Expected result: the content entered in the textarea should still be there
Actual result:
Why is this happening when using HTTPS? How can I prevent this? Is the browser or the website responsible?
You just need to check whether a value for particular field is in post data and, if yes, render it in the value attribute. Thanks everyone. I did the validations on top of the same page and added redirection only after a successful submission.
To keep the values, you must fill in the values on the server while rendering the page. Usually, you can simply copy the data from the HTML request parameters into the fields. Usually, you cannot simply copy the HTML request parameters into the fields.
We can retain form components values after the page refreshes or reloads by using JavaScript and PHP. Here we are using JavaScript to format the query string which will be used at address bar at the time of page reload.
You can consider the following solutions:
autocomplete
Attribute (HTML5)This seems unrelated since autocomplete
tells the browser to complete fields with the values based on earlier user input which were "submitted" with the form. But in my tests I saw that; after filling out the form without submitting; when I hit the forward (history) button and hit back again; form fields were auto-filled if I set autocomplete="on"
and all were cleared when set to "off"
.
So; (if targeting HTML5 users) you can use this attribute to "cache" your form data. (Works on all major browsers, except Opera).
<form action="/update" method="post" autocomplete="on"> Email: <input type="text" id="email" /><br /> Username: <input type="text" id="uname" /><br /> Password: <input type="password" id="pwd" autocomplete="off"/><br /> <input type="submit" /> </form>
Notice that you can set the auto-complete feature off for a specific field (password in this case) when the rest of the form controls are on.
MSDN Remarks:
You can store the input data locally, right before the page redirection or on focus-out event of every form control:
The good-old cookies can come handy in this case but you should consider the down-sides:
Http-Only
and Secure
marked cookies will not help us here, because these options are used to enforce SSL when the cookie is "sent" (secure) and cannot be accessed from Javascript (http-only).maxlength
attributes); that could be a problem. (and trimming the value is the worst thing in this case).Still, the bright side is they are supported by all browsers and if you don't plan to "cache" sensitive and too-long data via Cookies, then you can use the following solution. If this is not the case; you should better go with the next suggestion: localStorage
.
// Below is just a demonstration and is not tested thoroughly for // production-ready web applications by any means. // But it should give you an idea. /** * Caches the user-input data from the targeted form, stores it in the cookies * and fetches back to the form when requested or needed. */ var formCache = (function () { var _form = null, _formData = [], _strFormElements = "input[type='text']," + "input[type='checkbox']," + "input[type='radio']," // + "input[type='password']," // leave password field out + "input[type='hidden']," // + "input[type='image']," + "input[type='file']," // more input types... + "input[type='email']," + "input[type='tel']," + "input[type='url']," + "select," + "textarea"; function _warn() { console.log('formCache is not initialized.'); } return { /** * Initializes the formCache with a target form (id). * You can pass any container id for the formId parameter, formCache will * still look for form elements inside the given container. If no form id * is passed, it will target the first <form> element in the DOM. */ init: function (formId) { var f = (typeof formId === 'undefined' || formId === null || $.trim(formId) === '') ? $('form').first() : $('#' + formId); _form = f.length > 0 ? f : null; console.log(_form); return formCache; // make it chainable }, /** * Stores the form data in the cookies. */ save: function () { if (_form === null) return _warn(); _form .find(_strFormElements) .each(function() { var f = $(this).attr('id') + ':' + formCache.getFieldValue($(this)); _formData.push(f); }); docCookies.setItem('formData', _formData.join(), 31536e3); // 1 year expiration (persistent) console.log('Cached form data:', _formData); return formCache; }, /** * Fills out the form elements from the data previously stored in the cookies. */ fetch: function () { if (_form === null) return _warn(); if (!docCookies.hasItem('formData')) return; var fd = _formData.length < 1 ? docCookies.getItem('formData').split(',') : _formData; $.each(fd, function (i, item) { var s = item.split(':'); var elem = $('#' + s[0]); formCache.setFieldValue(elem, s[1]); }); return formCache; }, /** * Sets the value of the specified form field from previously stored data. */ setFieldValue: function (elem, value) { if (_form === null) return _warn(); if (elem.is('input:text') || elem.is('input:hidden') || elem.is('input:image') || elem.is('input:file') || elem.is('textarea')) { elem.val(value); } else if (elem.is('input:checkbox') || elem.is('input:radio')) { elem.prop('checked', value); } else if (elem.is('select')) { elem.prop('selectedIndex', value); } return formCache; }, /** * Gets the previously stored value of the specified form field. */ getFieldValue: function (elem) { if (_form === null) return _warn(); if (elem.is('input:text') || elem.is('input:hidden') || elem.is('input:image') || elem.is('input:file') || elem.is('textarea')) { return elem.val(); } else if (elem.is('input:checkbox') || elem.is('input:radio')) { return elem.prop('checked'); } else if (elem.is('select')) { return elem.prop('selectedIndex'); } else return null; }, /** * Clears the cache and removes the previously stored form data from cookies. */ clear: function () { _formData = []; docCookies.removeItem('formData'); return formCache; }, /** * Clears all the form fields. * This is different from form.reset() which only re-sets the fields * to their initial values. */ clearForm: function () { _form .find(_strFormElements) .each(function() { var elem = $(this); if (elem.is('input:text') || elem.is('input:password') || elem.is('input:hidden') || elem.is('input:image') || elem.is('input:file') || elem.is('textarea')) { elem.val(''); } else if (elem.is('input:checkbox') || elem.is('input:radio')) { elem.prop('checked', false); } else if (elem.is('select')) { elem.prop('selectedIndex', -1); } }); return formCache; } }; })(); // Save form data right before we unload the form-page $(window).on('beforeunload', function (event) { formCache.save(); return false; }); // Initialize and fetch form data (if exists) when we load the form-page back $(document).on('ready', function (event) { formCache.init().fetch(); });
Here is a working demo on jsFiddle.
Note: The "cookies reader/writer" script from developer.mozilla.org should be included with the code above. You can also use Yahoo's YUI 2: Cookie Utility which has a useful setSub() method for setting sub-cookies inside a single cookie, for the browser limit that I previously mentioned.
You can also use more modern techniques like localStorage
(HTML5). It is more secure and faster. All major browsers support this feature including IE 8+. (Additionally, iOS and Android support!)
if (typeof Storage !== 'undefined') { // We have local storage support localStorage.username = 'Onur'; // to save to local storage document.getElementById('uname').value = localStorage.username; // to fetch from local storage }
So, just like in the cookies example;
$(window).on('beforeunload', function (event) { saveFormToLocalStorage(); return false; }); $(document).on('ready', function (event) { fillFormFromLocalStorage() });
This works pretty much the same way. From W3C: The sessionStorage object is equal to the localStorage object, except that it stores the data for only one session.
Not a very efficient way but you might want to use this where others are not feasible. You can make the post on the beforeunload
event and prompt a message to the user.
$(window).on('beforeunload', function (event) { //check if at least one field is filled out. //make the AJAX post if filled out. return "You are leaving the page without submitting the form..."; });
Just to remind you; if the user is filling out an "update" form, for example; you can always fetch the previously saved data from the server and automatically fill in the form (non-sensitive fields).
If you really need this and worth the trouble; you should consider a cross-browser solution that implements a fall-back mechanism; such as:
autocomplete
attribute. (You can embed the attribute in the HTML beforehand, or set it via Javascript/jQuery when you test for browser support.)Storage
object; go with localStorage
;cookies
.Note: For HTML5 feature detection, take a look at this page or this page or you can use Modernizr.
HTTPS Problem:
The reason, all form changes are gone when using HTTPS is that; it is a secure protocol. Forms are mostly used for user input and can (probably) contain sensitive data. So this behavior seems natural and expected. The solution(s) I offer above will work the same as they do on HTTP. So that should cover all your concerns.
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