Justin Cooney

Web Development Tips and Examples

recent posts

about

I am a Senior Applications Programmer / Analyst with years of experience developing enterprise solutions using the Microsoft technology stack including C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, AJAX, IIS and SQL Server. I specialize in Web application development with a focus on building secure systems, integrating applications, and designing robust database structures.

Simple JavaScript to Stop Forms Being Submitted Twice

To prevent forms from being submitted more than once I sometimes like to add a simple JavaScript function to the Submit button that disables the button when it is clicked. This does not provide a complete guarantee that the data is not sent twice, but it is effective at reducing the risk of multiple submissions.

Specifically here is an example of the JavaScript function:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function handleFormSubmit(){
var btnInitiateProcess = document.getElementById('btnInitiateProcess');
btnInitiateProcess.style.display = 'none';
}
</script>

Then in the HTML of the submit button I add a call to the function as follows:

<input type="submit" id="btnInitiateProcess" onClick="handleFormSubmit()">
Posted in , , ,

2 responses to “Simple JavaScript to Stop Forms Being Submitted Twice”

  1. Luvy Gonzalez Avatar
    Luvy Gonzalez

    Hi Justin,
    This code snippet is very helpful.

    Do you then wait for the process that is intended to run after the submit button is clicked for you to re-enable the submit button?

    Reply
    1. Justin Cooney Avatar
      Justin Cooney

      Absolutely :)

      Depending on the client’s needs the duplicate form submission catcher can become significantly more involved and/or even be caught at the server level through a separate check. There is a good blog about it written by William Bontrager that describes several escalating methods.

      The most secure method is to compare each form field for changes. Although this is significantly more time consuming to build, it is also a secure method if the data integrity is important.

      Reply

Leave a reply to Luvy Gonzalez Cancel reply