********************Edit 2********************** I figured out the problem... But I don't like the implications. I was testing our iPhone targeted mobile application earlier and using a plugin to mask Firefox's User Agent String as an iPhone.
.Net was infact NOT generating the required code for post backs based on that piece of information alone.
I do not like this however, because since the iPhone and other multimedia devices can interpret javascript, ASP.net is breaking any application that relies on server generated javascript to run.
So, if the community will allow it... I'd like to change my official question to... Why will ASP.net not generate javascript for specific browsers and how can I turn this "feature" off.
*************** End Edit 2 ***************
I've got a weird problem. I copied some working code from my remote host to my computer at work. When I try to use the page I'm getting a javascript error
__doPostBack is not defined
javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$login','')()()
When I few the output page source, sure enough there is no server side generated javascript.
I tried creating a simple page:
<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="jsTest.aspx.vb" Inherits="_jsTest" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:TextBox ID="tbTest" runat="server"></asp:TextBox><br />
<asp:LinkButton ID="linkTest" runat="server">LinkButton</asp:LinkButton>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Codebehind:
Partial Class _jsTest
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Protected Sub linkTest_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles linkTest.Click
Response.Write(tbTest.Text)
End Sub
End Class
Getting the same error.
I've tried rebooting (hey, it works half the time), cleared out everything from App_Code, global.asax and web.config, added a textbox with autopostback=true... I'm out of ideas.
Can anyone shed some light on what's happening here?
**************More Information************** I just tried everything again in IE and it works as expected, the page source shows:
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTTARGET" id="__EVENTTARGET" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTARGUMENT" id="__EVENTARGUMENT" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwUKLTkxNTA2MDE2NWRkxhZMwlMVwJprcVsvQLJLrTcgaSM=" />
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
theForm.submit();
}
}
//]]>
</script>
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTVALIDATION" id="__EVENTVALIDATION" value="/wEWAwK20LZAAuzRsusGAsz0+6YPxxO+Ewv1XsD5QKJiiprrGp+9a3Q=" />
</div>
While the source in Firefox only shows:
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwUKLTkxNTA2MDE2NWRkxhZMwlMVwJprcVsvQLJLrTcgaSM=" />
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTVALIDATION" id="__EVENTVALIDATION" value="/wEWAwK20LZAAuzRsusGAsz0+6YPxxO+Ewv1XsD5QKJiiprrGp+9a3Q=" />
Saving the web pages to the desktop and opening in notepad reveals the same thing...
The problem is the default way ASP.net treats unknown browsers... such as the iPhone. Even though it would be nice to assume unknown browsers could use javascript... you can specify what capabilities that a browser has in the section of web.config or machine.config.
Check out http://slingfive.com/pages/code/browserCaps/ for an updated browsercaps config file for asp.net
Here is an example of a case to match GECKO Based Browsers (Netscape 6+, Mozilla/Firefox, ...)
<case match="^Mozilla/5\.0 \([^)]*\) (Gecko/[-\d]+)(?'VendorProductToken' (?'type'[^/\d]*)([\d]*)/(?'version'(?'major'\d+)(?'minor'\.\d+)(?'letters'\w*)))?">
browser=Gecko
<filter>
<case match="(Gecko/[-\d]+)(?'VendorProductToken' (?'type'[^/\d]*)([\d]*)/(?'version'(?'major'\d+)(?'minor'\.\d+)(?'letters'\w*)))">
type=${type}
</case>
<case> <!-- plain Mozilla if no VendorProductToken found -->
type=Mozilla
</case>
</filter>
frames=true
tables=true
cookies=true
javascript=true
javaapplets=true
ecmascriptversion=1.5
w3cdomversion=1.0
css1=true
css2=true
xml=true
tagwriter=System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter
<case match="rv:(?'version'(?'major'\d+)(?'minor'\.\d+)(?'letters'\w*))">
version=${version}
majorversion=0${major}
minorversion=0${minor}
<case match="^b" with="${letters}">
beta=true
</case>
</case>
</case>