How to reference dynamic textboxes created at run time? - asp.net

I have an ASP project which references a WCF service. Does exactly half of what I need.
A button on the page calls a function from the WCF, which returns a list of objects (variable names). When returned, the vb code dynamically adds textboxes to a panel on the page. Like this:
For Each LetterVariables In LetterVarList
tb = New TextBox
lb = New Label
lb.Text = LetterVariables._key & " "
tb.ID = LetterVariables._key
pnlVars.Controls.Add(lb)
pnlVars.Controls.Add(tb)
Dim LineBreak As LiteralControl = New LiteralControl("<br />")
pnlVars.Controls.Add(LineBreak)
Next
Now the problem is, after this is finished the user will enter some values into those texboxes. I (somehow) need to reference those texboxes to snag the values when a user clicks another button.
How can I do this?
Thanks,
Jason

You can give the TextBox an ID which you could use FindControl to retrieve.
tb.ID = "txt" + LetterVariables._key.ToString();
Then when you want to reference it.
TextBox txtBox = (TextBox)FindControl("txt" + someKey);
Something like that might work for you.

Don't forget to recreate the controls on post back BEFORE the controls are loaded with the posted values.

Related

Dynamic hyperlink from code behind asp.net

I want dynamic hyperlink on each field in a table column from code behind in asp.net, I implement it thus:
table.Append("<td><asp:HyperLink ID='HyperLink1' NavigateUrl='#' runat='server'>" + (string)strNAME + "</asp:HyperLink></td>");
on the field but when I run it there is no link to click. it is not effective. what is the correct way of implementing it?
You need to approach this in a different way. Server side controls cannot be added as string literals, they should be objects. So what you can do is either add it as a server side control:
HyperLink hl = new HyperLink();
hl.ID = "HyperLink1";
hl.NavigateUrl = "#";
hl.Text = (string)strNAME;
TableCell tc = new TableCell();
tc.Controls.Add(hl);
table.Controls.Add(tc);
Or add it as a client side link:
table.Append("<td><a href='#'>" + (string)strNAME + "</a></td>");
Side note: adding table cell to "table" kind of does not make sense because there supposed to be a row, not a table, but I just left your code as is, adjust as needed.
Creating hyperlink from code-behind
HyperLink hlnk = new HyperLink();
hlnk.InnerText = (string)strNAME;
hlnk.ID = "HyperLink1";
hlnk.NavigateUrl = "/test.aspx";
table.Controls.Add(hlnk);
hope it helps

Dynamic Textbox Using Asp.net

in asp.net TextBox will create pressure to button1's. Button2 to the pressure inside the TextBox data consisting of label1 my yazdırıca. I tried to do it like this gives an error.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
button1_click{
TextBox txt = new TextBox();
txt.ID = "a";
txt.EnableViewState = true;
Panel1.Controls.Add(txt);
}
Button2_click{
TextBox deneme= Panel1.FindControl("a") as TextBox;
Label1.Text = deneme.Text;
}
After you create your control, on the first click, the control shown on the page and exist.
On the second click the page is not know any more about that text control because you did not save that information somewhere and because only you know that some time in the past you create it.
So on this code you have:
Button2_click{
TextBox deneme= Panel1.FindControl("a") as TextBox;
// here the deneme is null ! and you get the exception !
// the deneme is not exist on the second click, not saved anywhere
Label1.Text = deneme.Text;
}
The solution is to keep on viewstate what control you create and how, and re-create them on PageInit. Alternative you can redesign your page and think a different approach to that, eg you can have the TextControl's all ready on page hidden, and just open them.
Button2_click{
TextBox txt = (TextBox)Panel1.FindControl("a");
Label Label1 = new Label();
Label1.Text=txt.Texxt;
}

