How can I make an entire HTML form "readonly"?

Wrap the input fields and other stuff into a <fieldset> and give it the disabled="disabled" attribute.

Example (http://jsfiddle.net/7qGHN/):

<form>
    <fieldset disabled="disabled">
        <input type="text" name="something" placeholder="enter some text" />
        <select>
            <option value="0" disabled="disabled" selected="selected">select somethihng</option>
            <option value="1">woot</option>
            <option value="2">is</option>
            <option value="3">this</option>
        </select>
    </fieldset>
</form>

Not all form elements can be set to readonly, for example:

  • checkboxes
  • radio boxes
  • file upload
  • ...more..

Then the reasonable solution would be to set all form elements' disabled attributes to true, since the OP did not state that the specific "locked" form should be sent to the server (which the disabled attribute does not allow).

Another solution, which is presented in the demo below, is to place a layer on top of the form element which will prevent any interaction with all the elements inside the form element, since that layer is set with a greater z-index value:

DEMO:

var form = document.forms[0], // form element to be "readonly"
    btn1 = document.querySelectorAll('button')[0],
    btn2 = document.querySelectorAll('button')[1]

btn1.addEventListener('click', lockForm)
btn2.addEventListener('click', lockFormByCSS)

function lockForm(){
  btn1.classList.toggle('on');
  [].slice.call( form.elements ).forEach(function(item){
      item.disabled = !item.disabled;
  });
}

function lockFormByCSS(){
  btn2.classList.toggle('on');
  form.classList.toggle('lock');
}
form{ position:relative; } 
form.lock::before{
  content:'';
  position:absolute;
  z-index:999;
  top:0;
  right:0;
  bottom:0;
  left:0;
}

button.on{ color:red; }
<button type='button'>Lock / Unlock Form</button>
<button type='button'>Lock / Unlock Form (with CSS)</button>
<br><br>
<form>
  <fieldset>
    <legend>Some Form</legend>
    <input placeholder='text input'>
    <br><br>
    <input type='file'>
    <br><br>
    <textarea placeholder='textarea'></textarea>
    <br><br>
    <label><input type='checkbox'>Checkbox</label>
    <br><br>
    <label><input type='radio' name='r'>option 1</label>
    <label><input type='radio' name='r' checked>option 2</label>
    <label><input type='radio' name='r'>option 3</label>
    <br><br>
    <select>
      <option>options 1</option>
      <option>options 2</option>
      <option selected>options 3</option>
    </select>
  </fieldset>
</form>

You can use this function to disable the form:

function disableForm(formID){
  $('#' + formID).children(':input').attr('disabled', 'disabled');
}

See the working demo here

Note that it uses jQuery.

Tags:

Html

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