BUG: The FOR Attribute of the LABEL Object Resets Focus

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View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q314279

SYMPTOMS

When you click a label that is associated with a select box, the element that you selected in the select box is reset to the first element on the list.

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You can only work around this problem in Internet Explorer 6 by using the onfocusin event. You can basically store the selected index into a temporary variable and reset the index to that variable when the select box obtains focus.

Use the following code as an example:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT>

//Set a temp expando to store the current selectedIndex
function SelectOnFocusIn()
{
	try
	{
		var eSrc = window.event.srcElement;
		if (eSrc) 
			eSrc.tmpIndex = eSrc.selectedIndex;
	}
	catch (e)
	{
		HandleError(e, false);
	}
}
//restore the selectedIndex
function SelectOnFocus()
{
	try
	{
		var eSrc = window.event.srcElement;
		if (eSrc) 
			eSrc.selectedIndex = eSrc.tmpIndex;
	}
	catch (e)
	{
		HandleError(e, false);
	}
}

</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY>

<LABEL for="test">Citizenship Status:</LABEL>

<SELECT NAME="test" ID="test" onfocusin="SelectOnFocusIn()" onfocus="SelectOnFocus()">
<OPTION VALUE="3">Alien Perm </OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="4">Alien Temp </OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="1" SELECTED>Native </OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="2">Naturalized </OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="N">Not Indic. </OPTION>
</SELECT>

</BODY>
</HTML>

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

In following the drop-down list box, the third element is selected. If you click the Citizenship Status Label, the selected element in the drop-down list is reset to the first element.

<html>
<BODY>
<LABEL for='test'>Citizenship Status:</LABEL>

<SELECT NAME='test' ID='test'>
<OPTION VALUE="3" >Alien Perm
<OPTION VALUE="4">Alien Temp
<OPTION VALUE="1" SELECTED >Native
<OPTION VALUE="2">Naturalizd
<OPTION VALUE="N">Not Indic.
</SELECT>

</BODY>
</HTML>

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REFERENCES

For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:
Internet Explorer Web Site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/ (http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/)

For information about the properties and events that this article uses, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

MSDN - for attribute (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/htmlfor_1.asp)

MSDN - onfocusin event (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/events/onfocusin.asp)

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APPLIES TO

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
Microsoft Internet Explorer (Programming) 6 (SP1)

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kbbug kbnofix KB314279

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Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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