Updating multiple controls

I have an asp.net web site. I have many text boxes, drop downs and check boxes that need to be populated based on user input. I have a main text box for them to put in an ID number and a button to run my code. The problem is that the text boxes and check boxes are all over the form so I can't group them in one update panel.

Also, some of the check boxes, drop downs and text boxes can change the data in other controls based on user input. This causes so many post backs under normal conditions. If I put everything in an update panel, isn't that still going to cause just as many post backs?

Putting the whole page in one UpdatePanel will cause pretty much the same amount of data to be sent back to the server (the whole viewstate is always sent) and by the sounds of it pretty much the same amount of data comin back. It would reduce network traffic a bit and get rid of the screen flicker though.

You really need to put just the bits that update in multiple UpdatePanels, they will all get updated when one does. However, I'd go one step further and set all of them to UpdateMode="Conditional" so you can only update the panels you need to when you need to.

Thank you. I looked into that a bit further and also watched a video on multiple update panels. I will try this, conditional updates and add triggers to the update panels. Thanks again.