Disable all form elements when doing AJAX

Question

I have a form where every user input field is AJAX enabled, and I'd like to disable all of the form elements when one of them is changed - is it possible?

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible. For example, you can attach a .js file to your form and extend the Drupal.ajax object.
Every element which can initiate AJAX submission from a form has its own instance of Drupal.ajax. You can find it in the global object Drupal.ajax. And every Drupal.ajax object has the methods success, error, beforeSend etc.
Here is a simple example to demonstrate the idea:

;(function($) {

  Drupal.testAjax = {
    // Our form
    form_id: 'node-type-form'  //Yes, I tested on my extended node creation form
  };

  Drupal.behaviors.testAjax = {
    attach: function(context, settings) {
      // We extend Drupal.ajax objects for all AJAX elements in our form 
      for (ajax_el in settings.ajax) {
        if (Drupal.ajax[ajax_el].element.form) {
          if (Drupal.ajax[ajax_el].element.form.id === Drupal.testAjax.form_id) {
            Drupal.ajax[ajax_el].beforeSubmit = Drupal.testAjax.beforeSubmit;
            Drupal.ajax[ajax_el].success = Drupal.testAjax.success;
            Drupal.ajax[ajax_el].error = Drupal.testAjax.error;
          }
        }
      }
    }   
  };

  // Disable form
  Drupal.testAjax.beforeSubmit = function (form_values, form, options) {
    $(form[0].elements).not(':disabled')
                       .addClass('test-ajax-disabled')
                       .attr('disabled', true);
  }

  // Enable form
  Drupal.testAjax.enableForm = function(form) {
    $(form).find('.test-ajax-disabled')
            .removeClass('test-ajax-disabled')
            .attr('disabled', false);

  }

  Drupal.testAjax.success = function (response, status) {
    Drupal.testAjax.enableForm(this.element.form);
    // Call original method with main functionality
    Drupal.ajax.prototype.success.call(this, response, status);
  }
  Drupal.testAjax.error = function (response, uri) {
    Drupal.testAjax.enableForm(this.element.form);
    // Call original method with main functionality
    Drupal.ajax.prototype.error.call(this, response, uri);
  }

})(jQuery);

This approach may seem a little difficult, but it gives you full control over AJAX in your forms.
Another way is to use jQuery methods like .ajaxStart(), because Drupal uses jQuery AJAX Framework.

Answer 2

I created a widget that can completely disable or present a read-only view of the content on your page. It disables all buttons, anchors, removes all click events, etc., and can re-enable them all back again. It even supports all jQuery UI widgets as well. I created it for an application I wrote at work. You're free to use it.

Check it out at ( http://www.dougestep.com/dme/jquery-disabler-widget ).

Answer 3

You can disable/enable some elements during ajax using this jQuery script:

  // Disable elements on ajax call.
  $(document)
    .ajaxStart(function() {
      if ($('.ajax-disabling').length) {
        // Disable elements.
        $(".ajax-disabling input").attr("disabled", "disabled");
      }
    })
    .ajaxComplete(function() {
      if ($('.ajax-disabling').length) {
        // Enable elements.
        $(".ajax-disabling input").removeAttr("disabled");
      }
    });

If you will add class ajax-disabling to the <form> or <div> (or any other wrapper) all inputs will be disabled inside during ajax.

You can play around with selectors and disable also selects and textareas.

See also https://drupal.stackexchange.com/a/76838/6309

Update

If you have already disabled elements on form and you want to keep them disabled after ajax use next code:

  // Disable form elements on ajax call.
  $(document)
    .ajaxStart(function() {
      if ($('.ajax-disabling').length) {
        // Disable elements.
        $('.ajax-disabling input, .ajax-disabling select').each(function(){
          if($(this).attr('disabled') !== 'disabled') {
            $(this).addClass('ajax-form-disabled');
            $(this).attr('disabled', 'disabled');
          }
        });
      }
    })
    .ajaxComplete(function() {
      if ($('.ajax-disabling').length) {
        // Enable elements.
        $('.ajax-disabling input, .ajax-disabling select').each(function(){
          if($(this).hasClass('ajax-form-disabled')) {
            $(this).removeClass('ajax-form-disabled');
            $(this).removeAttr('disabled');
          }
        });
      }
    });