I want a scenario in which I will set some value of a hidden field in a particular page.
Then that page is submitted on server (form submit). Now, i redirect on another page and there I again try to retrieve the value which I set previously. But I am not getting there the value which was set, instead i get the default value which I provided in html page itself. (Hidden field is in header page which is mon for all the pages in my web app).

i tried a dummy application in which i am getting the value of hidden field even after loading/refreshing the page once i set it.

I want a scenario in which I will set some value of a hidden field in a particular page.
Then that page is submitted on server (form submit). Now, i redirect on another page and there I again try to retrieve the value which I set previously. But I am not getting there the value which was set, instead i get the default value which I provided in html page itself. (Hidden field is in header page which is mon for all the pages in my web app).

i tried a dummy application in which i am getting the value of hidden field even after loading/refreshing the page once i set it.

• javascript
• html
• dom

• Without providing more information, it's hard for us to tell why it doesn't work. – Ikke Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 12:57
• How are setting the value of the hidden field? Can you show some code? – Gabriel Ross Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 12:57
• Some code examples would be great. You provide no information on how to store and retrieve the data between loads? Do you post it to a database, store it in a cookie, ...? – Thor Jacobsen Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 12:58
• @Thor Not using database nor cookie.Actually my aim is to preserve the content of the hidden field throughout the application.instead of setting it cookie i am setting it to hidden field. – Ved Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 13:02

4 Answers 4

When you redirected your user to another page, it became reloaded. Unless you chose to set a value to your form (by javascript for instance), the value of the form is the default one.

The value you "set previously" wasn't definitely associated to the input because everytime you reload the page, your server will generate again the HTML and the default values and your browser will display this HTML.

This behavior is normal.

Besides, if you want to keep the values of the form while submitting it, you can use AJAX submitting.

The other answers here are factually correct (that HTML doesn't normally do what you're asking it to do), but there are a few things you can do to make it work.

First, how things usually work: In order for the second page to get the proper value of the hidden field, you would process it in the server-side ponent. It sounds like you are redirecting to a new page in the server-side handler. The best way to make this work is to have that server-side handler process the value and attach it to the redirect as a parameter (likely attached to the querystring). Then have some server-side code generate the second page, which would process the querystring parameter.

Here's the work-around for pure-HTML/javascript implementation:

If you can't or won't have a server-side process to generate the second page, you could pull it out of the querystring using Javascript (just search for 'getting querystring variables in javascript').

If you use javascript, it could be feasible (though probably not advisable) to have the first form go directly to the second page by setting it as the form's action with a method of 'GET'. It's definitely better to include a server-side handler though.

What your trying to do is impossible through regular HTML since HTML is stateless. What you want is to put your values in a session or in a cookie and this way you can plant it on every page that is loaded.This cannot be done by default.

You're mis-understanding how HTTP works - it is stateless.

This means that every single page you request is pletely separate to previous pages. Which is the reason your hidden textbox is being set back to default.

You have to explicitly set the value server side prior to it being sent to the client.