A hidden field is used to pass along variables and values from one form to another, without forcing the user to re-enter the information. In addition, it is not displayed by the browser.
As mentioned above, hidden inputs can be used anywhere that you want to include data the user can't see or edit along with the form when it's submitted to the server. Let's look at some examples that illustrate its use.
1. Tracking edited content
One of the most common uses for hidden inputs is to keep track of what database record needs to be updated when an edit form is submitted. A typical workflow looks like this:
- User decides to edit some content they have control over, such as a blog post, or a product entry. They get started by pressing the edit button.
- The content to be edited is taken from the database and loaded into an HTML form to allow the user to make changes.
- After editing, the user submits the form, and the updated data is sent back to the server to be updated in the database.
2.Improving website security
Hidden inputs are also used to store and submit security tokens or secrets, for the purposes of improving website security. The basic idea is that if a user is filling in a sensitive form, such as a form on their banking website to transfer some money to another account, the secret they would be provided with would prove that they are who they say they are, and that they are using the correct form to submit the transfer request.
This would stop a malicious user from creating a fake form, pretending to be a bank, and emailing the form to unsuspecting users to trick them into transferring money to the wrong place. This kind of attack is called a Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF); pretty much any reputable server-side framework uses hidden secrets to prevent such attacks.
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