title: Passing variable with Python CGI
body: <p>I am using Python CGI to handle a simple web interface that has the following function:</p>
  
  <p>User enters an ID in a form-field, clicks submit and gets a list of variables back from a dictonary containing lists. 
  With a textfield the user can enter another item, click submit to append the value to the list corresponding with the previously entered ID. </p>
  
  <p>The first submit works well, checking whether the ID exists in the dictionary and then prints the form field for adding a new item. But the value of the ID is lost then. What would be the best way to pass on that value?</p>
  
  <p>Would posting the first value as GET and retrieving it through the URL be a solution to this or is there a better way?</p>
  
  <p>I have to use python &amp; cgi for this project, without any additional framework.</p>
  
  <pre><code>data = cgi.FieldStorage()
  
  if data.has_key('ID'):
      myID = data['myID'].value
      if testme(ID): #checks if ID exists in dictionary
          printmessages(myID)
          addmessage(myID)
  elif data.has_key('newitem'):
      newmitem = data['newitem'].value
      insertmessage(myID, newitem) #insert newitem to dictionary with myID
  </code></pre>