java /jsp hidden fields

[giri shetty]

Hi guys iam new to java can any one of u explain me what is the use of <input type='hidden> in any JSP page.how can we retrive this hidden values in servlet.
thanks in advance

[Mark Vedder]

<input type='hidden'> is HTML markup. See the HTML Tutorial and References at w3schools.com (or any other good HTML reference) for more infomation. Basically hidden input fields are used to send parameters with a request (such as for a form) that the user does not directly set or change, like they would with a textbox of checkbox.
You can refrence the API for javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest for details on how to access the value in your JSP/Servlet but basically, in JSP:
input.jsp

...
<input type="Hidden" name="stuff" value="xyz">
...

then in the JSP that processes the page:

String stuffValue = request.getParameter("stuff");

The variable request is an implicit instance of javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest in JSP's
HTH

[Mark Vedder]

oh, also in a JSP you could use JSTL (JSP Standard Tag Library) to access the value of the input parameter. That would actually be the preferred way. Sometimes I'm still stuck in pre-JSTL mode in my brain "Scriplets bad; JSTL good"

[Bear Bibeault]

giri, please see my response to your post here.
Bear
JSP Forum Bartender
[ January 22, 2004: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]

[Frank Brown]

"Scriptlets bad, JSTL good, JSTL 1.1 better."