HTML::Template recalling selected dropdown options

bradcathey has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Fellow Monasterians,

While I have seen this addressed indirectly in various nodes, I haven't been able to find anything definitive.

Here's the scenario: a user selects an option from a pulldown menu and submits a form. My script validates the input, finds a problem, and re-outputs the .tmpl page with the error message.

The associate => $query re-populates text boxes, but I have to rely on some hand-rolled code to re-set any dropdowns.

The code consists of: 1) 'onsubmit' Java-the-script to populate a like-number of hidden fields with the indexes of the options selected; 2) then Perl to grab those and pass them back to H::T if necessary (an error is found); and finally, 3) more JS to reset the dropdowns 'onload'ing. Messy, indeed. Question: What is the better, more Perlish, way? Thanks!

ON SUBMIT:
 
<form id="main" action="cgi-bin/script.pl" method="post" onsubmit="rem
+ember_indexes()">
<input type="hidden" id="tmpidx" name="tmpidx" value="" />
<input type="hidden" id="styidx" name="styidx" value="" />

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; }</blockquote>

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[<tmpl_var styidx>].select
+ed = true;
   document.getElementById("templates").options[<tmpl_var tmpidx>].sel
+ected = true;}
   
<body onload="set_dropdowns();">
<p><tmpl_var errormsg><p>
<select name="templates" id="templates">
   <option value="">Select...</option>
   <option value="23>">Text one</option>
   <option value="36>">Text two</option>
</select>
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Update: fixed tags

—Brad
"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." George Eliot

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