ASP.NET MVC: Basic form question

Answer 1

You've got two separate questions here really. To deal with whether you should use a partial view or a regular view, just think of it this way. Does the HTML content in question represent a full page, or just a piece of a page that will be reused inside of other pages?

If it's the former, then use a full View. If it's the latter, then put it in a partial view. It sounds to me like you just need a full View. In either case, it's easy to change to the other if it turns out it's not meeting your needs.

As to validation, take a look at xVal if you're using ASP.Net MVC 1. It allows for easy validation using attributes on your models.

Answer 2

When you make your post from the modal popup do the validation then in the actionmethod you created specifically for that popup. If you want client side validation write up the js to do it.

As for the modal markup and what not just create a partial view for that, shouldn't be a big deal.