OnClick vs OnClientClick for an asp:CheckBox?

Question

Does anyone know why a client-side javascript handler for asp:CheckBox needs to be an OnClick="" attribute rather than an OnClientClick="" attribute, as for asp:Button?

For example, this works:

<asp:CheckBox runat="server" OnClick="alert(this.checked);" />

and this doesn't (no error):

<asp:CheckBox runat="server" OnClientClick="alert(this.checked);" />

but this works:

<asp:Button runat="server" OnClientClick="alert('Hi');" />

and this doesn't (compile time error):

<asp:Button runat="server" OnClick="alert('hi');" />

(I know what Button.OnClick is for; I'm wondering why CheckBox doesn't work the same way...)

Answer 1

You can do the tag like this:

<asp:CheckBox runat="server" ID="ckRouteNow" Text="Send Now" OnClick="checkchanged(this)" />

The .checked property in the called JavaScript will be correct...the current state of the checkbox:

  function checkchanged(obj) {
      alert(obj.checked)
  }

Answer 2

You are right this is inconsistent. What is happening is that CheckBox doesn't HAVE an server-side OnClick event, so your markup gets rendered to the browser. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.checkbox_events.aspx

Whereas Button does have a OnClick - so ASP.NET expects a reference to an event in your OnClick markup.