How to create a derived TextBox control? - asp.net

I need to create a custom TextBox control that allows user input HTML tags. I added a new property called HtmlEnabled, default is false. If it is false, it will act exactly like the original TextBox; if it is set to true, it will call Server.HtmlEncode to encode the text. I never creat a custom control, can anyone tell me what do I need to do? What function I need to override? Thanks.
I created my TextBoxEx class as following: I still get the validation error when I set HtmlEnabled to true, can anybody tell me what is wrong?
namespace WebApplication1
{
[ToolboxData("<{0}:TextBoxEx runat=server></{0}:TextBoxEx")]
public class TextBoxEx : System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox
{
public bool HtmlEnabled
{
get
{
return (bool)ViewState["HtmlEnabled"];
}
set
{
ViewState["HtmlEnabled"] = value;
}
}
public TextBoxEx()
{
ViewState["HtmlEnabled"] = false;
}
public override string Text
{
get
{
if (HtmlEnabled)
return HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(base.Text);
else return base.Text;
}
set
{
if (HtmlEnabled)
base.Text = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(value);
else base.Text = value;
}
}
}
}

Sounds like you could just inherit from the TextBox control and override the Text property. This article should get you started on how to go about doing it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20211020203142/https://www.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/100103-1.aspx

In order to allow the page to accept HTML tags, you need to disable request validation.
<%# Page Language="C#" ValidateRequest="false" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="TestPage.aspx.cs" Inherits="MyNamespace.TestPage" %>
This has nothing to do with the textbox control, the request validation checks all page input (query string parameters, cookies, headers, and form fields) to ensure that there are no potentially malicious scripts in the request. Be aware that by turning it off, you will need to validate that the input isn't harmful yourself.

Related

ASP.Net Custom Control - override onkeyup

I am having one problem which as simple as it may seem, gives me a lot of trouble. I have defined a custom control for a textbox in ASP.NET which has built-in the onkeyup attribute. My problem is that when using this control i want to override onkeyup, but it seems not to be working. My source code is the following:
this.Attributes.Add("onkeyup", "javascript:" + onKeyUp + ";"); // for the custom control
and when using it
< myControl:SpecialTextBox ID="txtValue" runat="server"/>
in code behind I did set
txtValue.Attributes.Add("onKeyUp", "DefaultValue();");
However, I keep on getting the onkeyup defined in the custom control instead of the more specific one.
Are there any solutions to this? Thank you very much!
Try to use txtValue.Attributes["onKeyUp"] = "DefaultValue();"; in codebehing of your page, this will override your custom control one.
You could add a property to your CustomControl:
public string OnClientKeyUp { get { /**/ } set { /**/ }
Set the default value in OnInit so you can override in a page later (e.g. Page_Load).
You can try to adding a property on your user contorl, something like this:
public string KeyUp
{
get
{
if (txtValue.Attributes["onKeyUp"] == null)
return string.Empty;
return txtValue.Attributes["onKeyUp"]
}
set
{
txtValue.Attributes["onKeyUp"] = value;
}
}
And on your server side asp.net tag you can call this property and set the value:
<myControl:SpecialTextBox ID="txtValue" runat="server" KeyUp="DefaultValue();" />

how to access ascx custom control property from masterpage.master.cs

I have this following property in my custom user control:
public string selectedtab
{
get
{
if (ViewState["AdminCurrentNavID"] != null)
{
return ViewState["AdminCurrentNavID"].ToString();
}
else {
isfirstload = true;
return null;
}
}
set { ViewState["AdminCurrentNavID"] = value; }
}
I am setting the value of it on my Page_Load() in ascx control. What i need to do is that after setting the value of this property I need to access it from masterpage.cs in code behind. you can see how currently I am trying to do in below code, but the issue is that I am not able to get the value i thing it is because the masterpage's Page_Load() rendering before the ascx control so I thats why I am getting null value, please help, thanks.
masterpage.cs:
usercontrols.mainmenu adminmenu = (usercontrols.mainmenu)LoadControl("~/mymenupath.ascx");
lbmsg.Text = adminmenu.selectedtab;
When you call LoadControl in your master page, you are actually creating a new instance of your user control, not accessing the one you have somewhere in your site.
When you declare the User Control in your page you should have given it an id. You could access the property with something like ((usercontrols.mainmenu)MyUserControlId).selectedtab
I found the solution by using Delegate, you can see in the link below.
http://webdeveloperpost.com/Articles/Return-value-from-user-control-in-ASP-NET-and-C-Sharp.aspx

