Can HTML checkboxes be set to readonly?

Question

I thought they could be, but as I'm not putting my money where my mouth was (so to speak) setting the readonly attribute doesn't actually seem to do anything.

I'd rather not use Disabled, since I want the checked check boxes to be submitted with the rest of the form, I just don't want the client to be able to change them under certain circumstances.

Answer 1

No, input checkboxes can't be readonly.

But you can make them readonly with javascript!

Add this code anywhere at any time to make checkboxes readonly work as assumed, by preventing the user from modifying it in any way.

jQuery(document).on('click', function(e){
      // check for type, avoid selecting the element for performance
      if(e.target.type == 'checkbox') {
          var el = jQuery(e.target);
          if(el.prop('readonly')) {
              // prevent it from changing state
              e.preventDefault();
          }
      }
});

input[type=checkbox][readonly] {
    cursor: not-allowed;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<label><input type="checkbox" checked readonly> I'm readonly!</label>

You can add this script at any time after jQuery has loaded.

It will work for dynamically added elements.

It works by picking up the click event (that happens before the change event) on any element on the page, it then checks if this element is a readonly checkbox, and if it is, then it blocks the change.

There are so many ifs to make it not affect the performance of the page.

Answer 2

<input type="checkbox" readonly="readonly" name="..." />

with jquery:

$(':checkbox[readonly]').click(function(){
            return false;
        });

it still might be a good idea to give some visual hint (css, text,...), that the control won't accept inputs.

Answer 3

<input name="testName" type="checkbox" disabled>

Answer 4

If you need the checkbox to be submitted with the form but effectively read-only to the user, I recommend setting them to disabled and using javascript to re-enable them when the form is submitted.

This is for two reasons. First and most important, your users benefit from seeing a visible difference between checkboxes they can change and checkboxes which are read-only. Disabled does this.

Second reason is that the disabled state is built into the browser so you need less code to execute when the user clicks on something. This is probably more of a personal preference than anything else. You'll still need some javascript to un-disable these when submitting the form.

It seems easier to me to use some javascript when the form is submitted to un-disable the checkboxes than to use a hidden input to carry the value.

Answer 5

<input type="checkbox" onclick="return false" /> will work for you , I am using this

Answer 6

If anyone else is using MVC and an editor template, this is how I control displaying a read only property (I use a custom attribute to get the value in the if statement)

@if (true)
{
    @Html.HiddenFor(m => m)
    @(ViewData.Model ? Html.Raw("Yes") : Html.Raw("No"))
} 
else
{               
    @Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m)
}