Question

I read that one cannot use ASP.NET MVC with Server Control which have ViewState including TextBox ?

http://forums.asp.net/t/1216834.aspx

Server controls that do not require
ViewState to fully function will work
in MVC, but anything that requires
PostBack to work properly will not.

So bindable, read-only controls like
the Repeater will work, but input
controls like the DropDownList and
TextBox will not.

What should I use then if I cannot even use TextBox ?

Answer 1

ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC both use a backend coding convention to render HTML markup. In ASP.NET the convention is to use Control classes, and in ASP.NET MVC the convention is to use HtmlHelper extension methods.

The TextBox ASP.NET Control with the following ASP.NET markup

 <asp:TextBox id="sample_tbx" Text="Sample Default Value" runat="server"  />

renders the following HTML markup

 <input type="text" name="sample_tbx" id="sample_tbx" value="Sample Default Value" />

To get the same result with an HtmlHelper extension method in an MVC View, the convention is to use the TextBox() extension method. For example,

 <%= Html.TextBox("sample_tbx", "Sample Default Value") %>

In either ASP.NET or ASP.NET MVC, html markup can be written inline. So, simply writing

 <input type="text" name="sample_tbx" id="sample_tbx" value="Sample Default Value" />

is valid for either ASP.NET WebForms or ASP.NET MVC.