function remember_indexes() { var tmpidx = document.getElementById("templatest").selectedIndex; var styidx = document.getElementById("stylest").selectedIndex; document.getElementById("tmpidx").value = tmpidx; document.getElementById("styidx").value = styidx; } ON RETURNING AFTER ERROR IS FOUND: Perl: my $styidx = $query->param('styidx'); my $tmpidx = $query->param('tmpidx'); $template -> param( errormsg => $errormessage, styidx => $styidx, tmpidx => $tmpidx); HTML: function set_dropdowns() { document.getElementById("styles").options[].selected = true; document.getElementById("templates").options[].selected = true;}