Re: [cgiapp] Hidden variable or Query String or Form for run mode access?

[Sean Davis <suppressed>]

On Nov 29, 2004, at 11:05 PM, Kasturirangan Rangaswamy wrote:

> Hi,
>
>     I am sequentially accessing 4 run modes.
>
>     At each run mode, I give the user a screen, perform some
> validations and move on to the next mode(screen).
>     The screens are displayed using HTML::Template
>
>     I am declaring a hidden HTML variable in each screen as follows
>
>     <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME='rm' VALUE='<TMPL_VAR
> NAME='run_mode_value'>'>
>
>     and am setting it's value in my Perl subroutine.
>
>     Now, I actually constructed a 'Continue' link on each screen to
> move to the next one like so:
>
>     <a href="">Continue</a>
>
>     and find that this overrides the mode-setting thats happening in my
> Perl program. So inspite of my specifying a
>     mode in my sub, on clicking Continue, I am still taken to whatever
> place the href="" takes me to.
>
>     a. Now, I know I could call my instance script and pass it the
> mode-param variable along with an appropriate value
>        but I dont like the idea of a query string on my browser address
> line.
>
>     b. Also, I have not been using forms and dont want to if I can get
> away with that!. So 'POST' is not an option either.

The whole point of using CGI (OK, not the whole point, but...) is to 
use forms to gather information from the user.  Without forms, you can 
gather no information from the user; in addition, you cannot gather 
information from any hidden fields or anything else on the page.  That 
said, if you want to pass any information from one invocation of your 
script to the next, you can use GET, POST, save the information on the 
server side or on the client side in a cookie.  I would vote for doing 
what you are doing already, but you WILL need a form on your page if 
you want your script to be able to access the value.  In other words, 
your script will ever see the INPUT tag above without it being within a 
form block.  Try putting it in a form block to see if that does the 
trick.  Also, your continue button then can be a simple submit button 
on the same form.


>     Question is, if (a) and (b) are excluded, is any other way possible
> for me to use 'Continue' (as a link) and a hidden
>     variable to move to the next mode. Is there something in that HREF
> link I may be missing?
>
>     Any help is appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Sharad
>
>
>
>
>
> 		
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