How do I reference the input of an HTML <textarea> control in codebehind?

Question

I'm using a textarea control to allow the user to input text and then place that text into the body of an e-mail. In the code behind, what is the syntax for referencing the users input? I thought I could just use message.Body = test123.Text; but this is not recognized.

HTML:

<textarea id="TextArea1" cols="20" rows="2" ></textarea> 

CodeBehind:

foreach (string recipient in recipients) {            var message = new System.Net.Mail.MailMessage("[email protected]", recipient);   message.Subject = "Hello World!";            message.Body = test123.Text;                   client.Send(message);  }  

Answer 1

You are not using a .NET control for your text area. Either add runat="server" to the HTML TextArea control or use a .NET control:

Try this:

<asp:TextBox id="TextArea1" TextMode="multiline" Columns="50" Rows="5" runat="server" /> 

Then reference it in your codebehind:

message.Body = TextArea1.Text; 

Answer 2

You need to use runat="server" like this:

<textarea id="TextArea1" cols="20" rows="2" runat="server"></textarea> 

You can use the runat=server attribute with any standard HTML element, and later use it from codebehind.