Validate textbox in razorview

You don't really need to have multiple forms and achieve the same using a single form. As always, there are multiple ways to achieve this. I am giving one of them. Check out the following example...

Add a class called UserData that would contain a property with validation rules.

public class UserData
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage="Name is required")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

The following are the action methods (for initial display and post action):

public ActionResult MultipleButtons()
{
    return View();
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult MultipleButtons(UserData userData, string submit)
{
    // "submit" variable has the button clicked
    if (submit == "Action 1")
    {
         // carry out activities to be performed for 1st button click
    }
    else
    {
         // carry out activities to be performed for 2nd button click
    }

    return View(userData);
}

Finally, the MultipleButtons view looks like this:

@model TestMvcApp3.Controllers.UserData

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Name) @* Displays a text box and binds it to the "Name" property *@
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Name) @* Display validation messages if any *@

    <input type="submit" value="Action 1" name="submit" /><input type="submit" value="Action 2" name="submit" />
}

Hope this helps!