Here is a simple way to get the value for the selected button in an html form, using jquery:

<form>
<input type=”radio” name=”status” value=”1″ /> Free <br />
<input type=”radio” name=”status” value=”2″ selected /> Reserved <br />
<input type=”radio” name=”status” value=”3″ /> Not available <br />
</form>

 var x = $(‘input[name=status]:checked’).val();

x will now contain 2.