javascript - Clearing my form inputs after submission

Question

I've tried it a few different ways based on searches I've done on the subject and for some reason I can't get it to work. I just want my text inputs and textarea to clear after I hit the submit button.

Here's the code.

<div id="sidebar-info">
    <form name="contact-form" action="formprocess.php" method="post" target="ninja-frame">
        <h1>By Phone</h1>
        <p id="by-phone">XXX-XXX-XXXX</p>
        <h1>By Email</h1>
        <p id="form-row">Name</p>
        <input name="name" id="name" type="text" class="user-input" value="">
        <p id="form-row">Email</p>
        <input name="email" id="email" type="text" class="user-input" value="">
        <p id="form-row">Message</p>
        <textarea name="message" id="message" class="user-input" rows="10" maxlength="1500"></textarea>
        <p>*Please fill out every field</p>
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" id="submit" onclick="submitForm()">

        <script>
            function submitForm() {
            document.contact-form.submit();
            document.contact-form.reset();
            }
        </script>
    </form>
</div>

Answer 1

Your form is being submitted already as your button is type submit. Which in most browsers would result in a form submission and loading of the server response rather than executing javascript on the page.

Change the type of the submit button to a button. Also, as this button is given the id submit, it will cause a conflict with Javascript's submit function. Change the id of this button. Try something like

<input type="button" value="Submit" id="btnsubmit" onclick="submitForm()">

Another issue in this instance is that the name of the form contains a - dash. However, Javascript translates - as a minus.

You will need to either use array based notation or use document.getElementById() / document.getElementsByName(). The getElementById() function returns the element instance directly as Id is unique (but it requires an Id to be set). The getElementsByName() returns an array of values that have the same name. In this instance as we have not set an id, we can use the getElementsByName with index 0.

Try the following

function submitForm() {
   // Get the first form with the name
   // Usually the form name is not repeated
   // but duplicate names are possible in HTML
   // Therefore to work around the issue, enforce the correct index
   var frm = document.getElementsByName('contact-form')[0];
   frm.submit(); // Submit the form
   frm.reset();  // Reset all form data
   return false; // Prevent page refresh
}