delete form field

Is it possible to delete a form field? I'm trying to get the field to be null so that my JSP doesn't see it as a parameter.

I tried the following, but it returns the string "null" when I do request.getParameter() in my JSP.

I'd just beef up the server-side code so that it will ignore the parameter when the value is null, but if you insist on dealing with it client-side you can use DOM manipulation to remove the element from the page.

Using the 'display:none' CSS rule won't work since different browsers treat it differently (some will still submit the parameter, some won't).

Client-side manipulation is just too squirrelly for my tastes so I'll repeat my recommendation to deal with it server-side.

Hi Jeanne,

When I worked with IE4 a few years ago it didn't submit disabled fields. We had to write special JS to enable and re-disable read-only fields either side of the submit (using the readOnly property had other issues, in case you're wondering).

I dunno if that's still the case but it may be worth a shot.

Jules

Bear,
I'm sort of stuck with this code as it is in a framework developed by another team. I am going to try to get them to change it, but I have to work around this problem in the meantime. So unless you know a way of changing the parameters in the request, I have to do this.

This is a hidden field, so it wouldn't be displayed anyway. I'll try the DOM idea and Jules' disable suggestion tomorrow.

I will put a comment that the javascript is a hack and should be removed

Both of those solutions work in IE. Unfortunately, neither works in Netscape 4.7, which we are required to support.

I'll do some more research on netscape 4.7 and see if I can come up with anything.

I have a solution for Netscape 4.7 but it involves deleting more than just a form field!

Jules

It doesn't seem possible to get arond this in NS 4.7. I wound up doing a server side hack (copying the method) until it is fixed.