ColdFusion variable not set properly

Question

I have a form with some html elements. It has a check box which is by default checked. On click of the submit button it calls the submitForm function Based on the checkbox condition it has to do the action. If the checkbox is Y, then it has to do one form action and if not checked then another action. Using javascript I have checked whether its checked or not. But I am not able to set the coldfusion variable for this. Always it overwrites the variable. Below is the code snippet

This is the ColdFusion variable which is used. This is by default set to Y

 <cfset form_condn_var = 'Y'/>

 function submitForm(){
  if (document.getElementById('Show_Final_Model').checked) 
  {
form.Show_Final_Model.value = 'Y';
  }
 else{
<cfset form_condn_var = 'N'/>
 }
}

 <cfif '<cfoutput>#form_condn_var#</cfoutput>' eq 'Y'>
<form id="form1" action="test.cfm" method="POST" target="testmain">
 <cfelse>
<form id="form1" action="<cfoutput>#something#</cfoutput>" method="POST" target="_blank" onSubmit="">
</cfif>

It always set the variable form_condn_var as N and it goes to the else condition of the form irrespective of the condition. . But when I alert the value its comes correctly. I cannot use hidden variable also as the form is not being called initially. Based on the checked condition only it is accessed. Could somebody please tell me why the form_condn_var gets overwritten irrespective of the condition being checked. Or is there any other way I can achieve this?

Thanks in advance

I have read this a few times and your question is still unclear :) Forget about code for a moment. What is your goal in plain english? Here is my take: "My form has one checkbox. When the box is checked, I want to submit the form to somePage.cfm, otherwise I want to submit it to someOtherPage.cfm". Does that sound right? — Leigh
You are mixing JS logic with CFML in your submitForm() function. You cannot use the JS condition to set a CF variable. — Tristan Lee

Simon at My School Portal Simon at My School Portal · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-19T12:33:18

Short version If I have understood your logic correctly then you can replace all of what you pasted with the following <cfif>

<cfif IsDefined('form.Show_Final_Model') AND form.Show_Final_Model EQ 'Y'>
    <form id="form1" action="test.cfm" method="POST" target="testmain">
<cfelse>
    <form id="form1" action="<cfoutput>#something#</cfoutput>" method="POST" target="_blank" onSubmit="">
</cfif>

Explanation

Your main problem here is that you have got Javascript outside of tags with a coldfusion within them and seem to be confusing what each language does.

First of all Coldfusion renders the HTML. As far as Coldfusion is concerned, the javascript if statement is just text, and so it sees the following logic

<cfset form_condn_var = 'Y'>
<cfset form_condn_var = 'N'>
<cfif form_condn_var EQ 'Y'>  <!--- form_condn_var === '<cfoutput>#form_condn_var#</cfoutput>' but much cleaner --->
    .......
<cfelse>
    .......
</cfif>

In turn leading to the following HTML being rendered

function submitForm(){
    if (document.getElementById('Show_Final_Model').checked) 
    {
        form.Show_Final_Model.value = 'Y';
    }
    else{

    }
}

<form id="form1" action="<cfoutput>#something#</cfoutput>" method="POST" target="_blank" onSubmit="">

I suspect in your example you trimmed out some logic though as otherwise that Javascript would be output as plaintext, as it is not within <script> tags.

ColdFusion variable not set properly

3 Answers