		border:0px;
		padding-left:1px;
		height:16px;
		position:absolute;
		top:0px;
		left:0px;
	}

	.selectBox{
		border:1px solid #7f9db9;
		height:20px;	
	
	}
	.selectBoxOptionContainer{
		position:absolute;
		border:1px solid #7f9db9;
		height:100px;
		background-color:#FFF;
		left:-1px;
		top:20px;
		visibility:hidden;
		overflow:auto;
	}
	.selectBoxAnOption{
		font-family:arial;
		font-size:12px;
		cursor:default;
		margin:1px;
		overflow:hidden;
		white-space:nowrap;
	}
	.selectBoxIframe{
		position:absolute;
		background-color:#FFF;
		border:0px;
		z-index:999;
	}	
	</style>
	<script type="text/javascript">
	/************************************************************************************************************
	Editable select
	Copyright (C) September 2005  DTHMLGoodies.com, Alf Magne Kalleland
	
	This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
	modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
	License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
	version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
	
	This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
	but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
	MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
	Lesser General Public License for more details.
	
	You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
	License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
	Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
	
	Dhtmlgoodies.com., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in this script
	written by Alf Magne Kalleland.
	
	Alf Magne Kalleland, 2006
	Owner of DHTMLgoodies.com
		
	************************************************************************************************************/	

	
	// Path to arrow images
	var arrowImage = './images/select_arrow.gif';	// Regular arrow
	var arrowImageOver = './images/select_arrow_over.gif';	// Mouse over
	var arrowImageDown = './images/select_arrow_down.gif';	// Mouse down

	
	var selectBoxIds = 0;
	var currentlyOpenedOptionBox = false;
	var editableSelect_activeArrow = false;
	

	
	function selectBox_switchImageUrl()
	{
		if(this.src.indexOf(arrowImage)>=0){
			this.src = this.src.replace(arrowImage,arrowImageOver);	
		}else{
			this.src = this.src.replace(arrowImageOver,arrowImage);
		}
		
		
	}
	
	function selectBox_showOptions()
	{
		if(editableSelect_activeArrow && editableSelect_activeArrow!=this){
			editableSelect_activeArrow.src = arrowImage;
			
		}
		editableSelect_activeArrow = this;
		
		var numId = this.id.replace(/[^\d]/g,'');
		var optionDiv = document.getElementById('selectBoxOptions' + numId);
		if(optionDiv.style.display=='block'){
			optionDiv.style.display='none';
			if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE')>=0)document.getElementById('selectBoxIframe' + numId).style.display='none';
			this.src = arrowImageOver;	
		}else{			
			optionDiv.style.display='block';
			if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE')>=0)document.getElementById('selectBoxIframe' + numId).style.display='block';
			this.src = arrowImageDown;	
			if(currentlyOpenedOptionBox && currentlyOpenedOptionBox!=optionDiv)currentlyOpenedOptionBox.style.display='none';	
			currentlyOpenedOptionBox= optionDiv;			
		}
	}
	
	function selectOptionValue()
	{
		var parentNode = this.parentNode.parentNode;
		var textInput = parentNode.getElementsByTagName('INPUT')[0];
		textInput.value = this.innerHTML;	
		this.parentNode.style.display='none';	
		document.getElementById('arrowSelectBox' + parentNode.id.replace(/[^\d]/g,'')).src = arrowImageOver;
		
		if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE')>=0)document.getElementById('selectBoxIframe' + parentNode.id.replace(/[^\d]/g,'')).style.display='none';
		
	}
	var activeOption;
	function highlightSelectBoxOption()
	{
		if(this.style.backgroundColor=='#316AC5'){
			this.style.backgroundColor='';
			this.style.color='';
		}else{
			this.style.backgroundColor='#316AC5';
			this.style.color='#FFF';			
		}	
		
		if(activeOption){
			activeOption.style.backgroundColor='';
			activeOption.style.color='';			
		}
		activeOption = this;
		
