How to support placeholder attribute in IE8 and 9

Question

I have a small issue, the placeholder attribute for input boxes is not supported in IE 8-9.

What is the best way to make this support in my project (ASP Net). I am using jQuery. Need I use some other external tools for it?

Is http://www.hagenburger.net/BLOG/HTML5-Input-Placeholder-Fix-With-jQuery.html a good solution?

Curitiba

Pedant's corner: it's an attribute, not a tag. A tag has pointy brackets around it (like <input>); an attribute is a key-value pair inside the pointy-brackets (like placeholder="This is an attribute value"). Leaving the question as-is, so that future people who ask the same question can find it. – Milburn

That link didn't work as-is. I removed the extra quotes around the $("[placeholder]") selector and it was fine. – Poppied

The solution in that link also does not handle password boxes as per native support in webkit – Famine

The link you gave works very well indeed - apart from passwords it works a treat and couldn't be simpler to setup – Wakeless

the link is not working with IE9 by the demo given in same site. – Ormand

The link is not a great fix. If you use the required attribute then Firefox will highlight the field in red thinking the user has typed nothing in it. – Mid

Link is not working for IE9.. – Insectivore

The solution in the linked article in combination with a conditional comment is a great solution for most problems: <!--[if lt IE 10]>. Only fix what's broken. – Silurian

Answer 1

You could use this jQuery plugin: https://github.com/mathiasbynens/jquery-placeholder

But your link seems to be also a good solution.

Recall

The link suggested in the question didn't work for me; it had problems with form submit. The solution you have suggested in this answer seems a lot more robust and worked a treat. – Threnody

Actually I tried this one and is works fine - but as soon as I'm loading a lightbox with a form and a password field, everything works but not the password field - it's just empty. – Tolerant

in my IE8 password placeholder is in dots – Trio

I also can't see it in ie8. I worked around it by just having some text show above the fields when in ie8. – Extravascular

jQuery-placeholder behaves differently. It removes the placeholder on focus instead of when the user begins typing something on the field like the normal behavior in Firefox for placeholders. – Librium

Answer 2

You can use any one of these polyfills:

• https://github.com/jamesallardice/Placeholders.js (doesn't support password fields)
• https://github.com/chemerisuk/better-placeholder-polyfill

These scripts will add support for the placeholder attribute in browsers that do not support it, and they do not require jQuery!

Butyrate

I upvoted this because I love the idea of a non-jquery solution, but right now this code has problems in IE8 so it's not suitable for me. github.com/jamesallardice/Placeholders.js/issues/17 – Dealing

This solution does not handle password boxes – Tolerant

@Tolerant I have added an extra polyfill - I hope it helps. – Butyrate

Even the distributor of this plugin says that this plugin doesn't handle password fields in <IE9 github.com/jamesallardice/Placeholders.js/issues/… – Tolerant

The password field still doesn't work in iE8. The accepted answer link seems to work in ie8 for password field. – Excreta

@Excreta I added this answer as an alternative to the answers that are already here, just in case someone does not want to use jQuery. If I find a pure javascript polyfill that supports the password field, I will update this answer. – Butyrate

"any one of these polyfills" - both these links are to the same library. – Octave

@Octave I didn't notice :D I will change that now. – Butyrate

After using placeholder.js its not firing required validator in IE9. Any workaround for it ? – Insectivore

@vivek Is this your issue? github.com/jamesallardice/Placeholders.js/issues/63 – Butyrate

I'm trying jamesallardice's Placeholders.js and it seems cool – Dingman

Polyfills behaves differently. It removes the placeholder on focus instead of when the user begins typing something on the field like the normal behavior in Firefox for placeholders. – Librium

Answer 3

the $.Browser.msie is not on the latest JQuery anymore... you have to use the $.support

like below:

 <script>

     (function ($) {
         $.support.placeholder = ('placeholder' in document.createElement('input'));
     })(jQuery);


     //fix for IE7 and IE8
     $(function () {
         if (!$.support.placeholder) {
             $("[placeholder]").focus(function () {
                 if ($(this).val() == $(this).attr("placeholder")) $(this).val("");
             }).blur(function () {
                 if ($(this).val() == "") $(this).val($(this).attr("placeholder"));
             }).blur();

             $("[placeholder]").parents("form").submit(function () {
                 $(this).find('[placeholder]').each(function() {
                     if ($(this).val() == $(this).attr("placeholder")) {
                         $(this).val("");
                     }
                 });
             });
         }
     });
 </script>