Find control in usercontrol from a Page ASP.NET

I am loading a control to a page dynamically with LoadControl("src to file").
In the usercontrol i have a validator and some other controls that i would like to access from my page. I canät get it to work, null pointer exception.
Scenario is like this. I have a Edit.aspx page which loads the EditTemplate.ascx usercontroll. I would like to get information or find the controls in the EditTemplate from the Edit.aspx site.
I have tried exposing the controls and validators as properties but how do i access them from my Edit.aspx?
Example code:
Edit.aspx, the control is later added into a
Control control = LoadControl("src to ascx");
TemplatePlaceHolder.Controls.Add(control);
EditTemplate.ascx
<asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="RequiredFieldValidator1" runat="server" ControlToValidate="CompanyImageFile" ErrorMessage="RequiredFieldValidator"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
CodeBehind
public partial class EditTemplate : System.Web.UI.UserControl, IEditTemplate {
public RequiredFieldValidator Validator {
get { return this.RequiredFieldValidator1; }
set { this.RequiredFieldValidator1 = value; }
}
From the Edit.aspx site i would like to check the validators isValid property. Isvalid is set in a Save method.
The save button that saves the template is located in edit.aspx, so the post in done from that page.
So the question is how to get a hold of the property from the usercontrol in the edit.aspx page, where and how should this be done?
Thanks again.
Easiest way is to have the user control define properties like:
public IValidator SomeValidator {
get { return this.cuvValidator; }
set { this.cuvValidator = value; }
}
public string Text {
get { return this.txtText.Text; }
set { this.txtText.Text = value; }
}
Which your edit page can use.
HTH.
You can always use recursive approach. Check the solution on Steve Smith's blog:
Recursive-FindControl.
As mentioned in previous answers, I would expose any validators you must access from the parent ASPX page as properties in the user control.
public RequiredFieldValidator ValidatorToCheck
{
get { return this.rfvMyField; }
}
Then, you can dynamically add your user control to some placeholder (being sure to assign an ID to the user control).
// In my example, this is occurring in the Page_Load event
Control control = LoadControl("~/Controls/EditTemplate.ascx");
control.ID = "ucEditTemplate";
pnlControlHolder.Controls.Add(control); // the placeholder in my example is a panel
When you want to access the IsValid property on the given validator (presumably in your save action) you can do so as follows (being sure to cast the control to the appropriate type and using the ID you originally assigned to the user control):
EditTemplate control = (EditTemplate)pnlControlHolder.FindControl("ucEditTemplate");
if (control.ValidatorToCheck.IsValid)
{
// Some action
}

Recommendations for good ways to display user messages in asp.net?

