Question

I have an aspx web page (opener) which opens a popup window

In the popup window I need to retrieve the value of a hidden field which exists in the opener page.

So this is all straight forward using Javascript.

However, here’s the problem, I need the value of the hidden field to be processed SERVER side before the pop up page loads

(Basically, the hidden field contains XML which need to be deserialized server side and the data used to construct the DOM of the popup page)

So how do I pass the data in the hidden field of the opener, to get processed serverside in popup?

The data is Waaay too long to be passed as a GET. i.e. in the querystring of the popup page

What are the other options here?

1. Retrieve it using Javascript in popup, then do a postback to reload the page (very ugly)
2. Somehow post the data when opening the popup? Is this possible and can I stil pass other info via the querystring
3. Any other ideas?

Answer 1

Have a form like this

<form method="POST" action="action.php" onsubmit="open_popup(this);">
    <input name="really-big-field" type="hidden">
</form>

also, javascript like this

function open_popup(form)
{
    window.open('action.php', 'actionpopup','width=400,height=300');
    form.target = 'actionpopup';
}

1. window.open() will open a popup like you want.

2. Setting the form’s target to the opened popup will make sure that the form will POST to that popup.

3. Since a POST is made, you can send larger data than you can send using GET.

4. You can process the data server side in action.php (or in ASP.Net/VB file).