The HTML standard for forms appears to be such that disabled input elements do not contribute to the form name/value collection.
Is there ANY way to get around this? I need to be able to toggle disable on and off but still return whatever the value is when the form is submitted.
I realize that I can use JavaScript to copy the value to a hidden input before the form is submitted, but I would prefer not to. Is there a cleaner way?
I'm using ASP.NET, not that that matters.
Can you use Visible=false and/or ReadOnly=true instead of Enabled=false?
If you are using the control, you shouldn't really set Enabled=false?
The HTML standard for forms appears to be such that disabled input elements do not contribute to the form name/value collection.
That is correct.
HACK: You could use Javascript to, upon submit:
As a slightly more robust variant of Wayne's hack (which might get confused by a Back button push), when disabling a control: set readonly= true and className= 'disabled' instead of disabled= true, then style .disabled to look similar to a disabled field.
You should use the readOnly flag rather than disabled. Read-only fields cannot be edited by the user, but are still submitted with the form.
<input type="text" value="blah" readOnly="true"/>
If you make the value readonly, instead of disabling it, the field's name/value will be sent with the rest of the non-disabled fields.
Make the readonly fields' focus event handler pass the focus to the next eligible field, to make it act more like a disabled element. Some browsers let you focus and select readonly fields, and some even let you paste into a readonly field, though they revert to the original value onblur and onchange.
<input type="text" value="" readonly="readonly">