triggering javascript events using asp.net - asp.net

I'm writing an asp.net web app. and i've hit a bit of a brick wall.
basically i have 2 pages, the main page with a text box in and a popup that contains a treeview.
My problem is this. when i select a treeview item i want the program to perform some database transactions using asp.net and then pass the value retrieved from the database into a javascript function that passes the data back from the popup page to the parent page. My problem is that i cannot find any way of calling a javascript function from asp.net. I've tried assigning attributes to controls on page load, but this does not work as when the page loads the data has not been retrieved from the database.

Have a look at the ClientScriptManager class. You can register scripts from code-behind that will run when the HTML page loads. Those scripts can call other javascript functions on the page.
There are many tutorials and examples on the Web. Here's one I found that may help but there are many more.
How to use the client script manager

You hit the nail on the head when you said "I've tried assigning attributes to controls on page load, but this does not work as when the page loads the data has not been retrieved from the database." You just need to discover when you're pulling the data from the database, and then assign the values after that. Without looking at your code, there's no way to know for sure, but Page_PreRender is probably a good bet to assign your values...it's probably after you're pulling information from the db...it's pretty much the last place that you can make things happen before the html is generated for the client.

You can invoke a function resided in the Main Page and call that function in the Main Page from the Child Page which is your pop up window.
Please refer to these links for references
http://chiragrdarji.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/call-parent-windows-javascript-function-from-child-window-or-passing-data-from-child-window-to-parent-window-in-javascript/
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum91/2957.htm
http://hspinfo.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/call-parent-windows-javascript-function-from-child-window/

This one helps with retrieving popups from values using javascript
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/20060117.asp
This one shows how to fire a postback using javascript, and manage it in the codebehind.
http://weblogs.asp.net/mnolton/archive/2003/06/04/8260.aspx
If you put them together, and use Control.ClientID to find the actual "html name" of your asp.net controls, you'll be able to set that up in no time.
Might not be the prettiest way to do it in town, and incidentally make little baby Jesus cry, but anyway, it works.
[edit]Oh. I just saw that it seems I answered the question the other way around, or "how to trigger codebehind from Javascript". I think the method I suggest may help you, if you use it right.
The javascript of the popup should pass the information to the parent window, and the parent window function should call a postback when it receives the information.
The javascript of the popup window should be only registered on a postback with the correct information retrieved, so that when the postback occurs on the popup because of the selection of the right information, the window closes and passes the information to the parent page.
The parent page, triggering postback, does the thingies you need it to, and the app resumes "normally" from there on, doing whatever you need it to, outside of the popup page.

Related

Posting back to calling page from popup page

I am sure this has been asked before, but all of the links I find have to do with posting data to a popup page.
In my case I am trying to return two values/variables from the popup page back to the orginal page.
My effort thus far was to create two session variables in the popup page code behind, and then refresh the first page when the popup was closed. I'm not sure how best to do this. I do not want a fullpage refresh, I just want two textboxes to show the values of each of the session variables.
If I use the postback URL on my close button, my codebehind never fires to populate my session variables and it opens another instance of my calling page.
If someone has a link or tutorial to show this I would be very greatful.
Thank you,
Firstly I don't understand that returning value to the parent does need a session variable ?
Well you can pass the values to the parent in either json or XML or array, all you need is a piece of JavaScript which is window.parent and you can call the JavaScript method on the parent.
If your requirement is to save it in server session you can do whatever you are doing currently
I found these links which answered my question allowing me to solve this problem with ASP/VB not JavaScript, JSON or XML.
http://asp-net.wonderhowto.com/how-to/implement-cross-page-postback-asp-net-214606/
http://www.asp.net/web-forms/videos/how-do-i/how-do-i-implement-a-cross-page-postback-in-aspnet

