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James Barrett
13,253 PointsUnderstanding id and name attributes
Hi,
I am struggling to grasp what exactly id and name is doing in this video. What exactly are these attributes doing in the form?
4 Answers
Codin - Codesmite
8,600 PointsThe "id" and "name" attributes should be explained in more detail later in the track.
But as a quick example of what these two attributes can be used for:
id can be used to style the element from a css file, it also allows for linking labels to inputs which will be explained later in the track.
The name attribute can be used by backend scripting languages such as PHP to reference values submitted by the form.
For example:
<?php
$variable = $_POST["user_name"];
?>
In the example above I called the value of the form input with the name "user_name" from the form and applied it to a php variable named $variable.
This would be used in situations where you point your form towards a PHP file to incorporate the user entered data in the form in your PHP script.
This is an advanced example but is one of the most common uses.
All of the above should be covered at some point in the track or later more advanced tracks.
If you need any more help or a more detailed explination let me know :)
James Barrett
13,253 PointsBrilliant, thanks for your help. :)
Nejc Vukovic
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 51,574 Pointsid is a # CSS tag that let's you style the element you want.
The name property is then used when coding the backend of a form -> you need the name of the property in PHP so that PHP knows which input to evaluate - select.
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 PointsHi there
Id is a unique identifier for an element, just as you do for any other element.
It links with the for attribute of a label element.
Name is a way of differentiating 2 form elements of the same type together.
For example,
<label for="male">Male</label>
<input type="radio" name="sex" id="male" value="male"><br>
<label for="female">Female</label>
<input type="radio" name="sex" id="female" value="female"><br>
You can only select one radio button but the name attributes are what group them together as choices.
James Barrett
13,253 PointsThank you all for your answers, very helpful!
Erin Clayton
3,840 PointsErin Clayton
3,840 PointsI think id=has to do with the selecting/identifying process and name=comes in handy later when connected to urls on server-side (from what I've been hearing in this vidz).