Dinsmore

this works like a charm, I like it better than adding plugins, thanks alot – Wamsley

@vsync no if you read well I said plugins, plural, most of options I've found you need to use multiple files, with tons of code, vs few line. aren't you a bit arrogant, and how doe that comment improve the answer – Wamsley

This shouldn't really be used. This is for jQuery internal use and could be removed at any time. api.jquery.com/category/deprecated/deprecated-1.9 – Chide

Answer 4

if you use jquery you can do like this. from this site Placeholder with Jquery

$('[placeholder]').parents('form').submit(function() {
  $(this).find('[placeholder]').each(function() {
    var input = $(this);
    if (input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
      input.val('');
    }
  })
});

these are the alternate links

1. Placeholder jquery library
2. HTML5 polyfills -- go for placeholder section

Sauternes

This answer works, but you need to follow the link for the complete functionality. The code here alone won't work. – Humfrey

ofc it won't work, this is a ridicules code! why do you bind again and again the same "form" for the submit event? what does the submit event has to do with anything – Darrin

what will happen , if I type same text as in placeholder text in IE8 ??? – Scandic

Answer 5

I had compatibility issues with several plugins I tried, this seems to me to be the simplest way of supporting placeholders on text inputs:

function placeholders(){
    //On Focus
    $(":text").focus(function(){
        //Check to see if the user has modified the input, if not then remove the placeholder text
        if($(this).val() == $(this).attr("placeholder")){
            $(this).val("");
        }
    });

    //On Blur
    $(":text").blur(function(){
        //Check to see if the use has modified the input, if not then populate the placeholder back into the input
        if( $(this).val() == ""){
            $(this).val($(this).attr("placeholder"));
        }
    });
}

Hydrometer

is it supporting for IE9 ? – Insectivore

Answer 6

$(function(){    
    if($.browser.msie && $.browser.version <= 9){
        $("[placeholder]").focus(function(){
            if($(this).val()==$(this).attr("placeholder")) $(this).val("");
        }).blur(function(){
            if($(this).val()=="") $(this).val($(this).attr("placeholder"));
        }).blur();

        $("[placeholder]").parents("form").submit(function() {
            $(this).find('[placeholder]').each(function() {
                if ($(this).val() == $(this).attr("placeholder")) {
                    $(this).val("");
                }
            })
        });
    }
});

try this

Vault

Answer 7

I use thisone, it's only Javascript.

I simply have an input element with a value, and when the user clicks on the input element, it changes it to an input element without a value.

You can easily change the color of the text using CSS. The color of the placeholder is the color in the id #IEinput, and the color your typed text will be is the color in the id #email. Don't use getElementsByClassName, because the versions of IE that don't support a placeholder, don't support getElementsByClassName either!

You can use a placeholder in a password input by setting the type of the original password input to text.

Tinker: http://tinker.io/4f7c5/1 - JSfiddle servers are down!

*sorry for my bad english

JAVASCRIPT

function removeValue() {
    document.getElementById('mailcontainer')
        .innerHTML = "<input id=\"email\" type=\"text\" name=\"mail\">";
    document.getElementById('email').focus(); }

HTML

<span id="mailcontainer">
    <input id="IEinput" onfocus="removeValue()" type="text" name="mail" value="mail">
</span>

Sports

Placeholder should come back if field is empty and focus is lost – Detain

Answer 8

For others landing here. This is what worked for me:

//jquery polyfill for showing place holders in IE9
$('[placeholder]').focus(function() {
    var input = $(this);
    if (input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
        input.val('');
        input.removeClass('placeholder');
    }
}).blur(function() {
    var input = $(this);
    if (input.val() == '' || input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
        input.addClass('placeholder');
        input.val(input.attr('placeholder'));
    }
}).blur();

$('[placeholder]').parents('form').submit(function() {
    $(this).find('[placeholder]').each(function() {
        var input = $(this);
        if (input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
            input.val('');
        }
    })
});

Just add this in you script.js file. Courtesy of http://www.hagenburger.net/BLOG/HTML5-Input-Placeholder-Fix-With-jQuery.html

Walloping

Answer 9

Since most solutions uses jQuery or are not this satisfying as I wished it to be I wrote a snippet for myself for mootools.

