ASP.NET postback with JavaScript

Per Phairoh: Use this in the Page/Component just in case the panel name changes

<script type="text/javascript">
     <!--
     //must be global to be called by ExternalInterface
         function JSFunction() {
             __doPostBack('<%= myUpdatePanel.ClientID  %>', '');
         }
     -->
     </script>

Here is a complete solution

Entire form tag of the asp.net page

<form id="form1" runat="server">
    <asp:LinkButton ID="LinkButton1" runat="server" /> <%-- included to force __doPostBack javascript function to be rendered --%>

    <input type="button" id="Button45" name="Button45" onclick="javascript:__doPostBack('ButtonA','')" value="clicking this will run ButtonA.Click Event Handler" /><br /><br />
    <input type="button" id="Button46" name="Button46" onclick="javascript:__doPostBack('ButtonB','')" value="clicking this will run ButtonB.Click Event Handler" /><br /><br />

    <asp:Button runat="server" ID="ButtonA" ClientIDMode="Static" Text="ButtonA" /><br /><br />
    <asp:Button runat="server" ID="ButtonB" ClientIDMode="Static" Text="ButtonB" />
</form>

Entire Contents of the Page's Code-Behind Class

Private Sub ButtonA_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonA.Click
    Response.Write("You ran the ButtonA click event")
End Sub

Private Sub ButtonB_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonB.Click
    Response.Write("You ran the ButtonB click event")
End Sub

• The LinkButton is included to ensure that the __doPostBack javascript function is rendered to the client. Simply having Button controls will not cause this __doPostBack function to be rendered. This function will be rendered by virtue of having a variety of controls on most ASP.NET pages, so an empty link button is typically not needed

What's going on?

Two input controls are rendered to the client:

<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTTARGET" id="__EVENTTARGET" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTARGUMENT" id="__EVENTARGUMENT" value="" />

• __EVENTTARGET receives argument 1 of __doPostBack
• __EVENTARGUMENT receives argument 2 of __doPostBack

The __doPostBack function is rendered out like this:

function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
    if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
        theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
        theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
        theForm.submit();
    }
}

• As you can see, it assigns the values to the hidden inputs.

When the form submits / postback occurs:

• If you provided the UniqueID of the Server-Control Button whose button-click-handler you want to run (javascript:__doPostBack('ButtonB',''), then the button click handler for that button will be run.

What if I don't want to run a click handler, but want to do something else instead?

You can pass whatever you want as arguments to __doPostBack

You can then analyze the hidden input values and run specific code accordingly:

If Request.Form("__EVENTTARGET") = "DoSomethingElse" Then
    Response.Write("Do Something else") 
End If

Other Notes

• What if I don't know the ID of the control whose click handler I want to run?
  • If it is not acceptable to set ClientIDMode="Static", then you can do something like this: __doPostBack('<%= myclientid.UniqueID %>', '').
  • Or: __doPostBack('<%= MYBUTTON.UniqueID %>','')
  • This will inject the unique id of the control into the javascript, should you wish it

While Phairoh's solution seems theoretically sound, I have also found another solution to this problem. By passing the UpdatePanels id as a paramater (event target) for the doPostBack function the update panel will post back but not the entire page.

__doPostBack('myUpdatePanelId','')

*note: second parameter is for addition event args

hope this helps someone!

EDIT: so it seems this same piece of advice was given above as i was typing :)

Using __doPostBack directly is sooooo the 2000s. Anybody coding WebForms in 2018 uses GetPostBackEventReference

(More seriously though, adding this as an answer for completeness. Using the __doPostBack directly is bad practice (single underscore prefix typically indicates a private member and double indicates a more universal private member), though it probably won't change or become obsolete at this point. We have a fully supported mechanism in ClientScriptManager.GetPostBackEventReference.)

Assuming your btnRefresh is inside our UpdatePanel and causes a postback, you can use GetPostBackEventReference like this (inspiration):

function RefreshGrid() {
    <%= ClientScript.GetPostBackEventReference(btnRefresh, String.Empty) %>;
}