Question

I have a ASP.Net web form that contains both text box fields and hidden fields. The hidden field values are modified dynamically using client side JavaScript. Posting the form, inspecting the values and redirecting to another page is all working as expected.

However, when I use the browser back button to display the previous page then I expect so see that ALL form fields are still populated with the values that were posted.

In IE and Firefox this is the case for both text and hidden input fields.

In Chrome this is ONLY the case for text fields. The value of hidden fields is lost.

Is it true that Chrome never repopulates dynamically set hidden form field values when navigating the browser history?

I have put a small sample together to demonstrate the problem and can provide that if required. I wanted to first ask the question to see if this is well known behaviour and something I have to accept.

Answer 1

You should not rely on this behavior. It is different among browsers, even among browser versions. This behavior is not described in any standards. If you want your fields to have specific values, you can use cookies, or always make requests to the server when page loads, or use more modern methods like local storage (it is not widely supported though).