One form, two buttons?

Question

I have a form. I want it to have two buttons (buttonA, buttonB). Is there a better way to figure out which button was clicked than keeping a hidden input field, and setting its value via javascript in onClick() to a different string for each?

This is what this article is demonstrating: http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/JSP/JspformUsingButtons.htm

But it seems a little weird, is there no better way than jumping through those hoops?

Thanks

possible duplicate of [HTML form with two submit buttons and two "target" attributes](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/942772/html-form-with-two-submit-buttons-and-two-target-attributes) — László Papp, Oct 16 '13 at 13:35

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '12 at 01:09

You can use the name and value attributes to differentiate the buttons on the form, then read the appropriate value from the server. Here is an example:

<form method="get" action="test.htm" target="new">
  <button type="submit" name="button" value="1">Button One</button>
  <button type="submit" name="button" value="2">Button Two</button>
</form>

When Button 1 is clicked, the URL will contain button=1, and of course when Button 2 is clicked, button=2.

Obviously, you can use any name property you wish, as long as both buttons have the same name. This will work the same using POST instead of GET.

http://jsfiddle.net/M74xN/

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:40

with jsp and servlets the possible operation will be:

in the html or jsp page

<form method="POST" action="servlet">
  <button type="submit" name="action" value="add">add</button>
  <button type="submit" name="action" value="edit">delete</button>
</form>

Servlet POST method

if (request.getParameter("action") != null) //if action is not null
        {
            String action = request.getParameter("action");
            if (action.equals("add")) //add button clicked
            {
               //do your work here
            }
            else if (action.equals("edit")) //delete button clicked
            {
                //your work here
            }
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 12 '12 at 15:19

Create a form, set different values of submit button, and have your script perform different actions depending on what button is pressed.

if (isset($_POST) {
    if ($_POST['button'] == 1) {
     /* BUTTON ONE PRESSED, INSERT PROCESSING HERE*/
    } else if ($_POST['button'] == 2) {
     /* BUTTON TWO PRESSED, INSERT PROCESSING HERE*/
    } else {
     /* NO BUTTON PRESSED, (THIS ELSE STATEMENT MAY NOT BE NEEDED) */
    }

/** END OF PHP CODE **/
<--! start of html -->
<html>
<form method="get" action="<?php echo "$server['php_self']; ?>" target="new">
  <button type="submit" name="button" value="1">Button One</button>
  <button type="submit" name="button" value="2">Button Two</button>
</form>
</html>

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 19:01

Although the answer might be late. This works perfectly. Use the following in your HTML.

<form action="/route" method="POST">
    <button name="submit" value="ONE">
    <button name="submit" value="TWO">
</form>

Then in your Python(Flask) use this

if request.form['submit'] == 'ONE':
    print('button one clicked')
elif request.form['submit'] == 'TWO':
    print('button two clicked')

One form, two buttons?

4 Answers4

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