Getting text out of textarea from a ASP.NET GridView update - asp.net

Question

i'm loosing my mind. Using ASP.NET in a GridView, amongst other controls, I have the following:
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Intention">
<EditItemTemplate>
<asp:TextBox ID="IntentionInfo" Enabled="true" TextMode="MultiLine" Wrap="true" runat="server" />
</EditItemTemplate>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:TextBox ID="IntentionInfo" Enabled="false" TextMode="MultiLine" runat="server" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
I would like to take the value out of this textarea and save in a database. However, server side, I try to pull the value out, like such:
string txt = (TextBox)DonationResultsTable.Rows[e.RowIndex].Cells[6].Controls[1].Text;
... but I keep getting the value that was SENT to the Client.
I wrote this javascript and I can see the values change in the DOM, but still the server keeps taking the old value.
$("textarea").change(function()
{
var txt = $(this).val();
$(this).html(txt).text(txt);
});
So my guess was ViewState, but I disabled it for those controls, like this:
<asp:TextBox ID="IntentionInfo" ViewStateMode="Disabled" Enabled="false" TextMode="MultiLine" runat="server" />
Still nothing! Any ideas?

Answer 1

One option could be to use a hidden field and update it on text changed for the text area. You could do this with jQuery like this:
$("textarea[id$=tbTest]").change(function () {
$("input[id$=hdnVal]").val($("textarea[id$=tbTest]").val());
});
Then on the server side, you can retrieve the hidden field's value and save it to your database.