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To submit a plain HTML form as soon as someone chooses an option, listen for the dropdown’s change event and call form.requestSubmit(). In React, update the select’s state in onChange and keep submission logic in the form’s onSubmit handler or action. The dropdown change and form submission are separate events; the change handler must deliberately start submission.

Submit a plain HTML form when the selection changes

For a quick example, the select can call its form’s requestSubmit() method when the selected option changes:

<form id="filters" action="/results" method="get">
  <label for="category">Category</label>
  <select id="category" name="category"
          onchange="this.form.requestSubmit()">
    <option value="books">Books</option>
    <option value="music">Music</option>
  </select>
  <button type="submit">Apply</button>
</form>

When a user changes the selection, requestSubmit() follows the normal submit-button path: the browser runs constraint validation and fires the form’s submit event before submitting. That lets native validation and any submit-event handler run. See MDN’s submit-event reference and MDN’s form submit() reference.

For maintainable code, register a listener in JavaScript instead of putting a handler directly in the HTML:

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const form = document.querySelector("#filters");
const category = document.querySelector("#category");

category.addEventListener("change", () => {
  form.requestSubmit();
});

Keep the select’s name: the form submits that name as the field key and the selected option’s value as its value. If an option has no explicit value, its text is used. The MDN select reference documents these form-data behaviors.

Why requestSubmit() is preferable to submit()

These methods do not have the same behavior. Use requestSubmit() when you want a programmatic submission to behave like an ordinary submit-button activation.

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requestSubmit() Runs before submission Fires
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Calling form.submit() directly can therefore bypass both browser validation and application code that listens for submit. MDN explains the distinction in its submit() method reference.

Handle a dropdown in React

In React, onChange normally keeps a controlled select’s state in sync; it is not itself the form-submission handler. Update the state synchronously in the change handler, then handle the actual submission at the form boundary.

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import { useState } from "react";

function CategoryForm() {
  const [category, setCategory] = useState("books");

  function handleSubmit(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    const formData = new FormData(event.currentTarget);
    // Use formData or category for the intended application action.
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
      <label htmlFor="category">Category</label>
      <select
        id="category"
        name="category"
        value={category}
        onChange={event => setCategory(event.target.value)}
      >
        <option value="books">Books</option>
        <option value="music">Music</option>
      </select>
      <button type="submit">Apply</button>
    </form>
  );
}

Without the state update, React can restore the previously rendered selection. In the example, preventDefault() is appropriate only because the handler is replacing the browser’s normal navigation or submission; omit it when you want the default form behavior. React also supports a function passed to a form’s action prop for handling submission. See the React select reference and form reference.

Buttons inside a React form submit by default. Set type="submit" on the intended submit button and type="button" on a button that should not submit.

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Choose automatic submission or an Apply button

Submit immediately when each choice is independently actionable, such as a simple filter. Use an explicit Apply or Submit button when users may need to change several fields, review their choices, or avoid navigating as soon as they select an option. Keeping the button also gives users a clear, keyboard-accessible way to initiate submission.

Whichever interaction you choose, associate a visible label with the select and make any resulting navigation or status change clear to users. A selection alone is not proof that the form was submitted; submission begins only when your code or the user activates the form’s submit mechanism.

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