I have an app full of pages and user controls, many of which have one or more label controls on them for displaying various different messages to the user.
Example: the AddCompany.ascx user control, normally used on the Company.aspx page (with App.Master MasterPage) has a label on it called "OutOfCreditLabel" with Text="Error: You cannot create a new company, as you are out of credit". The code checks the credit and shows the label if needed.
I want to get rid of all these labels all over the place and just have a method I can call from anywhere like
ShowUserMessage("Text goes here");
In previous projects I've implemented this as a single label on the master page and public method in the .master.cs - as long as the page has the line
<%# MasterType VirtualPath="~/App.master" %>
in it, this works - but I can't get it to work on user controls (.ascx.cs). Is there a trick to this?
Or... Is there a better way?
What would you recommend for a "global" user message method that works from anywhere in the site?
Any nice jQuery solutions, perhaps?
Update
RPM1984 has asked for further clarification, so I'm trying to ask this a different way:
I need a method I can call from the code-behind (of a page or a user control) which will then display whatever text I specify to the user, like how stackoverflow tells you about new answers to your question when you next visit the site. It can be up the top of the window (like SO) or somewhere on the page, doesn't matter. What matters is that it's a "global" approach, rather than having various javascript alerts and asp:label's littered over every other page and user control in the project.
Something like this scenario:
A user clicks the "Create Widget" button on my "widget manager" user control on my page. In the event handler is:
if (User.IsOutOfCredit)
{
ShowUserMessage("Sorry, you cannot create widgets; you are out of credit.");
}
This results in the user seeing "Sorry, you cannot create widgets; you are out of credit." Either in a pop-up or red text in the page somewhere or at the top like StackOverflow, anything is fine
Does that make sense?
Why not a simple HTML "old-school" extension method? (i.e static method)
namespace Web.Helpers
{
public class HtmlHelpers
{
public static string Label(string target)
{
var dynamicText = SomeWhere.GetSomeCoolText();
return String.Format("<label for='{0}'>{1}</label>", target, dynamicText);
}
}
}
Then in your HTML:
<%= HtmlHelpers.Label("sometarget") =>
In your main master page, just import the namespace:
<%# Import Namespace="Web.Helpers" %>
EDIT after question updated
Ok, i see what you're trying to do now. I would recommend doing it all client-side.
That is, in your main master page, create an initially hidden <div> with a unique id:
<div id="message" style="display: none"></div>
Then create a helper method somewhere in your web project, rendering out some script.
public void DisplayMessage()
{
string message = SomeWhere.GetSomeCoolText();
StringBuilder script = new StringBuilder();
script.AppendFormat("$('message').show().append("<span>{0}</span>")", message);
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this.GetType(), script.ToString(), true);
}
Of course, this is just a guideline. You dont have to use jQuery, you don't have to hardcode the script in the method. You could create a JavaScript function that accepts a string and modifies the HTML of the div, then just call the function.
It all depends on how complicated your "message" is, if you need special server controls, internationalization, etc.
But this is certainly the easiest way to accomplish what you want (IMHO).
Personally, I'd prefer using the HttpContext.Current.Items dictionary with a custom control. Similar to Keith Bluestone's approach, but doesn't require an arbitrarily named control on the page; it makes it very clear what's going on. You could package it into one class as a server control easily enough, but here it is to drop into a standard web project.
To register a message in your code behind:
SiteMessageUtility.Add("Test message");
To display in your page, or master page, or wherever, really:
<%# Register TagPrefix="custom" TagName="SiteMessage" Src="~/Controls/SiteMessage.ascx" %>
<custom:SiteMessage runat="server" />
Here's the files you'll need:
~\App_Code\SiteMessageUtility.cs
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
public static class SiteMessageUtility
{
public static void Add(string message)
{
string currMessage = HttpContext.Current.Items["message"] as string;
if (currMessage == null)
{
HttpContext.Current.Items["message"] = message;
}
else
{
HttpContext.Current.Items["message"] = currMessage + "<br/>" + message;
}
}
}
~\Controls\SiteMessage.aspx
<%# Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="SiteMessage.ascx.cs" Inherits="Controls_SiteMessage" %>
<asp:Literal runat="server" ID="message" />
~\Controls\SiteMessage.aspx.cs
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
public partial class Controls_SiteMessage : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e)
{
message.Text = (string)HttpContext.Current.Items["message"];
base.OnPreRender(e);
}
}
On the master page add the following controls:
the hfMsg hidden field will hold the message that will be displayed
and the hfCtrl will hold the name of the html control that will display this message which will be in this example lblMsg.
<label id="lblMsg" style="background-color:Yellow; border:solid 1px; width:200px;height:100px;display:none;"></label>
<asp:HiddenField ID="hfMsg" runat="server" />
<asp:HiddenField ID="hfCtrl" runat="server" />
NOTE:you can add another html control with a different id on an ASCX control and use it to display the message instead of the lblMsg.
and the following script:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
var msg = $('#<%= hfMsg.ClientID %>').attr("value");
var ctrl = $('#<%= hfCtrl.ClientID %>').attr("value");
if (msg != undefined && msg != "") {
$("#" + ctrl).html(msg);
$("#" + ctrl).show();
}
else {
$("#" + ctrl).hide();
}
</script>
NOTE:the script simply checks to see if the hfMsg control has a message to display or not.
and add the following two methods to the master page:
