How can I get a reference to the server side form control from inside a web part?

Question

I have a web part embedded in a publishing site that needs to get a reference to the <form runat="server"/> in the master page.

I have to set the 'action' attribute to allow the form to post outside of the site.

Instead of trying every combination of this.Page.Master and this.Parent.Page.Master - I wonder if someone has accomplished this?

Currently I have:

System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm form = (System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm)this.Parent.Page.Master.FindControl("aspnetForm");

But this doesn't work.

Sig Weber · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-13 21:05:24Z

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Did you try:

System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm form = Page.Form;

worked for me.

answered Dec 13 '11 at 21:05

Sig Weber
1,7362318

	Of course! Perfect, thanks. Much easier than trying to navigate through the SP object hierarchy. – ScottE Dec 13 '11 at 21:15
	Well, the find control part works, but the settings of the form action doesn't seem to work. This is definitely possible in .net 3.5, and I tried this exact thing in webforms outside of sharepoint. Does sharepoint prevent this? – ScottE Dec 13 '11 at 21:19
	Yes, that's SharePoint specific. Until today I haven't found a workaround for that behavior. – Sig Weber Dec 13 '11 at 22:08
	PostBackUrl didn't seem to work either. Oh, Sharepoint, always trying to complicate things. I guess javascript is the only solution here. – ScottE Dec 14 '11 at 13:59

1 Answer