CodeIgnitier CSRF protection how submit form which is loaded via jquery tabs

Question

I'm working on some backend project and want to load form via jQueryUI tabs

<div id="parameters_tabs" style="width:920px;">
<ul>    
            <li><a href="<?=base_url()?>link1"><?=$this->lang->line('tab_name')?></a></li>                
</ul>   
</div>

in response I produce few forms as in example below:

<?
                    for ($i = 0; $i < count($groups); $i++)
                    {
            ?>                                                      
                            <form id="group_form<?=$i?>" method="POST" action="<?=base_url()?>update_group">
                                <input type="hidden" name="<?=$this->config->item('csrf_token_name')?>" value="<?=$token?>" />
                                <input type="hidden" name="id" value="<?=$groups[$i]['id']?>" />                                                
                                <tr>                                                        
                                        <td>
                                            <input type="text" value="<?=$groups[$i]['name']?>" name="name" />                                                                
                                        </td>
                                        <td>
                                            <input type="text" value="<?=$groups[$i]['short_name']?>" name="short_name" />
                                        </td>
                                        <td>
                                            <textarea cols="80" rows="4" name="desc"><?=$mgroups[$i]['desc']?></textarea>                                                    
                                        </td>                                            
                                        <td style="width: 30px">
                                                <a class="save" onclick="$('#group_form<?=$i?>').submit();"><?=$this->lang->line('save')?></a>                                                    
                                        </td>
                                </tr>
                            </form>                                                                                    
                <?
                    }
                ?>

when clicking on "save" I got standard error about CSRF protection:

"An Error Was Encountered

The action you have requested is not allowed."

Can anyone help me and tell where I made mistake? Of course in source I see proper csrf_token_name.

Answer 1

This article helped me when I was experiencing the same issue. Using the built-in form helper form_open() function might also help solve the problem (as it generates the hidden CSRF field for you).