Question

I have an input field that is filled in from a previous form(so the input is set to disabled on the second page) and we receive null for the value then. This works:

<input type="text" class="boxtpl" name="${field.name}" value="${user?.email}">

but this doesn’t:

<input type="text" class="boxtpl" name="${field.name}" value="${user?.email}" disabled="disabled">

Is there a reason why this seems to break the framework?

Answer 1

Disabled controls shouldn’t actually be submitted with the form, so what you’re seeing is in fact normal behaviour. According to the HTML form specification:

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 definition of successful can be found in the same document. It’s a bit nonsensical to suggest that Play is broken because of this.

If you want to have a form field that user cannot edit while it should still be sent along when the form is submitted, you can use the read-only attribute, or use JavaScript to disallow user input.

Update: as pointed out in the comments, the following points may also offer a solution:

• It’s possible that Play still keeps the disabled control’s form values in the request object, and just doesn’t bind them (so you could retrieve them from the request if needed)
• Use a hidden field to keep the form value in case you still want to submit the value, but do not want the user(s) to see the control