HTMLDialogElement: returnValue property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since March 2022.

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.

Value

A string representing the returnValue of the dialog.

The following example displays a button to open a <dialog> containing a form via the showModal() method. The script assigns the returnValue an initial value of initialValue. The confirm button (confirmBtn) submits the form with validation and the "X" button submits the form without validation. Submitting a form with a method="dialog" closes the dialog and sets the return value to the value, if any, of the button or input elements of type=submit. The reset button has an event handler that closes the dialog; it has no impact on the returnValue. Neither does closing the dialog with the Esc key.

html

<!-- Simple pop-up dialog box containing a form -->
<dialog id="favDialog">
  <form method="dialog">
    <input
      type="submit"
      aria-label="close"
      value="X"
      name="x-button"
      formnovalidate />
    <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 type="reset" value="resetBtn">Reset</button>
      <button type="submit" value="confirmBtn">Confirm</button>
    </menu>
  </form>
</dialog>

<p>
  <button id="openDialog">Open Dialog</button>
</p>
<p id="text"></p>

<script>
  (() => {
    const openDialog = document.getElementById("openDialog");
    const dialog = document.getElementById("favDialog");
    const text = document.getElementById("text");
    const reset = document.querySelector("[type='reset']");
    dialog.returnValue = "initialValue";

    function openCheck(dialog) {
      if (dialog.open) {
        text.innerText = "Dialog open";
      } else {
        text.innerText = "Dialog closed";
      }
    }

    function handleUserInput(returnValue) {
      if (!returnValue) {
        text.innerText += ". There was no return value";
      } else {
        text.innerText += ". Return value: " + returnValue;
      }
    }

    // "Open Dialog" button opens the <dialog> modally
    openDialog.addEventListener("click", () => {
      dialog.showModal();
      openCheck(dialog);
      handleUserInput(dialog.returnValue);
    });

    reset.addEventListener("click", () => {
      dialog.close();
    });

    // when the dialog is closed, no matter how it is closed
    dialog.addEventListener("close", () => {
      openCheck(dialog);
      handleUserInput(dialog.returnValue);
    });
  })();
</script>
<style>
  [aria-label="close"] {
    appearance: none;
    border-radius: 50%;
    border: 1px solid;
    float: right;
  }
</style>

Result

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard # dom-dialog-returnvalue-dev

Browser compatibility

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