Template_flexy + QuickForm problem: hidden form field gets overwritten with bad value

I am using DataObject and Template_flexy together and am having a problem with-I think-Template_flexy's internal calls to QuickForm. Not being very familiar with QuickForm I can't say that for certain, but here's what's happening: In a template file, e.g. index.html, I have hard-coded in HTML a basic form (method=get) that contains a hidden form field named "search". In addition, I have several links on this page that also pass a variable called "search", but with different values from the form's search variable. In my main script, e.g. index.php, I use a switch statement, e.g. switch ($_GET['search']) {case 'link_clicked': do X; break; case 'form_submitted': do Y; break;} to build queries differently depending on whether a user clicked a link or submitted the form. Now here's the problem: Everything works fine until I (1) click a link, passing $_GET['search']=link_clicked to index.php and reloading the page with the appropriate query results, and then (2) submit the form, which should pass $_GET['search']=form_submitted. The problem is that QuickForm-I think-is taking my hidden form field, which is hard-coded in the template as <input type="hidden" name="search" value="form_submitted">, and rewriting it with the $_GET['search'] value from the previous request, so it now appears in the source as <input type="hidden" name="search" value="link_clicked">. Of course, submitting the form now wreaks all sorts of havoc on the script, as the switch statement thinks it's processing for $_GET['search']=link_clicked but has all the wrong variables, i.e. the variables that accompany post requests. Again, I'm not certain where the problem lies, but that's why I'm writing, after more than half a day looking through QuickForm and trying to figure out what's going on. Can anyone tell me if I'm on the right track, or better, tell me how to stop my hidden form field value from being overwritten? Is there some config setting or flag I can use to tell Template_flexy not to call QuickForm, or to tell QuickForm to lay off my simple little form-without modifying the base classes? Thanks in advance, Andy