How to set HTML5 required attribute in Javascript?

Question

I am trying to mark a text input box as required in Javascript.

<input id="edName" type="text" id="name">

If the field is initially marked as required:

<form>
    <input id="edName" type="text" id="name" required><br>
    <input type="submit" value="Search">
</form>

when the user tries to submit they are given a validation error:

But now I want to set the required attribute at "runtime", through Javascript:

<form>
    <input id="edName" type="text" id="name"><br>
    <input type="submit" value="Search">
</form>

with the corresponding script:

//recommended W3C HTML5 syntax for boolean attributes
document.getElementById("edName").attributes["required"] = "";         

Except when I submit now, there is no validation check, no block.

What is the correct way to set an HTML5 validation boolean attribute?

jsFiddle

What's the value of the attribute, you ask?

The HTML5 validation required attribute is documented as a Boolean:

4.10.7.3.4 The required attribute

The required attribute is a boolean attribute. When specified, the element is required.

There is a lot of hand-wringing about how to define a boolean attribute. The HTML5 spec notes:

The presence of a boolean attribute on an element represents the true value, and the absence of the attribute represents the false value.

If the attribute is present, its value must either be the empty string or a value that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the attribute's canonical name, with no leading or trailing whitespace.

This means that you can specify a required boolean attribute two different ways:

edName.attributes.required = ""; //the empty string
edName.attributes.required = "required"; //the attribute's canonical name

But what is the value of the attribute really?

When you look at my jsFiddle of this problem, you'll notice that if the required attribute is defined in the markup:

<input id="edName" type="text" id="name" required>

Then the attribute's value is not the empty string, nor the canonical name of the attribute:

edName.attributes.required = [object Attr]

That might lead to a solution.

Answer 1

Short version

element.setAttribute("required", "");    //turns required on
element.required = true;                 //turns required on through reflected attribute
jQuery(element).attr('required', '');    //turns required on
$("#elementId").attr('required', '');    //turns required on

element.removeAttribute("required");     //turns required off
element.required = false;                //turns required off through reflected attribute
jQuery(element).removeAttr('required');  //turns required off
$("#elementId").removeAttr('required');  //turns required off

if (edName.hasAttribute("required")) { }  //check if required
if (edName.required) { }                 //check if required using reflected attribute

Long Version

Once T.J. Crowder managed to point out reflected properties, i learned that following syntax is wrong:

element.attributes["name"] = value; //bad! Overwrites the HtmlAttribute object
element.attributes.name = value;    //bad! Overwrites the HtmlAttribute object
value = element.attributes.name;    //bad! Returns the HtmlAttribute object, not its value
value = element.attributes["name"]; //bad! Returns the HtmlAttribute object, not its value

You must go through element.getAttribute and element.setAttribute:

element.getAttribute("foo");         //correct
element.setAttribute("foo", "test"); //correct

This is because the attribute actually contains a special HtmlAttribute object:

element.attributes["foo"];           //returns HtmlAttribute object, not the value of the attribute
element.attributes.foo;              //returns HtmlAttribute object, not the value of the attribute

By setting an attribute value to "true", you are mistakenly setting it to a String object, rather than the HtmlAttribute object it requires:

element.attributes["foo"] = "true";  //error because "true" is not a HtmlAttribute object
element.setAttribute("foo", "true"); //error because "true" is not an HtmlAttribute object

Conceptually the correct idea (expressed in a typed language), is:

HtmlAttribute attribute = new HtmlAttribute();
attribute.value = "";
element.attributes["required"] = attribute;

This is why:

• getAttribute(name)
• setAttribute(name, value)

exist. They do the work on assigning the value to the HtmlAttribute object inside.

On top of this, some attribute are reflected. This means that you can access them more nicely from Javascript:

//Set the required attribute
//element.setAttribute("required", ""); 
element.required = true;

//Check the attribute
//if (element.getAttribute("required")) {...}
if (element.required) {...}

//Remove the required attribute
//element.removeAttribute("required");
element.required = false;

What you don't want to do is mistakenly use the .attributes collection:

element.attributes.required = true;     //WRONG!
if (element.attributes.required) {...}  //WRONG!
element.attributes.required = false;    //WRONG!

Testing Cases

This led to testing around the use of a required attribute, comparing the values returned through the attribute, and the reflected property

document.getElementById("name").required;
document.getElementById("name").getAttribute("required");

with results:

HTML                         .required        .getAttribute("required")
==========================   ===============  =========================
<input>                      false (Boolean)  null (Object)
<input required>             true  (Boolean)  "" (String)
<input required="">          true  (Boolean)  "" (String)
<input required="required">  true  (Boolean)  "required" (String)
<input required="true">      true  (Boolean)  "true" (String)
<input required="false">     true  (Boolean)  "false" (String)
<input required="0">         true  (Boolean)  "0" (String)

Trying to access the .attributes collection directly is wrong. It returns the object that represents the DOM attribute:

edName.attributes["required"] => [object Attr]
edName.attributes.required    => [object Attr]

This explains why you should never talk to the .attributes collect directly. You're not manipulating the values of the attributes, but the objects that represent the attributes themselves.

How to set required?

What's the correct way to set required on an attribute? You have two choices, either the reflected property, or through correctly setting the attribute:

element.setAttribute("required", "");         //Correct
element.required = true;                      //Correct

Strictly speaking, any other value will "set" the attribute. But the definition of Boolean attributes dictate that it should only be set to the empty string "" to indicate true. The following methods all work to set the required Boolean attribute,

but do not use them:

element.setAttribute("required", "required"); //valid, but not preferred
element.setAttribute("required", "foo");      //works, but silly
element.setAttribute("required", "true");     //Works, but don't do it, because:
element.setAttribute("required", "false");    //also sets required boolean to true
element.setAttribute("required", false);      //also sets required boolean to true
element.setAttribute("required", 0);          //also sets required boolean to true

We already learned that trying to set the attribute directly is wrong:

edName.attributes["required"] = true;       //wrong
edName.attributes["required"] = "";         //wrong
edName.attributes["required"] = "required"; //wrong
edName.attributes.required = true;          //wrong
edName.attributes.required = "";            //wrong
edName.attributes.required = "required";    //wrong

How to clear required?

The trick when trying to remove the required attribute is that it's easy to accidentally turn it on:

edName.removeAttribute("required");     //Correct
edName.required = false;                //Correct

With the invalid ways:

edName.setAttribute("required", null);    //WRONG! Actually turns required on!
edName.setAttribute("required", "");      //WRONG! Actually turns required on!
edName.setAttribute("required", "false"); //WRONG! Actually turns required on!
edName.setAttribute("required", false);   //WRONG! Actually turns required on!
edName.setAttribute("required", 0);       //WRONG! Actually turns required on!

When using the reflected .required property, you can also use any "falsey" values to turn it off, and truthy values to turn it on. But just stick to true and false for clarity.

How to check for required?

Check for the presence of the attribute through the .hasAttribute("required") method:

if (edName.hasAttribute("required"))
{
}

You can also check it through the Boolean reflected .required property:

if (edName.required)
{
}