I have a question about IE and forms.

Sometimes when I enter data into a bunch of fields, then do something like click the submit button or even another link to go to another page, I can simply click on the back button and the data will still be entered into the forms.

Then sometimes, it will all magically disappear.

Is there anything that dictates how this behaves, or is this an IE annoyance?

when the page is refreshed the forms are cleared.

I get the same thing, and I agree, it's really irritating.

Sometimes it saves the form data and it's still there when I hit "Back", and sometimes it doesn't, and I have to fill the form out all over again from scratch if I hit "Back".

It's especially irritating when, say, the form is a 500-word BBS post, and something goes wrong when I hit submit, and so I have to do it all over again because IE forgot what I'd typed. GRRRRRR.

i like to copy my text into notepad before i submit. that way i always have a backup.

Yeah, I usually type up my posts in some other editor before hand unless it's a quick response like this one.

Oh yeah, I know the "paste from UltraEdit" dance well.

It's just that I have to do it so rarely that when I get caught off guard by a failed form submission and I didn't have it all in an editor, then it really pisses me off.

Two habits i've grown to do ALWAYS.

1. If it's a bunch of fields i've just filled out, i always do a ctrl-N and submit from the new window, so if somethign gets wonked, i have the original page still with all the info.

2. If it's a forum entry like this, ctrl-a then ctrl-c before i submit. If it gets hosed i can just go back and do a paste.

Saved many headaches.

i always do a ctrl-N and submit from the new window

Interesting. Didn't know I could do that ctrl-N and have the text there in the new window.

Oh, I just tried that. The text I've typed in the form and the selections do not show up on the new window copy. So I'd essentially have to fill out the form twice anyway.

It's especially irritating when, say, the form is a 500-word BBS post, and something goes wrong when I hit submit, and so I have to do it all over again because IE forgot what I'd typed.

Of course, it'd be nice if the BBS itself would remember that data for you and represent it instead of giving you just a bland error message.

I had a new but annoying forms issue yesterday when looking at flights. The first page where I entered the dates & airport codes retainied the _very first_ entries no matter how many subsequent searches I did. Like this:

First inquiry: MHT-YVR Feb 21-28.
Look at flights, go Back.
Original MHT-YVR Feb 21-18 shows in the forms.
Change flight to BOS-YVR Feb 21-28.
Look at flights & prices, go Back to change to BOS-YVR Feb 21-29.
Original MHT-YVR Feb 21-18 in the forms.

No matter how many times I revised my flights it defaulted to my 1st entry!

I know it was probably a cookie, but that is some damn poor programming for a high traffic site (it was one of the majors, Northwest or the like).

I wonder how many erroneous bookings happen because of this.

-Zeke

Usually, the problems I have are between me and the BBS. Say, the internet connection went down or something. So the BBS never even got the data I typed in and it can't be blamed for forgetting something it never got sent. Even if it was the BBS screwing up, then it was a software error on the BBS and of course, the programmers didn't expect that error to happen so of course they didn't save off the data.

Sometimes I forget to put a subject on an initial post. One of my recent long ones was like that. If that happens, the BBS says, effectively ``What?'' and forces you to hit the back arrow and you takes your chances when that happens. I got lucky this most recent time. Other times I've just aborted the post.

Ah, gotcha.

I know it was probably a cookie, but that is some damn poor programming for a high traffic site (it was one of the majors, Northwest or the like).

I'm sure it was Northwest. I was the manager of the development team for that site, until March of this year. We must have had six bugs in our bugtracker that came and went regarding IE's mysterious handling of form data. It was completely unpredictable as to when a user could hit the back button and expect to see their form data intact, or when IE would decide to clear it out. And no, d33zY, it had nothing to do with refreshes.

We spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to track down and fix this particular bug, as it was seen as a big annoyance by the users. We tested many, many combinations of options in various combinations of IE releases and OS's. In the end, we could not find a rational explanation for IE's behavior, so we implemented a workaround that attempted to manually force the form elements to be set, based on cookie data. It did help in some cases, but in others, you'd get the behavior you reported (old search items being set in the form fields). It was a lose-lose situation.

I wonder how many erroneous bookings happen because of this.

About as many as you'd expect, and our development team had to help provide research data to support the customer service department in handling refund claims. Not an efficient structure, but we were at the mercy of the airline's will with this one.

It's now six months since I've left, and it sounds like the problem hasn't been solved yet. Perhaps they decided to punt, and simply accept the higher support costs.

--dan.

Oh, I just tried that. The text I've typed in the form and the selections do not show up on the new window copy. So I'd essentially have to fill out the form twice anyway.

WTF. I could SWEAR this worked. What am i thinking of then... weird.... yeah, so scratch that idea. heh. . . maybe i do this for some other app..

And no, d33zY, it had nothing to do with refreshes.

Well it does for my version of IE. As an experiment, go to Tools>>>Internet Options>>>General Tab>>>"Settings" in Temporary Internet Files>>>>And change "check for newer versions of stored pages" to Never. Then fill out a BBS reply and before you hit submit go browse some other sites for a few minutes, and then hit Back until you get back to your untouched form.

The reason IE clears the forms sometimes when you hit the back button, is because sometimes it uses the cached version of the page, and sometimes it downloads an updated version. Perhaps it relies on a timeout. I don't know.

Also, if you preview your post before you try to submit it, then the post is stored in your browser cache. So even if the form gets screwed up, you can find the preview page.

That's certainly one reason. He's saying there are other reasons that affected him.

This issue has effected me several times on the BBS (usually on long posts), and I regularly use the suggestions that Loren made (though I wish his second suggestion worked, it would be a nice work-around). But that's not what prompted the post.

I've been working in phpMyAdmin to add concert dates for my website for that saxophonist, and since many entries (month, year, opening act, group) stay the same for many entries, it would have been nice to keep them and change what I needed. Copying and pasting all that probably wouldn't improve speed very much (and you'd probably get repetative stress from all the Alt+Tabbing and Ctrl+whatever ).

So I guess it'll just be something I get used to. Another instance was when I was working from the admin page I created for said website. I have several links that bring up popup windows for me to add various entries. I had been under the impression that these links had _blank targets, but low and behold, in the midst of writing up an extremely long entry, I clicked on another link to check some info, and it opened in the popup with my entry in it.

You know those moments where you've been working on something for a long while, it gets suddenly wiped out, and you just give up, walk away, and do it later? I hate that. It's like mixing video games with blackouts.

You know those moments where you've been working on something for a long while, it gets suddenly wiped out, and you just give up, walk away, and do it later? I hate that. It's like mixing video games with blackouts.

Agreed. And, good analogy.

Man... That must take you ages. If you've got shell access then just make a text file with all of the SQL commands you want and then use the mysql command

djc - Damn, small world! That must have been a frustrating experience as I'm sure there was no shortage of people saying "Well gee, (insert major airline here) can do it right, why can't you?".

I'd go nuts if I were a programmer.

-Zeke

Yet another benefit of switching to Firebird, not having to deal with IE and its selective memory.

Man... That must take you ages. If you've got shell access then just make a text file with all of the SQL commands you want and then use the mysql command

It wasn't too many entries, but that's actually a great idea. I should have done that. It wouldn't have been too bad.

Yeah, and you don't even need shell access to do it. You can use phpMyAdmin and either upload the file (it can be just csv if you want) or just paste the sql query in the form.

Yeah, I love phpMyAdmin. That's how I set up the database tables in the first place. Exporting the tables simply creates a text file in the format of MySQL queries for inputing the data back in. Very easy to do.