Can I read values from formbuilder fields in Perl without submitting?

I am working on existing code that uses CGI::FormBuilder, and I've gone through all of the documentation to see how this might work, and I'm not 100% convinced that it will. The code has several free-form fields and 3 buttons: Update, Cancel and Test. The test button sends an email using settings entered into the fields.

In the JS for the form, I use an ajax call when "Test" is clicked so that the perl code in the form executes. The update and cancel buttons return like the form is supposed to when it is submitted. The reason for this is that when the test email is sent, I don't want the user to be taken to a returned page, but remain on the form with the values intact, so that if the values are correct, the user does not have to re-enter them when they want to update the actual values (which updates the values in my DB). Apparently, since the form isn't being "submitted," the values that it attempts to use on this "test" are the values loaded into the form with the page opens - it isn't using the values the user input before hitting the test button. Is there a way to make this happen?

Long question short: with CGI::FormBuilder, can I get the values currently in the fields via PERL without submitting the page? Thanks!

Solution

Short answer: yes.

Medium answer: Yes. You can use javascript in the page to send information to your server side application.

Long answer:

You seem to have some confusion about how server and client side code interact with webpages. This is pretty common. Many people expect their to be some kind of communication between the rendered page and the program that generated it. AJAX and related technologies blur the lines here and make things more confusing.

Here's a timeline of a simple, old-school CGI form:

Client requests page. Server receives page request. Server dispatches to CGI script.
Server executes CGI script.
Server sends result of CGI script to client.
Client renders script results.
User fills out form.
User clicks "Submit". Client requests page with parameter information (details vary with type of request, form configuration).'
Server receives page request.
Server dispatches to CGI script.
Server executes CGI script. Server sends result of CGI script to client. Client renders script results.

Each message from the Client is handled separately.

AJAX lets you send messages to the server and get the response without clearing the currently loaded page.

So, just throw some javascript code into the html, and set up an onModify handler that will make an AJAX request and pass data back to the server. The AJAX request is just another HTTP request, just like those above, but it runs in the backgound. All you need to do is catch the submitted data and respond. Your javascript needs to catch the response and do something with it.