A 2KB library (minified) that allows you to safely access properties on a form.
Install using npm install --save @madkings/dom-unoverride
Access it using:
import ... from '@madkings/dom-unoverride';
(ESM, see below for exported names).
const unoverride = require('@madkings/dom-unoverride');
(CJS)
const unoverride = window['x-unoverride']
(Script, the file you need to load is located at dist/bundle.js
)
TL;DR: Adding a named input to an HTML form will create an eponymous property on that form's DOM object. That property is allowed to override built-ins/standard.
The same happens with the Document object and named iframes/objects/images/etc...
See issue: whatwg/html#2212
Adding a named input to an HTML form will create an eponymous property on that form's DOM object.
Which means that if you have the following form:
<form method="POST" action="http://google.com" id="my-form">
<input type="text" name="username" value="ephys" />
</form>
You can then access the username
input via the form element.
const form = document.querySelector('#my-form');
form.username;
// Expected Output: <input type="text" name="username" value="ephys" />
Neat feature. The first problem is that it shares its namespace with other built-in properties (e.g. action
, className
, etc...), making it not future proof as new DOM properties can collide with your field names. Instead you should use form.elements.namedItem(key)
or form.elements.item(indice)
to access these inputs. (
TIP: form.elements[key]
does not have precedence over built-ins so form.elements.hasOwnProperty
will always return a function even if you have an input called hasOwnProperty
. Use namedItem
!
The second problem arrives when you realise that those inputs actually have precedence over built-in properties. So now if you have the following form:
<form method="POST" action="http://google.com">
<!-- This is actually a very common pattern -->
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="create" />
</form>
The only way you can sanely retrieve the value of form.action
is through getAttribute
. And that does not work for properties that do not have a corresponding HTML attribute (e.g. classList
, textContent
, etc...). (Prototype Functions can still be retrieved through the prototype through, but it's cumbersome).
This script provides a series of helper function to get/set/check/delete/etc properties on a node instance while completely ignoring and hidding indesirable property-overriding elements. It also adds a method sanitizeNode
that proxies the node and fixes everything for you (needs an environment that supports or polyfills Proxy
).
Please note that you can still use HTMLFormElement#elements
to access the form's inputs!
Here is some documentation on how to use these helper methods:
Creates a proxy around the form that completely ignores and hides inputs added as properties on the form itself.
const safeForm = sanitizeNode(form);
safeForm.action;
// expected output: 'http://google.com'
safeForm.action = 'https://madkings.com';
safeForm.action;
// expected output: 'https://madkings.com'
form.action;
// expected output: <input type="hidden" name="action" value="create" />
CAVEATS: DOM methods must be called on a DOM object. Due to that restriction, executing any DOM method on the proxy (e.g. safeForm.appendChild(...)
) will throw.
As a workaround, you can do Node.prototype.appendChild.call(form, ...)
Returns the value of a property of a Node
.
form.action
// expected output: <input type="hidden" name="action" value="create" />
getProperty(form, 'action');
// expected output: 'http://google.com'
Sets the value of a property of a Node
.
setProperty(form, 'action', 'https://madkings.com');
form.action
// expected output: <input type="hidden" name="action" value="create" />
getProperty(form, 'action');
// expected output: 'https://madkings.com'
Returns whether a property exists on a Node
ignoring intrusive elements.
hasProperty(form, 'username');
// expected output: false
'username' in form
// expected output: true
Returns the descriptor of a property of a Node
, ignoring intrusive elements.
It works exactly like Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(obj, key)
.
Sets the descriptor of a property of an Node
, ignoring intrusive elements.
It works exactly like Object.defineProperty(obj, key, descriptor)
.
Deletes a property from a Node
, ignoring intrusive elements.
It works like delete node.<property>
.
Like Reflect.ownKeys
but ignores intrusive elements.