2) " to get the control's containing form name "

One way i could think of is, you could get the parent control recursivly
until the parentElement.tagName == 'FORM'

I m writing below code on the fly... havent tested.. but hope it gives an
idea..  

<script>
     notFound = false;
     ParentElem = document.getElementById("bttonName").parentElement;
     while(notFound == false)
     {
       if(ParentElem.tagName == 'FORM')
       {
                      //Now ParentElem is the FORM containing the control
                      // you my exit the loop and call ParentElem.Submit();
         document.writeln(ParentElem.id);
         notFound = true;
       }
       else
            ParentElem = ParentElem.parentElement;
     }
    </script>

this should work, but you will be able to come up with a more efficient
recursive script for the same..  probably you will find a sample in
blogs/sites

1) not sure i have understood the requirement... When you say " I have a
control that I want to act like a button" ,  is that a webcontrol or a user
control?.. if user control, you could still have a hidden control next to the
button/image/link you are expecting the user to click..