Automatic form submission error

**cph** · Jul 7, 2008, 07:29

Hi,

I am writing a very simple script to automatically submit a form when the page loads. I am getting the "object doesn't support this property or method" error. I must be missing something obvious! Anyone any suggestions?

Here's the code:

HTML Code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
</head>
<body>

<form name="myForm" action=" " method="post">
...	
</form>

<script type="text/javascript">
document.myForm.submit();
</script>

</body>
</html>

Thanks,
cph.

**Mittineague** · Jul 7, 2008, 12:18

Try something like

HTML Code:

var theform = document.getElementById('myForm');
theform.submit();

But take note, as the code is posted, it will endlessly submit the form upon loading and reloading.

**Raju Gautam** · Jul 7, 2008, 20:36

Since the OP has not defined the ID of form tag, I think it is better to do it like this:

Code javascript:

var theform = document.myForm;
theform.submit();

**cph** · Jul 8, 2008, 01:12

Thanks for those suggestions Mittineague and rajug, but the object still doesn't want to suport the property/method!

The form works fine when submited with a button, it's just the document.myForm.submit(); line that is producing an error. It doesn't seem to matter what way I write the code (e.g. I have also tried calling a function using the onload event handler).

It's such a simple piece of code that I can't imagine what I'm doing wrong, but it must be something obvious! Anymore suggestions would be welcomed...

cph

**Raju Gautam** · Jul 8, 2008, 01:38

What have you put in the action attribute of your form? Give proper your or leave blank if you want to post in the same page.

HTML Code:

<form name="myForm" action="" method="post">
...............

**cph** · Jul 8, 2008, 02:13

The action attribute contains the url of the cgi file that handles the form, for the purposes of posting on this forum I left the action attribute blank. The form works perfectly well (it submits with a button), it is the JavaScript code that is producing an error.

**cph** · Jul 8, 2008, 02:29

OK...having said it was the JavaScript...I just tried the code on a different form and it worked fine. So it must be something to do with the form that is causing the JavaScript error.

The form is a PayPal button:

HTML Code:

<form name="myForm" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
	<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">
	<img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick-subscriptions">
	<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Service">
	<input type="hidden" name="page_style" value="Primary">
	<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="GBP">
	<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="GB">
	<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-SubscriptionsBF">
	<input type="hidden" name="a3" value="10.00">
	<input type="hidden" name="p3" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="t3" value="M">
	<input type="hidden" name="src" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="sra" value="1">
	</form>

Does anyone know why this won't allow me to submit automatically? (In case you're wondering why I want to submit this automatically it is to reduce the number of steps in a sign-up process after the user has already filled in a sign-up form).

**Raju Gautam** · Jul 8, 2008, 02:50

This works fine in my case:

HTML Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>Auto submit form</title>
</head>
<body>
<form name="myForm" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
	<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">
	<img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick-subscriptions">
	<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Service">
	<input type="hidden" name="page_style" value="Primary">
	<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="GBP">
	<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="GB">
	<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-SubscriptionsBF">
	<input type="hidden" name="a3" value="10.00">
	<input type="hidden" name="p3" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="t3" value="M">
	<input type="hidden" name="src" value="1">
	<input type="hidden" name="sra" value="1">
	</form>
<script>
document.myForm.submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>

**cph** · Jul 8, 2008, 04:51

Copied that code, but still doesn't autosubmit when I try (tried in IE7 and FF).

Thanks anyway.

**JimmyP** · Jul 8, 2008, 05:07

Oddly, the code that rajug posted only works when I remove the following line:

Code html4strict:

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">

**cph** · Jul 8, 2008, 05:57

I found it works when I remove that line too. AND interestingly, it also works with:

<input type="image" src="file.gif" border="0" name="submit">

I don't see why using an image instead of a button makes such a difference, but I expect someone out there knows!

Thanks for everyones input on this

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