Make sure hidden field is populated / check contents

Hello,

i have a hidden field in a form that is populated by querying sql data. This works fine, however in rare cases (about 1 of 50-60 form submissions) the field is empty, which should not be possible since the data is in the sql table. I have no idea what causes this, i recently changed from apache to nginx but this didnt help. I assume the problem is either php or the browser of the clients but unsure about that. I meanwhile have enable the sql query log to see if it does indeed do the query and just fails to fill in the form.
However i wonder if there is a way to make sure that the sql query from the hidden field is always non-empty. I dont see an easy way for that as most of the options (javascript etc) are not possible for hidden fields.
 

Hi Jonas 21,

do you use Default Value Settings >> Custom Default Value from SQL Statement

or

'Dynamic Settings' >> SQL-Field for the querying SQL data?

Regard,
Aicha

Sorry, using dynamic settings -> sql field.
 

Hi,

thanks for the additional information.

I assume, that your sql Statement always returns a not empty value.

We consider the behavior, which you have described a bug in Visforms and will adjust the behavior.
I created a development issue in the bug list:
Issue [VF-1530]: Make sure value from sql is always populated properly in hidden field

When we release the bug fix, you will be explicitly informed about the release here in the topic.
There may also be a file-based hot fix for this bug in the very short term.
Thank you again for your report!

As a Background information:
I took a look into the code.
Currently the php validation only checks the user input of a hidden field, if  the value is not empty.
With other field types, there is the addional option 'Required Field' which takes care of the case, when the value is empty.
As you have pointed out correctly, this option is not available in hidden fields.
So sadly, there is build in way to fix the problem for hidden fields.

Regards,
Aicha

Yes, the SQL field should never be empty, it will always return something.

Thanks for the quick action. Looking forward for a new/fixed release then.