Is the single <form runat="server">-element requirement really necessary for ASP.NET WebForms?
- by michielvoo
Looking at some of the changes coming to WebForms in ASP.NET 4.0 I can see many improvements that give developers even more control over the output. Some of these improvement have been a long time coming, and for some time it seemed that it wasn't even possible. It made me wonder if the current model with the single form element that runs on the server is really the only possible way.
Why couldn't the ASPNET WebForm architecture work with multiple forms that all run on the server?
Imagine if you could architect this change. How would it impact the way we write codebehind today? Would it introduce extra complexity? Would it change the way event handlers work, or validation, or ASP.NET Ajax with the ScriptManager and UpdatePanel controls?