---
title: HTMLDialogElement
slug: Web/API/HTMLDialogElement
tags:
  - API
  - Experimental
  - HTML DOM
  - HTMLDialogElement
  - Interface
  - NeedsTranslation
  - Reference
  - TopicStub
translation_of: Web/API/HTMLDialogElement
---
<div>{{APIRef("HTML DOM")}}{{SeeCompatTable}}</div>

<p>The <strong><code>HTMLDialogElement</code></strong> interface provides methods to manipulate {{HTMLElement("dialog")}} elements. It inherits properties and methods from the {{domxref("HTMLElement")}} interface.</p>

<p>{{InheritanceDiagram(600, 120)}}</p>

<h2 id="Properties">Properties</h2>

<p><em>Inherits properties from its parent, {{domxref("HTMLElement")}}.</em></p>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.open")}}</dt>
 <dd>A {{domxref("Boolean")}} reflecting the {{htmlattrxref("open", "dialog")}} HTML attribute, indicating whether the dialog is available for interaction.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.returnValue")}}</dt>
 <dd>A {{domxref("DOMString")}} that sets or returns the return value for the dialog.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Methods">Methods</h2>

<p><em>Inherits methods from its parent, {{domxref("HTMLElement")}}.</em></p>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.close()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Closes the dialog. An optional {{domxref("DOMString")}} may be passed as an argument, updating the <code>returnValue</code> of the the dialog.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.show()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Displays the dialog modelessly, i.e. still allowing interaction with content outside of the dialog.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.showModal()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Displays the dialog as a modal, over the top of any other dialogs that might be present. Interaction outside the dialog is blocked.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Events">Events</h2>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("HTMLDialogElement/close_event", "close")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the dialog is closed.<br>
 Also available via the {{domxref("GlobalEventHandlers/onclose", "onclose")}} property.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2>

<p>The following example shows a simple button that, when clicked, opens a {{htmlelement("dialog")}} containing a form via the {{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.showModal()")}} function. From there you can click the <em>Cancel</em> button to close the dialog (via the {{domxref("HTMLDialogElement.close()")}} function), or submit the form via the submit button.</p>

<pre class="brush: html notranslate">  &lt;!-- Simple pop-up dialog box, containing a form --&gt;
  &lt;dialog id="favDialog"&gt;
    &lt;form method="dialog"&gt;
      &lt;section&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;label for="favAnimal"&gt;Favorite animal:&lt;/label&gt;
        &lt;select id="favAnimal" name="favAnimal"&gt;
          &lt;option&gt;&lt;/option&gt;
          &lt;option&gt;Brine shrimp&lt;/option&gt;
          &lt;option&gt;Red panda&lt;/option&gt;
          &lt;option&gt;Spider monkey&lt;/option&gt;
        &lt;/select&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/section&gt;
      &lt;menu&gt;
        &lt;button id="cancel" type="reset"&gt;Cancel&lt;/button&gt;
        &lt;button type="submit"&gt;Confirm&lt;/button&gt;
      &lt;/menu&gt;
    &lt;/form&gt;
  &lt;/dialog&gt;

  &lt;menu&gt;
    &lt;button id="updateDetails"&gt;Update details&lt;/button&gt;
  &lt;/menu&gt;

  &lt;script&gt;
    (function() {
      var updateButton = document.getElementById('updateDetails');
      var cancelButton = document.getElementById('cancel');
      var dialog = document.getElementById('favDialog');
      dialog.returnValue = 'favAnimal';

      function openCheck(dialog) {
        if(dialog.open) {
          console.log('Dialog open');
        } else {
          console.log('Dialog closed');
        }
      }

      // Update button opens a modal dialog
      updateButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
        dialog.showModal();
        openCheck(dialog);
      });

      // Form cancel button closes the dialog box
      cancelButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
        dialog.close('animalNotChosen');
        openCheck(dialog);
      });

    })();
  &lt;/script&gt;</pre>

<div class="note">
<p><strong>Note</strong>: You can find this example on GitHub as <a href="https://github.com/mdn/dom-examples/blob/master/htmldialogelement-basic/index.html">htmldialogelement-basic</a> (<a href="https://mdn.github.io/dom-examples/htmldialogelement-basic/">see it live also</a>).</p>
</div>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', '#htmldialogelement', 'HTMLDialogElement')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5.2', 'interactive-elements.html#the-dialog-element', '&lt;dialog&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5.2')}}</td>
   <td>Initial definition</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>



<p>{{Compat("api.HTMLDialogElement")}}</p>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li>The HTML element implementing this interface: {{ HTMLElement("dialog") }}.</li>
</ul>