function fix_placeholder(container){
    if(container == null) container = document.body;

    if(!('placeholder' in document.createElement('input'))){

        var inputs = container.getElements('input');
        Array.each(inputs, function(input){

            var type = input.get('type');

            if(type == 'text' || type == 'password'){

                var placeholder = input.get('placeholder');
                input.set('value', placeholder);
                input.addClass('__placeholder');

                if(!input.hasEvent('focus', placeholder_focus)){
                    input.addEvent('focus', placeholder_focus);
                }

                if(!input.hasEvent('blur', placeholder_blur)){
                    input.addEvent('blur', placeholder_blur);
                }

            }

        });

    }
}

function placeholder_focus(){

    var input = $(this);    

    if(input.get('class').contains('__placeholder') || input.get('value') == ''){
        input.removeClass('__placeholder');
        input.set('value', '');
    }

}

function placeholder_blur(){

    var input = $(this);    

    if(input.get('value') == ''){
        input.addClass('__placeholder');
        input.set('value', input.get('placeholder'));
    }

}

I confess that it looks a bit more MORE than others but it works fine. __placeholder is a ccs-class to make the color of the placeholder text fancy.

I used the fix_placeholder in window.addEvent('domready', ... and for any additinally added code like popups.

Hope you like it.

Kind regards.

Muhammad

Answer 10

I used the code of this link http://dipaksblogonline.blogspot.com/2012/02/html5-placeholder-in-ie7-and-ie8-fixed.html

But in browser detection I used:

if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') > -1) {
 //Your placeholder support code here...
}

Anissa

Answer 11

<input type="text" name="Name" value="Name" onfocus="this.value = ''" onblur=" if(this.value = '') { value = 'Name'}" />

Rattray

Answer 12

Add the below code and it will be done.

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://code.google.com/p/jquery-placeholder-js/source/browse/trunk/jquery.placeholder.1.3.min.js?r=6"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        // Mock client code for testing purpose
        $(function(){
            // Client should be able to add another change event to the textfield
            $("input[name='input1']").blur(function(){ alert("Custom event triggered."); });    
            // Client should be able to set the field's styles, without affecting place holder
            $("textarea[name='input4']").css("color", "red");

            // Initialize placeholder
            $.Placeholder.init();

            // or try initialize with parameter
            //$.Placeholder.init({ color : 'rgb(255, 255, 0)' });

            // call this before form submit if you are submitting by JS
            //$.Placeholder.cleanBeforeSubmit();
        });
    </script>

Download the full code and demo from https://code.google.com/p/jquery-placeholder-js/downloads/detail?name=jquery.placeholder.1.3.zip

Kast

Answer 13

Here is a javascript function that will create placeholders for IE 8 and below and it works for passwords as well:

/* Function to add placeholders to form elements on IE 8 and below */
function add_placeholders(fm) {	
	for (var e = 0; e < document.fm.elements.length; e++) {
		if (fm.elements[e].placeholder != undefined &&
		document.createElement("input").placeholder == undefined) { // IE 8 and below					
			fm.elements[e].style.background = "transparent";
			var el = document.createElement("span");
			el.innerHTML = fm.elements[e].placeholder;
			el.style.position = "absolute";
			el.style.padding = "2px;";
			el.style.zIndex = "-1";
			el.style.color = "#999999";
			fm.elements[e].parentNode.insertBefore(el, fm.elements[e]);
			fm.elements[e].onfocus = function() {
					this.style.background = "yellow";	
			}
			fm.elements[e].onblur = function() {
				if (this.value == "") this.style.background = "transparent";
				else this.style.background = "white";	
			}		
		} 
	}
}

add_placeholders(document.getElementById('fm'))

<form id="fm">
  <input type="text" name="email" placeholder="Email">
  <input type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password">
  <textarea name="description" placeholder="Description"></textarea>
</form>

Ellora

Answer 14

    <script>
        if ($.browser.msie) {
            $('input[placeholder]').each(function() {

                var input = $(this);

                $(input).val(input.attr('placeholder'));

                $(input).focus(function() {
                    if (input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
                        input.val('');
                    }
                });

                $(input).blur(function() {
                    if (input.val() == '' || input.val() == input.attr('placeholder')) {
                        input.val(input.attr('placeholder'));
                    }
                });
            });
        }
        ;
    </script>

Fineable

$.browser.msie is no longer supported. Try using feature detection instead. – Jedidiah