	}
	
	function createEditableSelect(dest)
	{

		dest.className='selectBoxInput';		
		var div = document.createElement('DIV');
		div.style.styleFloat = 'left';
		div.style.width = dest.offsetWidth + 16 + 'px';
		div.style.position = 'relative';
		div.id = 'selectBox' + selectBoxIds;
		var parent = dest.parentNode;
		parent.insertBefore(div,dest);
		div.appendChild(dest);	
		div.className='selectBox';
		div.style.zIndex = 10000 - selectBoxIds;

		var img = document.createElement('IMG');
		img.src = arrowImage;
		img.className = 'selectBoxArrow';
		
		img.onmouseover = selectBox_switchImageUrl;
		img.onmouseout = selectBox_switchImageUrl;
		img.onclick = selectBox_showOptions;
		img.id = 'arrowSelectBox' + selectBoxIds;

		div.appendChild(img);
		
		var optionDiv = document.createElement('DIV');
		optionDiv.id = 'selectBoxOptions' + selectBoxIds;
		optionDiv.className='selectBoxOptionContainer';
		optionDiv.style.width = div.offsetWidth-2 + 'px';
		div.appendChild(optionDiv);
		
		if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE')>=0){
			var iframe = document.createElement('<IFRAME src="about:blank" frameborder=0>');
			iframe.style.width = optionDiv.style.width;
			iframe.style.height = optionDiv.offsetHeight + 'px';
			iframe.style.display='none';
			iframe.id = 'selectBoxIframe' + selectBoxIds;
			div.appendChild(iframe);
		}
		
		if(dest.getAttribute('selectBoxOptions')){
			var options = dest.getAttribute('selectBoxOptions').split(';');
			var optionsTotalHeight = 0;
			var optionArray = new Array();
			for(var no=0;no<options.length;no++){
				var anOption = document.createElement('DIV');
				anOption.innerHTML = options[no];
				anOption.className='selectBoxAnOption';
				anOption.onclick = selectOptionValue;
				anOption.style.width = optionDiv.style.width.replace('px','') - 2 + 'px'; 
				anOption.onmouseover = highlightSelectBoxOption;
				optionDiv.appendChild(anOption);	
				optionsTotalHeight = optionsTotalHeight + anOption.offsetHeight;
				optionArray.push(anOption);
			}
			if(optionsTotalHeight > optionDiv.offsetHeight){				
				for(var no=0;no<optionArray.length;no++){
					optionArray[no].style.width = optionDiv.style.width.replace('px','') - 22 + 'px'; 	
				}	
			}		
			optionDiv.style.display='none';
			optionDiv.style.visibility='visible';
		}
		
		selectBoxIds = selectBoxIds + 1;
	}	
	
	</script>

Put this into your <BODY> section

<form>
<p>This widget uses javascript to transform this:</p>
<table border="0">
	<tr>
		<td>Where do you come from?</td>
		<td><input type="text" name="myText_ex" value="Norway" selectBoxOptions="Canada;Denmark;Finland;Germany;Mexico;Norway;Sweden;United Kingdom;United States"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td>What is your name?</td>
		<td><input type="text" name="myText_ex2" value="" selectBoxOptions="Amy;Andrew;Carol;Jennifer;Jim;Tim;Tommy;Vince"></td>
	</tr>
</table>
<p>Into this:</p>
<table border="0">
	<tr>
		<td>Where do you come from?</td>
		<td><input type="text" name="myText" value="Norway" selectBoxOptions="Canada;Denmark;Finland;Germany;Mexico;Norway;Sweden;United Kingdom;United States"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td>What is your name?</td>
		<td><input type="text" name="myText2" value="" selectBoxOptions="Amy;Andrew;Carol;Jennifer;Jim;Tim;Tommy;Vince"></td>
	</tr>
</table>
<p>I.e.: A combination of text- and selectbox. You can type in a value or choose from the list</p>
</form>

<script type="text/javascript">
createEditableSelect(document.forms[0].myText);
createEditableSelect(document.forms[0].myText2);
</script>

Configuration

There are only two things you need to do to make this script work:

Add an attribute to your <INPUT type="text"> element. Example:
<input type="text" name="myText" value="Norway" selectBoxOptions="Canada;Denmark;Finland;Germany;Mexico; Norway;Sweden;United Kingdom;United States">
Below your input, you need to call the createEditableSelect() function. Example:
createEditableSelect(document.forms[0].myText);

Javascript variables

Path to arrow images are specified in Javascript variables:

var arrowImage = './images/select_arrow.gif'; // Regular arrow
var arrowImageOver = './images/select_arrow_over.gif'; // Mouse over
var arrowImageDown = './images/select_arrow_down.gif'; // Mouse down

You can change these variables if you use different file path.

Download images

There are three images used in this script:
1.
2.
3.
Right click on each of them and select "Save target As". Put them in a sub folder called "images".

Update log

November 10th, 2006: Added iframe behind the "select box" in order to cover select boxes below in IE. Ref: problem with windowed vs. window less elements.

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