public void ShowMessage(string control, string message)
{
this.hfCtrl.Value = control;
this.hfMsg.Value = message;
}
public void ClearMessage()
{
this.hfMsg.Value = string.Empty;
}
finally you can call the ShowMessage method from any page like this to display a message on the master page:
Master.ShowMessage("lblMsg","hello world!");
and if you have a user control that holds an html label (e.g lblUserMsg) to display the message you can simply call ShowMessage and pass it the name of the label:
Master.ShowMessage("lblUserMsg","hello world!");
Having a SetStatus method in the MasterPage is always the way I've done this, to access the MasterPage from inside a user control, just create a private property in the usercontrol (or create a baseControl class that all user controls inherit from):
private TheNameSpaceOfMyMasterPage.MyMasterPage Master
{
get { return (TheNameSpaceOfMyMasterPage.MyMasterPage)Page.Master; }
}
protected void btnSave_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Do your stuff...
// Set the Status
this.Master.ShowStatus("blah blah blah");
}
Also if you're using a control to hold the status message remember to disable ViewState on it, otherwise you'll end up with the same status message across postbacks which you don't want.
Some good answers, but...
To Robert W: the master page impl works, but it does require strong coupling (knowledge of) with the master page type. Master pages should generally affect style only, right? E.g. I should be able to change master pages without breaking my app.
SubPortal: yes, very clever, but... too clever for me. Also has master page issue.
RPM1984: again, too clever for me!
MGOwen didn't mention any special DHTML requirements (e.g. update from client side). So why not just implement a simple server-side helper method as he mentioned, find the target control which displays the message, and display it?
The following ShowMessage will find the target message control wherever it is on the page, as well as enable any page to override the default application's ShowMessage behavior if desired.
public static class ASPHelper {
// Defines something that shows a message
public interface IShowMessage
{
void ShowMessage(string msg);
}
// default implementation: finds a target message display control
// wherever it is on the page.
static void ShowMessage_Default(string msg)
{
const string SHOWMESSAGE_CONTROL_ID = "ctlShowMessage"; // or whatever
// find the control
Page currentPage = HttpContext.Current.CurrentHandler as Page;
Control ctlMessage = currentPage.FindControlRecursive(SHOWMESSAGE_CONTROL_ID);
if (ctlMessage == null)
throw new Exception("ShowMessage control not found!" );
Literal ctlMessageLiteral = ctlMessage as Literal;
if (ctlMessageLiteral == null)
throw new Exception("ShowMessage control must be a Literal!");
// Message control should not implement viewstate -- unneccesary
Debug.Assert(ctlMessageLiteral.EnableViewState == false);
// show it
ctlMessageLiteral.Text = msg;
ctlMessageLiteral.Visible = true;
}
// public version for use across app & in pages
static public void ShowMessage(string msg)
{
// Allow the current page to implement its own way of showing
// messages -- provides flexibility.
Page currentPage = HttpContext.Current.CurrentHandler as Page;
IShowMessage showMessageImpl = currentPage as IShowMessage;
if (showMessageImpl != null)
{
// Show using custom message displayer
showMessageImpl.ShowMessage(msg);
}
else
{
// static/global/default version
ShowMessage_Default(msg);
}
}
} // end ASPHelper
To use, simply place a literal control on the page, as in:
<div><asp:Literal
ID="ctlShowMessage" runat="server"
Visible="false"
EnableViewState="false"
/>
</div>
To use, simply call ShowMessage, as in ASPHelper.ShowMessage("insufficient credit"). Hope this is what you're looking for... Keith
Javascript safe popup. Works with Ajax/jQuery.
Namespace Utilities
''' <summary>
''' Utility class for injecting JavaScript into pages. Used primarily for throwing a JavaScript alert box, with correct focus.
''' </summary>
''' <remarks></remarks>
Public Class WriteJava
Region "Public Subs"
Public Shared Sub Script(ByVal script As String, ByRef p As Page, Optional ByVal scriptName As String = "")
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(scriptName) Then
scriptName = GetScriptName(p)
End If
If Not p.ClientScript.IsStartupScriptRegistered(scriptName) Then
ToolkitScriptManager.RegisterStartupScript(p, p.GetType, scriptName, script, True)
End If
End Sub
Public Overloads Shared Sub Alert(ByVal MyAlert As String, ByRef p As Page)
Script("alert('" & Format(MyAlert) & "');", p)
End Sub
Private Shared Function Format(ByVal value As String) As String
Return value.Replace("'", "\'").Replace(Chr(13), "\r").Replace(Chr(10), "\n")
End Function
Private Shared Function GetScriptName(ByVal p As Page) As String
Dim i As Integer = p.AppRelativeVirtualPath.LastIndexOf("/")
Dim pageName As String = p.AppRelativeVirtualPath.Substring(i + 1)
Return pageName
End Function
End Region
End Class
End Namespace
Use by calling:
Utilities.WriteJava.Alert("DANGER WILL ROBINSON", Me.Page)
I was looking for a site-wide way to display message to the user. I found jnotifica. It's similar to stackoverflow's bar at the top of the page.
The author's site appears to be down at the moment.
Raise an event in the user control, subscribe to the event from the page. The event handler updates your custom page property. Seems like the least amount of moving parts.
I would like to suggest to use a class for custom page(Inherited from System.Web.UI.Page) inside that add follwing as
protected void AlertError(string ErrorString)
{
StringBuilder scriptBuidler =
new StringBuilder(#"<script type='text/javascript' language='javascript'>");
scriptBuidler.Append(#"alert('");
scriptBuidler.Append(ErrorString);
scriptBuidler.Append(#"');");
scriptBuidler.Append(#"</script>");
AjaxControlToolkit.ToolkitScriptManager.RegisterClientScriptBlock
(this, typeof(Page),
"Patient Detail Not Found",
scriptBuidler.ToString(),
false
);
}
and inherit all your pages from this class instead of inherinting from system.web.ui.page
and use this function to to show your messages to your clients

