Trouble passing a varible to INSERT page

Question

I'm a novice and I'm having trouble passing a varible from
one page into the database.
I ultimately want to pass the word "Appliances" into the
database field name called CATEGORY.
The user clicks on: www.xyz.com/main.cfm?category=Appliances
to go to the next page. Then the next page has a <form> in it
and that same page has <CFSET category=#category#>. But when
the form posts the info into the database with the <CFINSERT>
on the next page, CATEGORY is empty.
I've tried: CFSET form.category=#category#>, CFSET
form.category="#category#"> and some other things. I've even
thought of doing this: <FORM
ACTION="insert.cfm?category=#category#" method="post">, but that
didn't work either (I thought I was pretty smart when I thought of
that). :-)
Now, I have JUST learned that I can use the <INPUT
TYPE="hidden" NAME="category" VALUE="#category#"> to pass it BUT
why didnt a simple CFSET statement set the variable and pass it to
the CFINSERT?
Thanks in advance!! -Tony

Answer 1

yes, <cfinsert> tag only inserts FORM values, that is
values defined in
the FORM scope variables (form fields, effectively). it will
not insert
any values defined in any other scopes.
a form will POST (submit) only data in its fields. that is
why the
variable you set with CFSET is not submitted - it is not a
form field.
so in order to use cfinsert you must have all data you want
to insert
into db in form fields. as you have found out, you can have
hidden form
fields to post/submit data too.
you could also pass the variable as part of the query string
of the
action page: <form
action="youractionpage.cfm?yourvar=<cfoutput>#yourvar#</cfoutput>"
method="post">, but that variable will be available on the
action page
inside URL scope, not FORM scope. in order for CFINSERT to
insert that
variable in this case, just add <cfset form.yourvar =
url.yourvar>
BEFORE your CFINSERT tag on your action page.
et voila - your variable is part of the form scope now and
gets inserted
with cfinsert tag.
hope this helps.
Azadi Saryev
Sabai-dee.com
http://www.sabai-dee.com