Input Hidden

This is the invisible member of the Input elements family, so some might say it's debatable whether it's actually a user input element at all. However, it's extremely useful.

Using It

This element does not appear on the report page and has no caption but it can serve either of two purposes:

1. It can hold any data value that you want to pass discreetly. Because the POST method is used when the current page is submitted, the data does not appear in the URL's query string. Contrast this behavior to a Link Parameter, which is passed as part of the query string and is therefore visible in the browser's URL display. Input Hidden is especially useful when passing data from within data tables to another Report definition or a Process task (see Working with User Input Elements) and its value can be set using JavaScript.
   
2. It can act as a "change flag", indicating to another Report definition or Process task whether or not any input data has been changed prior to the page being submitted. This can be used with conditional processing to determine, for example, whether or not a database record needs to be updated. For more information, see Working with Change Flags in Working with User Input Elements.
   

This element's two attributes are required: a unique element ID and a Default Value, which may be set using tokens.

Getting Its Data

Input Hidden's value will be available in the next Report or Process task in a @Request token. For example, if the element's ID is set to hdnChangeFlag, then its data will be available in the token @Request.hdnChangeFlag~.

More Information

For additional information, see the Element Reference entry for Input Hidden.