D.3 Form Values and String Conversion

The JavaScript interpreter in Internet Explorer 3.0 does not always convert objects to strings when they are used in a "string context". This happens most notably when objects are assigned to the value field of form elements. To make this work correctly, you have to explicitly convert the object to a string, either by invoking its toString() method or by adding the empty string to it. To display the date and time in a form, for example, you'd have to use code like this:

today = new Date();
document.forms[0].dateandtime.value = today.toString()

today = new Date();
document.forms[0].dateandtime.value = today + "";

If you encounter this conversion problem in other contexts, the workaround is the same.