How to avoid sending input fields which are hidden by display:none to a server?

Imagine you have a form where you switch visibility of several fields. And if the field is not displayed you don't want its value to be in request.

How do you handle this situation?

Setting a form element to disabled will stop it going to the server, e.g.:

<input disabled="disabled" type="text" name="test"/>

In javascript it would mean something like this:

var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName('input');
for(var i = 0;i < inputs.length; i++) {
    if(inputs[i].style.display == 'none') {
        inputs[i].disabled = true;
    }
}
document.forms[0].submit();

In jQuery:

   $('form > input:hidden').attr("disabled",true);
   $('form').submit();

You could use javascript to set the disabled attribute. The 'submit' button click event is probably the best place to do this.

However, I would advise against doing this at all. If possible you should filter your query on the server. This will be more reliable.

What about:

$('#divID').children(":input").prop("disabled", true); // disable

and

$('#divID').children(":input").prop("disabled", false); // enable

To toggle all children inputs (selects, checkboxes, input, textareas, etc) inside a hidden div.