This question covers a wide range of topics, but in essence, adding runat="server"
to the input allows you to access its value in the code-behind:
<input type="text" id="field1" runat="server" value="Sunday, July 30th in the Year 1967 CE" />
In the code-behind:
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Retrieve the value and implement saving logic here
string val = field1.Value;
}
It's worth noting that once you've added runat="server"
to the input, in JavaScript, you will need to refer to the control using its ClientID:
var el = document.getElementById("<%= field1.ClientID %>");
if (el){
el.value = "foo";
}