Getting Shortcode Field Values from the Form Object

A year ago, you guys said it wasn't possible to get the field_values out of a shortcode and use them in a dropdown. I'm wondering if this is still the case.

I tried a workaround of passing a field_value to a hidden field, but the Field object doesn't seem to pickup the the value in $field["defaulValue"] (even though it appears in the value attribute).

Surely there must be some way to get to either 1) the shortcode $field_values directly or 2) the actual value of a hidden element (in a PHP hook, not with jQuery at runtime).

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-- D