Forms Property Syntax

[Mikeyham]

Greetings. Progressing through the JS bible, and I was messing around with one of the example scripts. It's listed in the book as

function upperMe(){var field = document.forms[0].converter;var upperCaseVersion = field.value.toUpperCase();field.value = upperCaseVersion;}

where converter is text input element. My question is, why couldn't it be done like this:

function upperMe(){var field = document.forms[0].converter.value;var upperCaseVersion = field.toUpperCase();field = upperCaseVersion;}

?The only difference is the former version of "field" represents the reference to the "converter" element, whereas in the latter it represents the value as a string.Edit: I just tested it on Firefox3, but haven't tried it on any others though.

[Ingolme]

Because "field" is a reference to the object. In order to put a string into it you have to refer to it.By assigning "document.forms[0].converter.value" to a variable, you are only putting a string into the variable, you are not always referring to the value property of the object (it may depend on the browser).

[Mikeyham]

I see. So the statement "field = upperCaseVersion;" is really where the rubber meets the road here, because field just represents a string and not the element itself?

[Ingolme]

I see. So the statement "field = upperCaseVersion;" is really where the rubber meets the road here, because field just represents a string and not the element itself?

Yes. It should be just a string.

[Mikeyham]

Yes. It should be just a string.

Alright. That makes sense, thanks ingolme! =D