HTML5 New Form Elements
HTML5 has several new elements and attributes for forms.
This chapter covers the new form elements:
- <datalist>
- <keygen>
- <output>
Browser Support
| Tag | IE | Firefox | Opera | Chrome | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <datalist> | No | 4.0 | 9.5 | No | No |
| <keygen> | No | 4.0 | 10.5 | 3.0 | No |
| <output> | No | 4.0 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 5.1 |
<datalist> Element
The <datalist> element specifies a list of options for an input field.
The list is created with <option> elements inside the <datalist>.
To bind a <datalist> to an input field, let the list attribute of the input field refer to the id of the datalist:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form action="demo_form.asp" method="get">
Webpage: <input type="url" list="url_list" name="link" />
<datalist id="url_list">
<option label="W3Schools" value="http://www.w3schools.com" />
<option label="Google" value="http://www.google.com" />
<option label="Microsoft" value="http://www.microsoft.com" />
</datalist>
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form action="demo_form.asp" method="get">
Webpage: <input type="url" list="url_list" name="link" />
<datalist id="url_list">
<option label="W3Schools" value="http://www.w3schools.com" />
<option label="Google" value="http://www.google.com" />
<option label="Microsoft" value="http://www.microsoft.com" />
</datalist>
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
Tip: The <option> elements should always have a value attribute.
<keygen> Element
The purpose of the <keygen> element is to provide a secure way to authenticate users.
The <keygen> element is a key-pair generator. When a form is submitted, two keys are generated, one private and one public.
The private key is stored on the client, and the public key is sent to the server. The public key could be used to generate a client certificate to authenticate the user in the future.
Currently, the browser support for this element is not good enough to be a useful security standard.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form action="demo_keygen.asp" method="get">
Username: <input type="text" name="usr_name" />
Encryption: <keygen name="security" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form action="demo_keygen.asp" method="get">
Username: <input type="text" name="usr_name" />
Encryption: <keygen name="security" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
<output> Element
The <output> element is used for different types of output, like calculations or script output:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form oninput="x.value=parseInt(a.value)+parseInt(b.value)">0
<input type="range" name="a" value="50" />100
+<input type="number" name="b" value="50" />
=<output name="x" for="a b"></output>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<form oninput="x.value=parseInt(a.value)+parseInt(b.value)">0
<input type="range" name="a" value="50" />100
+<input type="number" name="b" value="50" />
=<output name="x" for="a b"></output>
</form>
</body>
</html>
HTML5 New Form Elements
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <datalist> | Defines a list of options for an input field |
| <keygen> | Defines a key-pair generator field |
| <output> | Represents the result of a calculation |
