---
title: HTMLDialogElement.show()
slug: Web/API/HTMLDialogElement/show
translation_of: Web/API/HTMLDialogElement/show
---
<p>{{ APIRef("HTML DOM") }} {{ SeeCompatTable() }}</p>

<p>The <strong><code>show()</code></strong> method of the {{domxref("HTMLDialogElement")}} interface displays the dialog modelessly, i.e. still allowing interaction with content outside of the dialog.</p>

<h2 id="Syntax">Syntax</h2>

<pre class="syntaxbox">dialogInstance.show();</pre>

<h3 id="Parameters">Parameters</h3>

<p>None.</p>

<h3 id="Return_value">Return value</h3>

<p>Void.</p>

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

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

<pre class="brush: html">  &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>

<h2 id="Specifications" name="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', 'forms.html#dom-dialog-show', 'show()')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td> </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5.1', 'interactive-elements.html#dom-htmldialogelement-show', 'show()')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5.1')}}</td>
   <td> </td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

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



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

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

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