Retrieve data from DB w/o submitting CF page

[vsimmons]

Hello,
I'm creating a form where the user will input a number into one of the form fields that uniquely identifies a person. In the database there are initials that are assigned to each ID. Once the user has entered the number and moves to the next field, I want to have the Initials field autopopulate with the initials from the database based on the number entered. I don't want to require the user to perform any additional functions (i.e. pressing a button) to make this data show up - I want it to happen automatically just like JavaScript field validation or something similar. Is this possible?
Thanks!

 

[TruthInSatire]

There are a few javascript solutions. You could do an onblur function that automaticaly submits the page to retrieve the initials, or when the page loads the first time you could fill a javascript array with all of the possible numbers and initials. That would populate the initials field without submiting, but anyone with any know-how could find out what all the possible numbers and initials are by viewing the source.

 

[daamsie]

Depending on how many records you have in your database, you may be able to retrieve them all when loading the page initially. Then you could use a simple 'onBlur' command to populate the other fields when someone types in the right initials.

NOTE: Haven't actually tried this, just seems like it would be the best possibility for a not TOO large database.