value of variables not changing in asp.net

currently I am working on a project named online exam.
All the controls are dynamically created.
I have a webpage where I want to display the student details.
I displayed those details correctly in a table.
Now here comes the time to edit those details.
To edit a record I use the linked button named edit.
When a user clicks on that Linked button the data in that row is replaced with new textboxes.
Upto here I am OK.
Now when I click on the save changes button after making changes to the textboxes.
The old values are not replaced by the new values and the old values remains.
The code for creating textboxes in the table is as follows :
Public Sub Edit_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
For x As Integer = 0 To EditList.Count - 1
If sender.id.substring(4) = EditList(x).ID.Substring(4) Then
Session("PreviousRollNo") = RollNoList(x).Text
Dim txtName As New TextBox
txtName.Text = NameList(x).Text
NameList(x).Text = ""
NameList(x).Parent.Controls.Add(txtName)
txtList.Add(txtName)
Dim txtCourse As New TextBox
txtCourse.Text = CourseList(x).Text
CourseList(x).Text = ""
CourseList(x).Parent.Controls.Add(txtCourse)
txtList.Add(txtCourse)
Dim txtAdmissionDate As New TextBox
txtAdmissionDate.Text = AdmissionList(x).Text
AdmissionList(x).Text = ""
AdmissionList(x).Parent.Controls.Add(txtAdmissionDate)
txtList.Add(txtAdmissionDate)
Dim btnSaveChanges As New Button
btnSaveChanges.Text = "Save Changes"
EditList(x).Text = ""
EditList(x).Parent.Controls.Add(btnSaveChanges)
AddHandler btnSaveChanges.Click, AddressOf btnSaveChanges_Click
Session("EditButtonClicked") = True
Dim btnCancel As New Button
btnCancel.Text = "Cancel"
DeleteList(x).Text = ""
DeleteList(x).Parent.Controls.Add(btnCancel)
AddHandler btnCancel.Click, AddressOf btnCancel_Click
Session("CancelButtonClicked") = True
txtName.Focus()
Exit For
End If
Next
End Sub
The code for Save Changes button is as follows :
Public Sub btnSaveChanges_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
If txtList(0).Text = "" Then
Dim trError As TableRow = New TableRow
Dim tdError As TableCell = New TableCell
tdError.ColumnSpan = 7
Dim lblError As New Label
lblError.Text = "Please enter name of the student."
lblError.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
tdError.Controls.Add(lblError)
trError.Controls.Add(tdError)
tbl.Controls.Add(trError)
ElseIf txtList(1).Text = "" Then
Dim trError As TableRow = New TableRow
Dim tdError As TableCell = New TableCell
tdError.ColumnSpan = 7
Dim lblError As New Label
lblError.Text = "Please enter the course."
lblError.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
tdError.Controls.Add(lblError)
trError.Controls.Add(tdError)
tbl.Controls.Add(trError)
ElseIf txtList(2).Text = "" Then
Dim trError As TableRow = New TableRow
Dim tdError As TableCell = New TableCell
tdError.ColumnSpan = 7
Dim lblError As New Label
lblError.Text = "Please enter the Admission Date"
lblError.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
tdError.Controls.Add(lblError)
trError.Controls.Add(tdError)
tbl.Controls.Add(trError)
Else
Dim cb As New OleDbCommandBuilder(da)
Dim editRow() As DataRow
editRow = ds.Tables("Student_Detail").Select("Roll_No = '" & Session("PreviousRollNo") & "'")
editRow(0)("Name") = txtList(0).Text
editRow(0)("Course") = txtList(1).Text
editRow(0)("Admission_Date") = txtList(2).Text
da.Update(ds, "Student_Detail")
Page.Response.Redirect("ChangeUserDetails.aspx")
End If
End Sub
I get the error sying that array is out of the bounds. on the first line of the btnSaveChanges_Click.
It means txtlist is always cleared when I click on Save Changes Button.
So I stored txtList in a Session like Session("txtList") = txtList.
and retrieved the data from that. But now I get the old values of the textbox instead of the newer ones.
Here txtList is a list (of Textbox)
Firstly, welcome to the ASP.NET WebForms Page Life Cycle. Remember its pattern with the simple mnemonic: SILVER = Start, Init, Load, Validate, Events, Render.
Secondly, HTTP is stateless. WebForms does an amazing job of hiding this fact from you using ViewState until you do something a little out of the ordinary (as you're now attempting), and it all appears to fall apart. What's really happening is that you're starting to see side-effects of how WebForms is managed, and how it's not as much like WinForms (or another stateful system) as you might think.
When you're responding to an event server-side in WebForms, it's easy to get the impression that nothing has changed. That the entire page is as you left it "last time". All the controls are there, the values you may have set programatically are still set. Magic. Not magic. What's actually happened is the entire page has been re-constructed to respond to that event. How was it re-constructed? By a combination of your page definition (markup), actions taken in control event handlers, and the form data posted back by the client.
Confusing? OK, let's consider an example. Say you've got a page with two controls on it. A textbox named txtInput and a button named btnSubmit with event handler btnSubmit_Click. When the user first requests the page, the HTML for these controls is derived from your markup (aspx page) and returned to the client. Next, the user sets a value in txtInput and clicks the submit button. The server then re-creates the page from scratch based on your markup. At this early stage of the life-cycle, the controls still have their default values. We then hit the Load stage of the life-cycle, and "if the current request is a postback, control properties are loaded with information recovered from view state and control state." In other words, by the time the life-cycle gets to Init, the control has been created from markup, but still has its default value. The Load stage then sets the value according to Postback data.
Left wondering how this applies to your scenario? You're adding your dynamic controls in response to a control event. There's two things wrong with that:
It's too late in the page life-cycle for Init to set the values based on data posted back from the client (recall SILVER, Event is after Init).
Your button click event handler is only run once, in response to the postback where the user clicked the button. But remember on each postback the page is entirely re-created. So the dynamic controls no longer exist as far as the server is concerned! You'll notice that not only are the controls not present server side when responding to the submit event, but after the page has handled it, they're no longer present client-side either.
So what's the answer? Well the "Life-Cycle Events" section of the page I linked offers a clue. It states that the PreInit event be used to (among other things) "Create or re-create dynamic controls". Why would we do it in PreInit? So it's early enough in the page life-cycle for the later events to properly handle it (like setting the values posted back from the client).
Now, I know, you want to add the controls based on the user clicking on the button. How does that fit? The trick is that you've got to manage the "state" yourself. Huh? the state? By this I mean MyDynamicControlsShouldBeShown = true / false. When the button is clicked, creating the controls in response to the button-click event handler is the right action (there's not really any choice there). But you need to store that state somehow so you know on subsequent requests to the page, whether those controls should be re-created in PreInit. One neat option would be to check for the ID of your dynamic control in Request.Form.Keys. If the control ID is present in the Keys collection, then the user is posting back a value for the control, so you should re-create it.
A side-note on the use of Session
Hopefully based on the above you've realised why putting the controls into Session didn't work. But to be clear, the controls you put into the Session object were no longer part of a page that existed (remember, the page gets completely re-created for each request. Those controls were no longer hooked up to the Page events, so didn't get their values populated between Page Init and Load. If somehow it did work, it still wouldn't be a particularly good idea, as Session is not per-request. So what would happen if a user had the same page open in multiple tabs? Strange things, that's what.

