Values of disabled inputs will not be submitted

Question

This is what I found by Firebug in Firefox.

Is it the same in other browsers?

If so, what\'s the reason for this?

Answer 1

Yes, all browsers should not submit the disabled inputs, as they are read-only.

More information (section 17.12.1)

Attribute definitions

disabled [CI] When set for a form control, this Boolean attribute disables the control for user input. When set, the disabled attribute has the following effects on an element:

• Disabled controls do not receive focus.
• Disabled controls are skipped in tabbing navigation.
• Disabled controls cannot be successful.

The following elements support the disabled attribute: BUTTON, INPUT, OPTGROUP, OPTION, SELECT, and TEXTAREA.

This attribute is inherited but local declarations override the inherited value.

How disabled elements are rendered depends on the user agent. For example, some user agents "gray out" disabled menu items, button labels, etc.

In this example, the INPUT element is disabled. Therefore, it cannot receive user input nor will its value be submitted with the form.

<INPUT disabled name="fred" value="stone">

Note. The only way to modify dynamically the value of the disabled attribute is through a script.

Answer 2

select controls are still clickable even on readonly attrib

if you want to still disable the control but you want its value posted. You might consider creating a hidden field. with the same value as your control.

then create a jquery, on select change

$('#your_select_id').change(function () {
    $('#your_hidden_selectid').val($('#your_select_id').val());
});

Answer 3

Disabled controls cannot be successful, and a successful control is "valid" for submission. This is the reason why disabled controls don't submit with the form.

Answer 4

You can use three things to mimic disabled:

1. HTML: readonly attribute (so that the value present in input can be used on form submission. Also the user can't change the input value)

2. CSS: 'pointer-events':'none' (blocking the user from clicking the input)

3. HTML: tabindex="-1" (blocking the user to navigate to the input from the keyboard)

Answer 5

They don't get submitted, because that's what it says in the W3C specification.

17.13.2 Successful controls

A successful control is "valid" for submission. [snip]

• Controls that are disabled cannot be successful.

In other words, the specification says that controls that are disabled are considered invalid and should not be submitted.

Answer 6

There are two attributes, namely readonly and disabled, that can make a semi-read-only input. But there is a tiny difference between them.

<input type="text" readonly />
<input type="text" disabled />

• The readonly attribute makes your input text disabled, and users are not able to change it anymore.
• Not only will the disabled attribute make your input-text disabled(unchangeable) but also cannot it be submitted.

jQuery approach (1):

$("#inputID").prop("readonly", true);
$("#inputID").prop("disabled", true);

jQuery approach (2):

$("#inputID").attr("readonly","readonly");
$("#inputID").attr("disabled", "disabled");

JavaScript approach:

document.getElementById("inputID").readOnly = true;
document.getElementById("inputID").disabled = true;

PS disabled and readonly are standard html attributes. prop introduced with jQuery 1.6.