Passing values with a hidden CFInput

Question

I am trying to make a table with editing capabilities, and I have run into problems trying to associate the old values with the updated ones. My solution was to include a hidden CFInput that passes the old value along side the one to be updated, and then the query is run within a cfc.

<cfform name="update" method="post">
<cfoutput query="allusers">
    <tr>
        <td>#username#</td>
        <td>#email#</td>
        <td>#securityID#</td>
        <td><a href="">DELETE</a></td>
    </tr>
        <td><cfinput name="oldUsername" value="#username#" type="hidden"></cfinput><cfinput name="updateUsername" value="New Value"></cfinput></td>
        <td><cfinput name="oldEmail" value="#email#" type="hidden"></cfinput><cfinput name="updateEmail" value="New Value"></cfinput></td>
        <td><cfinput name="oldSecurityID" value="#securityID#" type="hidden"></cfinput><cfinput name="updateSecurityID" value="New Value"></cfinput></td>
        <td><cfinput name="submit" type="submit"></cfinput>
    <tr>
        <cfdump var="oldUsername">
</cfoutput>

Currently I am not getting any errors, but it does not seem to be passing in the old values. Any tips?

You're missing an ACTION in the FORM tag and the CFDUMP var should be wrapped with hash marks: #oldusername# — Adrian J. Moreno, Jul 13 '12 at 19:15
You don't have an ID column in the table? If not I'd add one just for this purpose. — Busches, Jul 13 '12 at 19:45
Forms should not be laid out in tables. Tables are for tabular data, not for layout. — Scott Stroz, Jul 13 '12 at 20:37

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '12 at 19:16

Make sure your CFDUMP is using the hash tags:

<cfdump var="#oldUserName#">

otherwise it won't dump the contents of the variable.

Second of all, you are asking ColdFusion to evaluate "oldusername" when it hasn't had a chance to set oldusername for you yet. Using a CFINPUT tag, simply rewrites this in the HTML to a regular tag with JavaScript and/or Flash enhancements. So form.oldusername will only be available AFTER the post is executed to the next CF template/url. I also recommend highly that you scope (form., variables. etc...) your variables so things don't get crossed (unless you are carefully aware of the variable scope searching order)

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '12 at 19:34

Others have provide your answer. My answer is just advice about your form.

Your hidden cfinputs shouldn't be in a table. Tables are for displayed items. You'd be much better served to move your hidden cfinputs right under your cfform tag, like this:

<cfform name="update" method="post">
// NON DISPLAY STUFF
<cfinput name="oldUsername" value="#username#" type="hidden">
<cfinput name="oldEmail" value="#email#" type="hidden">
<cfinput name="oldSecurityID" value="#securityID#" type="hidden">
// DISPLAY STUFF
<table>
</table>
</cfform>

I would also suggest NOT using CFFORM. I find it less than useless these days. And, really, NO form fields should be in a table. Tables are for tabular data - which a form is not. :D — Scott Stroz, Jul 13 '12 at 20:36

Passing values with a hidden CFInput

2 Answers2