How to tell if a drop down has options to select?

Question

I assume it is your fervent hope that nobody forget about the possibility that individual ` — Pointy, Jan 31 '11 at 19:45

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:44

15

var menu = getElementById("select_id");
if(menu.options.length) {
    // has children
} else {
    // empty
}

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:44

Makram Saleh

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2

Yes, this is the correct answer, assuming OP is not using jQuery. – Daniel Williams Sep 04 '18 at 22:50

jessegavin · Answer 2 · 2011-02-01T01:12:04.480

10

if ($("#myselect option").length > 0) {
  // Yay we have options
}

edited Feb 01 '11 at 01:12

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:43

jessegavin

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`length` is a property. No need for the `(` and `)`. – Makram Saleh Jan 31 '11 at 19:47
what happens if length is 1 ? – Pablo Fernandez Jan 31 '11 at 21:38
Kevin Bacon turns into a robot! Just kidding @Pablo. I fixed my answer. Good catch. – jessegavin Feb 01 '11 at 01:13
2

"There are 2 hard problems in computer science: caching, naming, and off-by-1 errors" – Pablo Fernandez Feb 01 '11 at 02:08

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:44

8

var hasOptions = !!$('#theSelect option').filter(function() { return !this.disabled; }).length;

maybe? This looks for <option> elements that are not disabled.

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:44

Pointy

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Yes, that's a fine thing to do. – Pointy Jan 31 '11 at 19:52

Scott · Answer 4 · 2011-01-31T19:44:24.920

3

$('#input1 option').length > 0

Where #input is the ID of the select element you are running this test against.

edited Jan 31 '11 at 19:44

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:43

Scott

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:49

2

if ($("#myselect option:enabled").length){
   // Yay!
}else{
   // Oh, no available options
}

http://api.jquery.com/enabled-selector/

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:49

Phrogz

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:47

0

Native javascript solution:

!!document.getElementById('jiveviewthreadsform-filter').children.length

(Please do not overuse jQuery, thanks)

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:47

Pablo Fernandez

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@Pointy True but the OP never said anything about ``. +1 to your solution anyway, it's the best one (though a bit verbose) – Pablo Fernandez Jan 31 '11 at 21:39
Sometimes I wonder whether anybody ever uses `` - it's one of those tags that I sometimes completely forget about, for months at a time ... – Pointy Jan 31 '11 at 21:41
How is this "overuseing" jquery? It's a simple operation that doesn't really put any significant overhead. – Train Nov 20 '18 at 20:31

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 01 '11 at 22:39

0

Very hackily, you can just check its selectedIndex; since most browsers ensure that there is something selected if at all possible, it will only be -1 if there are no selectable options.

answered Feb 01 '11 at 22:39

Neil

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How to tell if a drop down has options to select?

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