HTML: Select multiple as dropdown

Question

I would like to use a select field with multiple as a common dropdown field with size=1:

<select name="test[]" size="1" multiple>
    <option>123
    <option>456
    <option>789
</select>

Why doesn't this code show the arrow for the dropdown?

Thanks!

Answer 1

A similar question was asked here

If you're able to add an external library to your project, you can try Chosen

Here's a sample:

$(".chosen-select").chosen({
  no_results_text: "Oops, nothing found!"
})

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/harvesthq/chosen/gh-pages/chosen.jquery.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdn.rawgit.com/harvesthq/chosen/gh-pages/chosen.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<form action="http://httpbin.org/post" method="post">
  <select data-placeholder="Begin typing a name to filter..." multiple class="chosen-select" name="test">
    <option value=""></option>
    <option>American Black Bear</option>
    <option>Asiatic Black Bear</option>
    <option>Brown Bear</option>
    <option>Giant Panda</option>
    <option>Sloth Bear</option>
    <option>Sun Bear</option>
    <option>Polar Bear</option>
    <option>Spectacled Bear</option>
  </select>
  <input type="submit">
</form>

One thing I've run into, you have to include JQuery BEFORE you include Chosen or you'll get errors.

Answer 2

You probably need to some plugin like Jquery multiselect dropdown. Here is a demo.

Also you need to close your option tags like this:

<select name="test" multiple>
    <option>123</option>
    <option>456</option>
    <option>789</option>
</select>

JSFIDDLE DEMO

Answer 3

    <select name="select_box"  multiple>
        <option>123</option>
        <option>456</option>
        <option>789</option>
     </select>

Answer 4

Because you're using multiple. Despite it still technically being a dropdown, it doesn't look or act like a standard dropdown. Rather, it populates a list box and lets them select multiple options.

Size determines how many options appear before they have to click down or up to see the other options.

I have a feeling what you want to achieve is only going to be possible with a JavaScript plugin.

Some examples:

jQuery multiselect drop down menu

http://labs.abeautifulsite.net/archived/jquery-multiSelect/demo/

Answer 5

It's quite unpractical to make multiple select with size 1. think about it. I made a fiddle here: https://jsfiddle.net/wqd0yd5m/2/

<select name="test" multiple>
    <option>123</option>
    <option>456</option>
    <option>789</option>
</select>

Try to explore other options such as using checkboxes to achieve your goal.