What version of jQuery are you using? .val() should return "" rather than undefined if you find inputs successfully.
HOWEVER, there is another problem: Putting ':checked' means that if the boxes are NOT checked, jQuery won't find them so .val() doesn't exist for the object. Remove the ':checked' and try again. Cheers, Hamish On Feb 21, 11:32 am, Robert Hill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello > > I'm collecting a number of values from various form elements: > textfield, radio, checkbox. > > since some of the fields aren't require on my form, when I POST their > values they are returned as 'undefined' > > is there a way in Jquery that would allow me to set all variables that > are undefined with a given value like "N/A" or even just ""? > > for example, after the form is submitted, I'm using the following code > to populate my values: > //cancer vars > var cancerVal = $("input[name='cancer']:checked").val(); > var cancerTypeVal = $("#cancerType").val(); > var cancerDateVal = $("#cancerDate").val(); > var chemoCanVal = $("input[name='chemoCan']:checked").val(); > var radiationCanVal = > $("input[name='radiationCan']:checked").val(); > var surgeryCanVal = > $("input[name='surgeryCan']:checked").val(); > var otherCanMoreVal = > $("input[name='otherCanMore']:checked").val(); > > doing something like: > > var chemoCanVal =""; > > before the submit does not seem to help. > > Alternately, if there is a way that I can use a function to replace > all instances of 'undefined' with another value after the form is > submitted, that too would work. > > thanks in advance! > > cheers, > -robert