set validatorcontrol.setfocusonerror="true" for all validator controls in asp.net website

We are about to release beta version of our website. Lately we have seen that developers have not set setfocusonerror on any of the validaor controls used.We have to set this property.
Now, one solution is to open every page and put this property in place. I am looking for some othe way like some configuration in web.config or some other quick solution.
I have usercontrols and pages. Page derive from base page.Please suggest.
Loops through all the page controls in the Page_Load event on your base page and do it. In this example, pass the Page to SetValidationControls
protected void SetValidationControls(Control control)
{
foreach(Control ctrl in control.Controls)
{
if(ctrl is System.Web.UI.WebControls.RequiredFieldValidator)
{
RequiredFieldValidator req = (RequiredFieldValidator)ctrl;
req.SetFocusOnError = true;
}
else if (ctrl is System.Web.UI.WebControls.RegularExpressionValidator)
{
RegularExpressionValidator reg = (RegularExpressionValidator)ctrl;
reg.SetFocusOnError = true;
}
else if (ctrl.Controls.Count > 0)
SetValidationControls(ctrl);
}
}
And so on.
You can create a set of validators that derive from the one's supplied by ASP.NET and use those. This allows you to have more control over it and make application wide changes, for instance, by using the themes & skins file.
For instance, when using the RequiredFieldValidator, you can override it and add a new themable property, like this:
public class CustomRequiredFieldValidator : RequiredFieldValidator
{
[ToolboxItem(true), Themeable(true), Category("Appearance")]
public bool FocusOnError
{
get { return this.SetFocusOnError; }
set { this.SetFocusOnError = value; }
}
}
And in the skin file you can define a default instance of your CustomRequiredFieldValidator.
<myOwn:CustomRequiredFieldValidator runat="server" FocusOnError="True" />
Now all CustomRequiredFieldValidator instances in your web application will have their SetFocusOnError attribute set.

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