jQuery: Clearing Form Inputs

I have tried to different ways to clear a form:

<form action="service.php" id="addRunner" name="addRunner" method="post">
First Name: <input type="text" name="txtFirstName" id="txtFirstName" /><br />
Last Name:  <input type="text" name="txtLastName" id="txtLastName" /><br />
Gender: <select id="ddlGender" name="ddlGender"><option value="">--Please Select--</option>
<option value="f">Female</option>
<option value="m">Male</option>
</select><br />
Finish Time:
<input type="text" name="txtMinutes" id="txtMinutes" size="10" maxlength="2">(Minutes)
<input type="text" name="txtSeconds" id="txtSeconds" size="10" maxlength="2">(Seconds)
<br />
<button type="submit" name="btnSave" id="btnSave">Add Runner</button>
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="addRunner" id="action">
</form>

jQuery #1:

function clearInputs(){
$("#txtFirstName").val('');
$("#txtLastName").val('');
$("#ddlGender").val('');
$("#txtMinutes").val('');
$("#txtSeconds").val('');
}

This works perfectly.

jQuery #2:

function clearInputs(data){
$("#addRunner :input").each(function(){
$(this).val('');
});

This clears the form but does not let me submit any more any information to it. I try and click the button again and it does nothing.

Here's the button click handler:

$("#btnSave").click(function(){
	var data = $("#addRunner :input").serializeArray();
	$.post($("#addRunner").attr('action'), data, function(json){
		if (json.status == "fail"){
			alert(json.message);
		}
		if (json.status == "success"){
			alert(json.message);
			clearInputs();
		}
	}, "json");
});

PHP Post code:

<?php
if($_POST){	
    if ($_POST['action'] == 'addRunner') {
	    $fname = htmlspecialchars($_POST['txtFirstName']);
	    $lname = htmlspecialchars($_POST['txtLastName']);
	    $gender = htmlspecialchars($_POST['ddlGender']);
	    $minutes = htmlspecialchars($_POST['txtMinutes']);
	    $seconds = htmlspecialchars($_POST['txtSeconds']);
	    if(preg_match('/[^\w\s]/i', $fname) || preg_match('/[^\w\s]/i', $lname)) {
		    fail('Invalid name provided.');
	    }
	    if( empty($fname) || empty($lname) ) {
	    	    fail('Please enter a first and last name.');
	    }
	    if( empty($gender) ) {
		    fail('Please select a gender.');
	    }
	    if( empty($minutes) || empty($seconds) ) {
		    fail('Please enter minutes and seconds.');
	    }
	    $time = $minutes.":".$seconds;

	$query = "INSERT INTO runners SET first_name='$fname', last_name='$lname', gender='$gender', finish_time='$time'";
	$result = db_connection($query);
	
	if ($result) {
		$msg = "Runner: ".$fname." ".$lname." added successfully" ;
		success($msg);
	} else {
		fail('Insert failed.');
	}
	exit;
}

}

If I use jQuery method #2, I get this error in the console:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'status' of null

Why does this happen?

I forgot to include this key information:

function fail ($message){
	die(json_encode(array('status'=>'fail', 'message'=>$message)));
}

function success ($message){
	die(json_encode(array('status'=>'success', 'message'=>$message)));

This sends the message back to the AJAX function in jQuery. It looks like after I submit the form once using method #2 the success/fail messages are blanked out.

Demo : http://jsfiddle.net/xavi3r/D3prt/

$(':input','#myform')
  .not(':button, :submit, :reset, :hidden')
  .val('')
  .removeAttr('checked')
  .removeAttr('selected');

Original Answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/680241/blank-out-a-form-with-jquery

---

Mike's suggestion (from the comments) to keep checkbox and selects intact!

Warning: If you're creating elements (so they're not in the dom), replace :hidden with [type=hidden] or all fields will be ignored!

$(':input','#myform')
  .removeAttr('checked')
  .removeAttr('selected')
  .not(':button, :submit, :reset, :hidden, :radio, :checkbox')
  .val('');

I'd recomment using good old javascript:

document.getElementById("addRunner").reset();

Took some searching and reading to find a method that suited my situation, on form submit, run ajax to a remote php script, on success/failure inform user, on complete clear the form.

I had some default values, all other methods involved .val('') thereby not resetting but clearing the form.

I got this too work by adding a reset button to the form, which had an id of myform:

$("#myform > input[type=reset]").trigger('click');

This for me had the correct outcome on resetting the form, oh and dont forget the

event.preventDefault();

to stop the form submitting in browser, like I did :).

Regards

Jacko

You may try

$("#addRunner input").each(function(){ ... });

Inputs are no selectors, so you do not need the : Haven't tested it with your code. Just a fast guess!

I figured out what it was! When I cleared the fields using the each() method, it also cleared the hidden field which the php needed to run:

if ($_POST['action'] == 'addRunner') 

I used the :not() on the selection to stop it from clearing the hidden field.