Hidden Form Field

Hidden Form Field

Tracking client conversion using Html hidden variables in secure manner is known as hidden form field.

How to use Hidden Form Field ?

In Hidden Form Field we are use html tag is <input type="hidden"> and with this we assign session ID value.

<input type="hidden" name="uname" value="porter">

Hidden Form Field Advantage

• Basic knowledge of html is enough to work with this technique.
• It will always work whether cookie is disabled or not.
• Hidden boxes resides in web pages of browser window so they do not provide burden to the server.
• This technique can be used along with all kind of web server or application server.

Hidden Form Field Dis-Advantage

• More complex than URL Rewriting.
• It is maintained at server side.
• Extra form submission is required on each pages.
• Hidden form field can not store java object as values. They only store text value
• It Also increase network traffic because hidden boxes data travels over the network along with request and response.
• Hidden boxes does not provides data security because their data can be view through view source option.

Example of session tracking by using Hidden Form Field

<form action="servlet1">
Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/> <br/>
<input type="submit" value="continue"/>
</form>

import java.io.*;  
import javax.servlet.*;  
import javax.servlet.http.*;  
  
public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {  
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){  
        try{  
  
        response.setContentType("text/html");  
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();  
          
        String n=request.getParameter("userName");  
        out.print("Welcome "+n);  
          
        //creating form that have invisible textfield  
        out.print("<form action='servlet2'>");  
        out.print("<input type='hidden' name='uname' value='"+n+"'>");  
        out.print("<input type='submit' value='continue'>");  
        out.print("</form>");  
        out.close();  
  
           }
		catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}  
    }  
}  

import java.io.*;  
import javax.servlet.*;  
import javax.servlet.http.*;  
public class SecondServlet extends HttpServlet {  
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)  
        try{  
        response.setContentType("text/html");  
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();  
          
        //Getting the value from the hidden field  
        String n=request.getParameter("uname");  
        out.print("Hello "+n);  
  
        out.close();  
        }
		catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}  
    }  
}  

<web-app>  
<servlet>  
<servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>  
<servlet-class>FirstServlet</servlet-class>  
</servlet>  

<servlet-mapping>  
<servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>  
<url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>  
</servlet-mapping>  

<servlet>  
<servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>  
<servlet-class>SecondServlet</servlet-class>  
</servlet>  

<servlet-mapping>  
<servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>  
<url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>  
</servlet-mapping>  

</web-app>