Hidden Fields and Returning Data

Sometimes we want to send data from the server to the user.Note that this is different than just sending out unorganized information asHTML text. Hidden fields allow us to send data that is named and available foruse in programming.

For example, we may have a form that stretches over threepages. We want to have the user submit the first page, then have thatinformation travel back to the browser so the second page data can be added.Next the data of the first and second pages goes back, and is the base foradding the third page. After all three pages are built up we will make onedatabase write. A two-page version of this is demonstrated in Sample 2 below.

Another use of hidden fields (as shown in Sample 1 below) isto send some information out with the form, for example a time stamp.