This page is part of the Prototype JavaScript framework documentation.
Overview | (...)

Form.serialize turns a form’s elements into a query string with each query component separated by an ‘&’-character. This makes it very useful for contructing a GET query from a form.

Syntax

  Form.serialize( element );

element can be a Form object or the ID of a Form object.

Example

<form id="just-a-form" onchange="$('serialized').value=Form.serialize(this);">
  <input type="hidden" name="id" value="14" />

  <p>
    <label>Your name:
      <input type="text" size="20" name="name" value="Anonymous Coward" />
    </label>
  </p>

  <p>
    Your gender:
    <label><input type="radio" name="gender" value="m" /> Male</label>
    <label><input type="radio" name="gender" value="f" /> Female</label>
  </p>

  <p>
    Your Friends:<br>
    <select multiple="multiple" size="5" name="friends[]">
     <option value="Joe">Joe</option>
     <option value="Mary">Mary</option> 
     <option value="John">John</option>
     <option value="Bill">Bill</option>
    </select>
  </p>

  <p>
    Types of candy you like:<br>
    <input type='checkbox' name='candy[]' value='sugar'>Sugar<br>
    <input type='checkbox' name='candy[]' value='chocolate'>chocolate<br>
    <input type='checkbox' name='candy[]' value='honey'>Honey<br>
  </p>

</form>

<input type="text" size="40" id="serialized" />

creates:

Its important to note that the Form.serialize method separates values with commas, so if you use a language such as PHP, you would be expecting to grab friends[] and candy[] as an array, but its just a comma delimited string it seems for serialized multiple selects.