Dynamically Adding Multiple User Controls vb.net

I have a User Control which returns a table of data, which in some cases needs to be looped, displaying one on top of another.
I am able to dynamically add a single instance of this by placing a fixed placeholder in the page.
I am now trying to work out how to add more than one, given that I don't know how many might be needed I don't want to hard code the Placeholders.
I've tried the following, but I am just getting one instance, presumably the first is being overwritten by the second
My HTML
<div id="showHere" runt="server"/>
VB
Dim thisPh As New PlaceHolder
thisPh.Controls.Add(showTable)
showHere.Controls.Add(thisPh)
Dim anotherPh As New PlaceHolder
anotherPh .Controls.Add(showTable)
showHere.Controls.Add(anotherPh)
How do I make it add repeated tables within the showHere div?
I would advise generating a different ID for each of your table. For example,
Dim i As Integer
i = 0
For each tbl in ShowTables
tbl.ID = "MyTab" + i.ToString()
i = i + 1
showHere.Controls.Add(tbl)
showHere.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("<br />"))
Next
On other hand, it would make more sense to have a your user/custom control generate html for a single table and then nest your user/custom control within a repeater (or similar control such as ListView etc).
Did you tried simply, this:
For each tbl in ShowTables
showHere.Controls.Add(tbl)
showHere.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("<br />"))
Next
After fussing with this issue myself, I stumbled across below solution.
On button click()
LocationDiv.Visible = True
Dim existingItems As New List(Of Object)
If Not Session("existingItems") Is Nothing Then
existingItems = CType(Session("existingItems"), List(Of Object))
For Each item As Object In existingItems
LocationDiv.Controls.Add(item)
Next
existingItems.Clear()
End If
LocationDiv.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("<b>" & Text & "</b>"))
For Each item As Object In LocationDiv.Controls
existingItems.Add(item)
Next
Session.Add("existingItems", existingItems)

previouspage.findcontrol getting variable from previous page

i am trying to retain the value of a variable from a previous page. i believe this is the C# way to do this, but i would like the vb.net way can someone please help:
TextBox myTxt = (TextBox)Page.PreviousPage.FindControl("previousPageTextBox");
currentPageTextBox.text = myTxt.Text;
i would like to know how to code this in vb.net
i tried this:
Dim myTxt As TextBox = CType(Page.PreviousPage.FindControl("Textbox1"), TextBox)
TextBox1.Text = myTxt.Text
but i got this error msg:
use the new keyword to create an object instance
This should do it, also make sure you are using Server.Transfer to go between pages.. but I am sure you already know this:
Dim myTxt as TextBox = CType(Page.PreviousPage.FindControl("previousPageTextBox"), TextBox)
currentPageTextBox.text = myTxt.Text
dim txt as TextBox =CType( Page.PreviousPage.FindControl("previousPageTextBox"),
TextBox)
currentPageTextBox.Text = txt.Text
PS:- You need to set the previous page in the page where you want to find the control.
<%# PreviousPageType VirtualPath="~/Test.aspx" %>
Also better way will be to create an function on previous page which returns the text in textbox.
internal function TextBoxText() as string
return myTextPage.Text
end function
and use this on next page like this:
currentPageTextbox.Text = Page.PrevousPage.TextBoxText
let me know if this works because I've not used vb for long long time.
PPS:- It is only available if you user Server.Transfer or go to currentPage using some asp.net contorl like LinkButton from simple href links PreviousPage is null

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