Ok so I have the following function:

function hideValue(value) {
    if (this.value == value) {
       this.value = '';
}

And the following form field:

<input onfocus="hideValue('First Name')" type="text" name="first_name" value="First Name">

I cannot get the function to hide the value. When I alert(value); in the function, it returns the correct value.

I also have a showValue function which does the opposite. Why are these not working?

Ok so I have the following function:

function hideValue(value) {
    if (this.value == value) {
       this.value = '';
}

And the following form field:

<input onfocus="hideValue('First Name')" type="text" name="first_name" value="First Name">

I cannot get the function to hide the value. When I alert(value); in the function, it returns the correct value.

I also have a showValue function which does the opposite. Why are these not working?

• javascript
• html
• function
• input

Share Improve this question Follow asked Apr 21, 2016 at 5:43 Timothy FisherTimothy Fisher 1,1291414 silver badges3434 bronze badges 3

• 1 this doesn't refer to the element when you call the function that way (so this.value is likely undefined). – nnnnnn Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 5:46
• Note, you're missing a closing bracket which will give you a syntax error. Answerers should be aware of this in their responses. – Andy Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 5:52
• Woops that was my bad. It's in my code but not in the post. Thanks to everyone who responded, makes sense now! – Timothy Fisher Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 5:53

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

In an event handler on a DOM element this refers to the element only in the first level of the function. Therefore you need to pass this into the function:

<input
  onfocus="hideValue(this,'First Name') /* 'this' is only correct here */"
  type="text" name="first_name" value="First Name"
>

The function should therefore be modified to:

function hideValue(element, value) {
  if (element.value == value) {
    element.value = '';
  }
}

I'll remend to use placeholder for this kind of functionality.

<input type="text" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name" />
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Browser support

Demo:

<input type="text" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name" />

---

Problem:

this inside the function hideValue() refers to the Global window object.

Solution:

You can pass this reference to the event handler.

<input onfocus="hideValue(this, 'First Name')"
                          ^^^^

And catch that inside event handler

function hideValue(that, value) {
                   ^^^^           // What is that? `this`
    if (that.value === value) {
        that.value = '';
    }
}

Demo

function hideValue(that, value) {
    if (that.value === value) {
        that.value = '';
    }
}

<input onfocus="hideValue(this, 'First Name')" type="text" name="first_name" value="First Name">

<input onfocus="hideValue(this,'First Name')" type="text" name="first_name" value="First Name">

<script>

    function hideValue(thisvalue,value) {

    if (thisvalue.value == value) {
       thisvalue.value = '';
        }
    }
</script>

Please check this. Its working fine