asp cookie to retain multiple select option state on page refresh

[omar999]

I have a 'city' select dropdown which populates a 'hotel' select dropdown via js. then using an onchange event handler on the 'hotel' select to populate the content of an iframe. all working so far.

problem is when I refresh the page I lose the current state of the selected city, hotel.

from what I've read I need to use a cookie to retain the state. can someone please advise on how I can go about this?

function loadHotel() { 
    var destURL = document.hotelslist.hotelnames.options[document.hotelslist.hotelnames.selectedIndex].value; 
        window.frames["hotelframe"].location = destURL; }
 
var i;
function hotel_list(i){
var hotelslist = document.getElementById("hotelslist");
    hotelslist.hotelnames.options.length=0;
 
switch(i)
{    
case 0: //Baddeck
hotelslist.hotelnames.options[0] =new  Option('Inverary Resort, Baddeck','http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/atlantic-canada/baddeck/inverary-resort/');
break;
case 1: //Banff
hotelslist.hotelnames.options[0] =new  Option('Banff Caribou Lodge & Spa','http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/alberta/banff/banff-caribou-lodge-and-spa/');
hotelslist.hotelnames.options[1] =new  Option('Banff Ptarmigan Inn','http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/alberta/banff/banff-ptarmigan-inn/');
break;
case 2: //Calgary
hotelslist.hotelnames.options[0] =new  Option('Sandman - Calgary Downtown','http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/alberta/calgary/sandman-calgary-downtown/');
hotelslist.hotelnames.options[1] =new  Option('The Westin Calgary','http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/alberta/calgary/the-westin-calgary/');
break;
}
}
 
<td class="hotelslisttd">
<form name="hotelslist" id="hotelslist">
<select id="cities" name="cities" onChange="hotel_list(hotelslist.cities.selectedIndex);loadHotel();">
<option value="Baddeck">Baddeck</option>
<option value="Banff">Banff</option>
<option value="Calgary">Calgary</option>
</select>
</td>
<td class="hotelnamestd">
<select id="hotelnames" name="hotelnames" onchange="loadHotel();";>
<option value="Inverary Resort, Baddeck">Inverary Resort, Baddeck</option>
</select>
</form></td>
 
<iframe name="hotelframe" id="hotelframe" src="http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/hotels/atlantic-canada/baddeck/inverary-resort/" scrolling="no" width="560" height="1000" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0"> <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p> </iframe>
 
 

thanks in advance
Omar.

[jhardman]

yeah, setting a cookie would work, I would do it on the iFrame page

response.cookies("city") = request.form("city")

or you could just set it as a session variable

session("city") = request.form("city")

Jared

[omar999]

thank you for starting me off Jared.
I've added this to top of the page containing form, selects & iframe

<%
response.cookies("cities") = request.form("cities")
%>

then within the iframe src page I've added this to the top of the page

<%
city=Request.Cookies("cities")
response.write("cities=" & city)
%>
 

but it's not outputting the selected city? has this something to do with my iframe src?...

[jhardman]

@omar999
it is the iframe page that gets reloaded when the city is selected, right? then you need to set the city cookie there.

Jared

[omar999]

hi jared - the iframe reloads when city & hotel are selected or "onchange".

so if i understand correct do you mean i should set and retrieve the cookie within the iframe?

[jhardman]

@jhardman
yes, at least you need to set it there within the iframe (that's where the city input is sent when the input is changed, so that's the best place to set the cookie).

If I understand what you are asking, you would need to retrieve it on the main page (if it exists) - if the cookie exists when the main page is being loaded, then you have previously changed the hotel and city selects and now are just refreshing that page. Does this make sense?

Jared

[omar999]

ok cool I will set & retrieve cookie within iframe and will post back progress.

yea basically on a page refresh I dont want the city, hotel & iframe src to change from what the user may have already selected - instead I want to retain the selected state if the page is refreshed.

Omar.

[omar999]

set & retreived cookie within iframe src but no joy. to clarify - this is my setup;

default.asp [contains form, selects & iframe - (iframe src pointing to hotel1.asp)]
then the function hotel_list populates the iframe src of every other hotel - e.g hotel2.asp, hotel3.asp..etc

not sure where to go from here... please advise

[jhardman]

@omar999
YOU DO NOT NEED TO RETRIEVE THE COOKIE IN THE IFRAME. YOU NEED TO SET THE COOKIE IN THE IFRAME AND RETRIEVE IT IN THE MAIN PAGE. IT WON"T WORK IN ANY OTHER COMBINATION.

Jared

[omar999]

morning Jared

thanks for clarifying - my brain is a little fried so I'm finding it hard to process anything. it doesnt help when I've been working 15 hour shifts 2 days in a row!

I'll give this a go and will post up progress. thank u

[omar999]

ok I've set the cookie in the iframe as

<%response.cookies("cities") = request.form("cities")%>

and to retrieve in main page as

<%city=Request.Cookies("cities")
response.write("cities=" & city)%>

but still no joy. I've tried refreshing the page and selecting different hotels but the city value isnt being displayed on the page?

[jhardman]

@omar999
try to list everything in cookies just to clarify whether cookies are being passed:

response.write "<p>Cookies:" & vbNewLine
for each x in request.cookies
   response.write x & ": " & request.cookies(x) & "<br>" & vbNewLine
next

Jared

[omar999]

hi jared

I added this code to the main page and the page is displaying this [i've edited out the website address]

Cookies: __utma: 228366991.358854659.1270736550.1271799773.1271836851.52
__utmz: 228366991%2E1270736550%2E1%2E1%2Eutmcsr=%28direct%29%7Cutmccn%3D%28direct%29%7Cutmcmd%3D%28none%29
cities:
name:
hasVisited: 0
__utmc: 1
X-Mapping-gdmmbdpb: B7FC7B07D3E4A6F2410CF7CBA64192E5
__utmb: 228366991.323.10.1271836851
profile_referrer: websitename
websitenameGAId: UA-6277292-1
firstname: Alex
hotelnames: 
 

not sure what this means?

[jhardman]

a lot of it you can just ignore, but on the 5 you set (cities, name, hasVisited, firstname, hotelnames) only two had values, the rest of the cookies were set, but had no values. I bet that when you refresh the page you are also clearing the values of those cookies. When you go to set the cookies check to see if you are setting an empty value:

if request.form("cities") <> "" then
   response.cookies("cities") = request.form("cities")
end if 

Jared

[omar999]

hi jared

I added

if request.form("cities") <> "" then
   response.cookies("cities") = request.form("cities")
end if 

to the page and refreshed it and the page still outputs this same message

Cookies: __utma: 228366991.358854659.1270736550.1271799773.1271836851.52
__utmz: 228366991%2E1270736550%2E1%2E1%2Eutmcsr=%28direct%29%7Cutmccn%3D%28direct%29%7Cutmcmd%3D%28none%29
cities:
name:
hasVisited: 0
__utmc: 1
X-Mapping-gdmmbdpb: B7FC7B07D3E4A6F2410CF7CBA64192E5
__utmb: 228366991.323.10.1271836851
profile_referrer: websitename
websitenameGAId: UA-6277292-1
firstname: Alex
hotelnames: 
 

i wish there was a senior developer at my company. this sucks.

[jhardman]

is this live? Can I browse there to check it?

Jared