Cross-page posting with target _blank leaves source page unfunctional

I'm trying to describe it in as few steps as possible:
I have Page1.aspx with lot of controls, and Preview and Save button among those. I also have Page2.aspx that is the redirection target of a Preview Button click.
Since I need all the controls selections from Page1 to draw a preview on Page2 the redirection is done with setting Preview's PostBackUrl.
I also must have preview shown on a new tab or window so I used onClientClick="aspnetForm.target='_blank'" for Preview button definition.
Save button-click callback, after storing data to a database does redirection to some Page0.aspx (initial list of reports - the subject of the code)
Preview button works fine - a preview renders in a new tab, but when I go to the old tab and click on Save, I see from debugger, that firstly Page2.aspx(?) and secondly Page1.aspx are loaded. Then all the data is stored in the db, but though Page0 redirection is executed Page1.aspx stays loaded in the browser.
I have no idea what processes are behind this. Could one who knows give me an insight? Or if you consider my approach impossible to implement give some idea how to do the same?
If it's of importance, everything on the Page1 is located in an update panel.
Thank you very much for replying
In ASP.NET there are basically zero (0) circumstances in which you will ever send form data from one page to another. Although what exactly you are trying to accomplish is vague, you can consider some of the following:
Isolate unique operations/systems to a single page. If you have something like a User Profile, don't have three different aspx pages; just use a single page for the user or admin to manage that data / functions. Postback events are your friend.
Understand the difference between ViewState and traditional form data. I'm guessing that if you're trying to post form data from one page to another, you probably don't understand the point of ViewState. Using a single page to maintain temporary data that the user is currently working with is a great use for ViewState. If you want the data to appear on another page then you need to consider the data from the previous page as final and thus should be saved to a database or some other medium.
These are just some general guidelines because there is no exact answer to your problem without saying something generic like "You're doing it wrong." I would recommend starting by never again trying to post form data from one aspx page to another.

Preserve selected option with back button, using jquery mobile & asp.net & ajax

I thought this would be a trivial feature, but I have lost a fair bit of hair trying to figure it out. I have a jquery mobile web page with a select menu. Users click an item in the drop down list, then later click on a link and navigate to another page. Users then click the back button. The desired result is that the selected item remains selected. Right now, the selection is lost, and it defaults to the first element in the list again.
Things I've tried:
1) Use an asp.net dropdownlist with autopostback. This preserves the selected option, but then I get a page flicker because the entire page is posted back.
2) Wrap above asp.net dropdownlist in an updatepanel. This preserves, doesn't flicker, but it wipes out the jquery mobile styling. Also tried some suggested workarounds with firing a jquery create event, but couldn't get anything working.
3) Write cookies on the select change event in javascript, and read them in the asp page_load event. However, page_load is not called when the back button is clicked, so this had no effect.
4) Tried creating a jquery ajax request to a web page method, but the method must be static and therefore I can't get it to modify the page.
Any other ideas? Is it just me or should this indeed be a problem that's been solved a million times?
As an FYI, I am a newbie at web programming, so please spell it out if you have an answer :) (come from a c++/database background).
Thanks!
Turns out even the date scroller could not survive a back button in some cases. For example if the user navigates to another site, and then uses the back button to come back to my jquery mobile site, all my javascript dom manipulations are lost. The solution is non-trivial. I store everything I need to maintain state of a page using html 5 local storage. On the jqm show page event, I detect if all my global variables have been wiped clean, and if so, reload state from local storage. Works perfectly, but it is quite an implementation task. And of course, if local storage is not supported by underlying browser, it all falls to pieces.

ASP.NET MVC Render Ajax / Standard View

I am a little confused and making it alot more complicated than this needs to be! Here is what I have...
A view which displays a drop down of US States. When the user chooses a state it loads a list of data from a database and returns the results (populates the View Model) and the View renders the information.
What I wanted to do was have have the dropdown trigger an Ajax event which performs the data load, but also wanted it to depreciate if the user didn't have Javascript enabled. How would I go about rendering the view with AND without javascript / ajax?
Hope that makes sense. Thanks for your help.
You can't re-populate a drop-down without jscript. You can do a page-reload with a new drop-down though, although the logic to determine which to use is javascript unfortunately. (Not to mention triggering the re-load of the page on click)
No Javascript support though? That seems kind of out of date, most people run javascript-enabled browsers these days. As for paranoia freaks with javascript turned off, a <noscript> block to tell them to get over it may be appropriate.
To do this with ajax, read this article about cascade dropdowns by Stephen Walther.
To do this without ajax, you could put your first dropdown in a form with a button visible only when javascript is disabled (hide this with javascript for that) wich gets to some action (in another window, maybe) wich returns the second dropdown populated according to the element selected on the first (on the first window, if you have 2 - you could know this url using a viewstate variable).

ASP.NET: How to initialize when *user control* is initially loaded

I have an ASP.NET user control that I'm embedding in another user control. This works fine.
I need to know the best logic/method for detecting when the control is loaded. In other words, I have some display initialization logic that needs to run when the control is initially displayed. Surely there is a pattern for this.
The typical method is to put (!IsPostBack) logic in the Page_Load method of the control. This works great until you end up with a state when the Parent page has already posted back many times. My user control gets added to the page but its display does not intialize properly.
I'm hoping to find a way that keeps this logic inside the control, versus various hacking around in the codebehind of the parent page.
See the following MS article. They have an example that places several controls within a user control and initializes them.
There is another post here on StackOverflow that seems similar. You may want to check it out, and see if it points you in the right direction.
It may also be helpful to review the page life-cycle and events.

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