How can I automatically select a text input field on an iPad?

Question

I need a text input field to be ready to type into as soon as the page opens. I've found a couple of questions like this answered, but none of them seem to be specific to whether or not it's possible to do on an iPad.

I'm using this javascript:

window.onload = function(){
    var text_input = document.getElementById('barcode');
    text_input.focus ();
    text_input.select ();  
}

and my HTML for the input is this:

<input type="text" name="text" class="textinput" id="barcode">

When I test the webpage in Google Chrome it works, but when I test it on my iPad it doesn't. I've also tried the HTML5 autofocus element, but I've heard that doesn't work on iPad either.

And I'm unsure, but does the space between the method and the parentheses make any difference to whether it works or not? — David Thomas, Mar 04 '13 at 19:08
@gdoron: I removed `text_input.select ();` and it still didn't work — Grooms, Mar 04 '13 at 19:11
are you sure affecting the onload event from javascript is actually working under safari? I mean, if you put an alert out there does it popup? — Sebas, Mar 04 '13 at 20:38
try this instead of your whole block: `setTimeout(function() { barcode.focus(); }, 200);` — Sebas, Mar 04 '13 at 20:39
@Sebas: Yes, if I put an alert in there, it will popup. Also, I tried your `setTimeout` code and that didn't work either :( — Grooms, Mar 04 '13 at 21:13
weird. Are you sure you don't declare twice the id="barcode" in your page? That's the only thing I can think of ... — Sebas, Mar 04 '13 at 21:16
@Sebas: Yep, it's only used once. I've tried every other code I can find about having this text input be selected automatically, and nothing has worked for the iPad. I'm starting to think it's not possible. — Grooms, Mar 04 '13 at 21:45

MadSkunk · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04T20:47:08.327

0

I've had a similar issue in the past on an iPad.

You could try running your code on a button press and see if that works, if it does then it may be the same issue I had whereby the iPad wasn't allowing code that ran automatically to perform certain functions.

In my case I wanted to start an html 5 video tag playing, but could only do so on a button press and not automatically when the page loaded.

As other have suggested, try putting an alert() in your window.onload method, or try setting a timeout and running this code after a few milliseconds. If you can verify that your code is actually being run, that would be a start.

edited Mar 04 '13 at 20:47

answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:34

MadSkunk

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After lots more research, I finally found this: [link](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6287478/mobile-safari-autofocus-text-field). It turns out that IOS doesn't allow automatic focus as it would normally bring up the keyboard automatically, which would get annoying for users. – Grooms Mar 05 '13 at 17:55

How can I automatically select a text input field on an iPad?

1 Answers1