Web/API/HTMLDialogElement/returnValue

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The returnValue property of the HTMLDialogElement interface gets or sets the return value for the <dialog>, usually to indicate which button the user pressed to close it.

Syntax

dialogInstance.returnValue = 'myReturnValue';
var myReturnValue = dialogInstance.returnValue;

Value

A DOMString representing the returnValue of the dialog.

Examples

The following example displays a button to open a <dialog> containing a form via the showModal() method. From there, either button will close the dialog.

  <!-- Simple pop-up dialog box containing a form -->
  <dialog id="favDialog">
    <form method="dialog">
      <p><label>Favorite animal:
        <select name="favAnimal" required>
          <option></option>
          <option>Brine shrimp</option>
          <option>Red panda</option>
          <option>Spider monkey</option>
        </select>
      </label></p>
      <menu>
        <button>Cancel</button>
        <button>Confirm</button>
      </menu>
    </form>
  </dialog>

  <menu>
    <button id="updateDetails">Update details</button>
  </menu>

  <script>
    (function() {
      var updateButton = document.getElementById('updateDetails');
      var dialog = document.getElementById('favDialog');
      dialog.returnValue = 'favAnimal';

      function openCheck(dialog) {
        if (dialog.open) {
          console.log('Dialog open');
        } else {
          console.log('Dialog closed');
        }
      }

      function handleUserInput(returnValue) {
        if (returnValue === 'Cancel' || returnValue == null) {
          // User canceled the dialog, do nothing
        } else if (returnValue === 'Confirm') {
          // User chose a favorite animal, do something with it
        }
      }

      // “Update details” button opens the <dialog> modally
      updateButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
        dialog.showModal();
        openCheck(dialog);
        handleUserInput(dialog.returnValue);
      });
    })();
  </script>

Note: You can find this example on GitHub as htmldialogelement-basic ([[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/dom-examples/htmldialogelement-basic/index|see it live also]]).

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'returnvalue' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML 5.1The definition of 'returnvalue' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`returnValue` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 37	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 53 Notes' Disabled' Full support 53 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 840640. Disabled' From version 53: this feature is behind the `dom.dialog_element.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 53 Notes' Disabled' Full support 53 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 840640. Disabled' From version 53: this feature is behind the `dom.dialog_element.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.