jQuery UI Dialog with ASP.NET button postback

$('#divname').parent().appendTo($("form:first"));

Using this code solved my problem and it worked in every browser, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, and Google Chrome. I start to love jQuery... It's a cool framework.

I have tested with partial render too, exactly what I was looking for. Great!

<script type="text/javascript">
    function openModalDiv(divname) {
        $('#' + divname).dialog({ autoOpen: false, bgiframe: true, modal: true });
        $('#' + divname).dialog('open');
        $('#' + divname).parent().appendTo($("form:first"));
    }

    function closeModalDiv(divname) {
        $('#' + divname).dialog('close');
    }
</script>
...
...
<input id="Button1" type="button" value="Open 1" onclick="javascript:openModalDiv('Div1');" />
...
...
<div id="Div1" title="Basic dialog" >
    <asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server">
       <ContentTemplate>
          postback test<br />
          <asp:Button ID="but_OK" runat="server" Text="Send request" /><br />
          <asp:TextBox ID="tb_send" runat="server"></asp:TextBox><br />
          <asp:Label ID="lbl_result" runat="server" Text="prova" BackColor="#ff0000></asp:Label>
        </ContentTemplate>
    <asp:UpdatePanel>
    <input id="Button2" type="button" value="cancel" onclick="javascript:closeModalDiv('Div1');" />
</div>

FWIW, the form:first technique didn't work for me.

However, the technique in that blog article did:

http://blog.roonga.com.au/2009/07/using-jquery-ui-dialog-with-aspnet-and.html

Specifically, adding this to the dialog declaration:

  open: function(type,data) {
    $(this).parent().appendTo("form");
  }

Be aware that there is an additional setting in jQuery UI v1.10. There is an appendTo setting that has been added, to address the ASP.NET workaround you're using to re-add the element to the form.

Try:

$("#dialog").dialog({
     autoOpen: false,
     height: 280,
     width: 440,
     modal: true,
     **appendTo**:"form"
});

ken's answer above did the trick for me. The problem with the accepted answer is that it only works if you have a single modal on the page. If you have multiple modals, you'll need to do it inline in the "open" param while initializing the dialog, not after the fact.

open: function(type,data) { $(this).parent().appendTo("form"); }

If you do what the first accepted answer tells you with multiple modals, you'll only get the last modal on the page working firing postbacks properly, not all of them.

Primarily it's because jQuery moves the dialog outside of the form tags using the DOM. Move it back inside the form tags and it should work fine. You can see this by inspecting the element in Firefox.

I didn't want to have to work around this problem for every dialog in my project, so I created a simple jQuery plugin. This plugin is merely for opening new dialogs and placing them within the ASP.NET form:

(function($) {
    /**
     * This is a simple jQuery plugin that works with the jQuery UI
     * dialog. This plugin makes the jQuery UI dialog append to the
     * first form on the page (i.e. the asp.net form) so that
     * forms in the dialog will post back to the server.
     *
     * This plugin is merely used to open dialogs. Use the normal
     * $.fn.dialog() function to close dialogs programatically.
     */
    $.fn.aspdialog = function() {
        if (typeof $.fn.dialog !== "function")
            return;

        var dlg = {};

        if ( (arguments.length == 0)
                || (arguments[0] instanceof String) ) {
            // If we just want to open it without any options
            // we do it this way.
            dlg = this.dialog({ "autoOpen": false });
            dlg.parent().appendTo('form:first');
            dlg.dialog('open');
        }
        else {
            var options = arguments[0];
            options.autoOpen = false;
            options.bgiframe = true;

            dlg = this.dialog(options);
            dlg.parent().appendTo('form:first');
            dlg.dialog('open');
        }
    };
})(jQuery);</code></pre>

So to use the plugin, you first load jQuery UI and then the plugin. Then you can do something like the following:

$('#myDialog1').aspdialog(); // Simple
$('#myDialog2').aspdialog('open'); // The same thing
$('#myDialog3').aspdialog({title: "My Dialog", width: 320, height: 240}); // With options!

To be clear, this plugin assumes you are ready to show the dialog when you call it.

I know this is an old question, but for anyone who have the same issue there is a newer and simpler solution: an "appendTo" option has been introduced in jQuery UI 1.10.0

http://api.jqueryui.com/dialog/#option-appendTo

$("#dialog").dialog({
    appendTo: "form"
    ....
});

Fantastic! This solved my problem with ASP:Button event not firing inside jQuery modal. Please note, using the jQuery UI modal with the following allows the button event to fire:

// Dialog Link
$('#dialog_link').click(function () {
    $('#dialog').dialog('open');
    $('#dialog').parent().appendTo($("form:first"))
    return false;
});

The following line is the key to get this working!

$('#dialog').parent().appendTo($("form:first"))

I just added the following line after you created the dialog:

$(".ui-dialog").prependTo("form");

This was the clearest solution for me

var dlg2 = $('#dialog2').dialog({
        position: "center",
        autoOpen: false,
        width: 600,
        buttons: {
            "Ok": function() {
                $(this).dialog("close");
            },
            "Cancel": function() {
                $(this).dialog("close");
            }
        }
    });

dlg2.parent().appendTo('form:first');
$('#dialog_link2').click(function(){
    dlg2.dialog('open');

All the content inside the dlg2 will be available to insert in your database. Don't forget to change the dialog variable to match yours.

With ASP.NET just use UseSubmitBehavior="false" in your ASP.NET button:

<asp:Button ID="btnButton" runat="server"  Text="Button" onclick="btnButton_Click" UseSubmitBehavior="false" />       

Reference: Button.UseSubmitBehavior Property

The solution from Robert MacLean with highest number of votes is 99% correct. But the only addition someone might require, as I did, is whenever you need to open up this jQuery dialog, do not forget to append it to parent. Like below:

var dlg = $('#questionPopup').dialog( 'open'); dlg.parent().appendTo($("form:first"));

Use this line to make this work while using the modal:true option.

open: function (type, data) { 
    $('.ui-widget-overlay').appendTo("form"); $(this).parent().appendTo("form"); 
  },

The $('#dialog').parent().appendTo($("form:first")) solution works fine in IE 9. But in IE 8 it makes the dialog appear and disappear directly. You can't see this unless you place some alerts so it seems that the dialog never appears. I spend one morning finding a solution that works on both versions and the only solution that works on both versions 8 and 9 is:

$(".ui-dialog").prependTo("form");

Hope this helps others that are struggeling with the same issue

Move the dialog the right way, but you should do it only in the button opening the dialog. Here is some additional code in jQuery UI sample:

$('#create-user').click(function() {
    $("#dialog").parent().appendTo($("form:first"))
    $('#dialog').dialog('open');
})

Add your asp:button inside the dialog, and it runs well.

Note: you should change the <button> to <input type=button> to prevent postback after you click the "create user" button.

The exact solution is;

$("#dialogDiv").dialog({ other options...,
    open: function (type, data) {
        $(this).parent().appendTo("form");
    }
});