Is Html5 Placeholder Text Equivalent To Elem.defaultvalue?

[angelsonearth 5]

Dear friends (and the ultimate forum friends, Hartley Sans and, of course, the invincible Larry Ullman)!

 

I was wondering why my elem.defaultValue code was pulling up a null value, I believe.  I thought the elem.defaultValue would pull up the placeholder text for the HTML5 field.  Is this not how it works?

 

Here is my code for the placeholder text:

 

<input type="email" name="email" id="email" placeholder="e.g. someone@server.com" required="required">

 

And here is my code for the defaultValue

 

function HTML5FieldCheck(id2, regExpToPassOn, errorMessage2) {
    alert("We are in the HTML5FieldCheck, and the id is " + id2 + "and the regExpToPassOn is" + regExpToPassOn + "and the error message is " + errorMessage2);
    var elem = document.getElementById(id2);
    elemValue = elem.value;
    // defaultValue not recognized as a method
    elemDefault = elem.defaultValue;
    alert("The HTML5FieldCheck default value is " + elemDefault);
    if (elemValue === elemDefault) {
        alert("The HTML5FieldCheck showed that no entry was made");
        addErrorMessage(id, "Please fill out mandatory field");
    }
    else {
        alert("The HTML5FieldCheck showed that an entry was made");
        regularExpressionMatchFunction(id2, regExpToPassOn, errorMessage2);
    }
}

 

Can anyone figure out why the defaultValue is registering as null?

 

Thanks so much!

 

[HartleySan 826]

This should answer your question:

http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/prop_text_defaultvalue.asp

 

Short answer: defaultValue checks the value attribute, not the placeholder one.

[angelsonearth 5]

Thanks, HartleySan!  I apologize for my novice programming skills, but it is definitely a relief to know that I don't need to work on this particular function any longer. 

 

It appears that placeholder text set in HTML5 doesn't have any bearings on either the default value or the value, which is good for a newby like me to know, for sure!

 

Thanks very much again!

[HartleySan 826]

Placeholder text is more to inform the user of the type of input they should provide than anything else.