How do I make $.serialize() take into account those disabled :input elements?

Question

It seems by default disabled input elements are ignored by $.serialize(). Is there a workaround?

Answer 1

Temporarily enable them.

var myform = $('#myform');

 // Find disabled inputs, and remove the "disabled" attribute
var disabled = myform.find(':input:disabled').removeAttr('disabled');

 // serialize the form
var serialized = myform.serialize();

 // re-disabled the set of inputs that you previously enabled
disabled.attr('disabled','disabled');

Answer 2

Use readonly inputs instead of disabled inputs:

<input name='hello_world' type='text' value='hello world' readonly />

This should get picked up by serialize().