I have a series of .NET 2.0 web pojects that have identicle code behind in their web pages. The only thing that is different is how the html is laid out.
Is there a way that I can have a main web project that holds all the code behind (including control events like button click) and so that the other web projects reference the web page code file to this project's code files?
Edit: Note that the changes in html include exclution of certain controls, I am catoring for this by using the FindControl method so that if the control doesnt exists, I would simply have a null value.
You may try putting all the code-behind classes into a library and inheriting from a common base-class.
You can take a look at "Skin File" file type of Visual Studio. On the other hand you can learn if it works for you from the address below: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ykzx33wh(VS.80).aspx
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I'm a java programmer and for the first time I need to face a VB and ASP.NET web project.
I found some very basic tutorials on how ASP.NET works but I didn't understand very well how the logic behind works.
This project consist of lot of coupled files, the main pattern I found is:
file.ascx
file.ascx.designer.vb
file.ascx.vb
file2.aspx
file2.aspx.designer.vb
file2.aspx.vb
How do these file work and interact? I'm trying to understand it in a MVC logic but I can't seem to get it.
Drop the MVC logic in your head. ASPX doesn't use the MVC (at least by default).
The code files you see are grouped in two:
ascx: markup file. On the fly converted to VB.NET > MSIL;
ascx.vb: the code behind file. This one is merged with the generated code from the markup file (thanks to the partial keyword in the class declaration).
The ascx file is a control file, the aspx file is a page file. A page file can consist of zero or more controls, defined by the ASP.NET team, third party developers or you. If you want a custom control, you can create an own control by creating an ascx and ascx.vb file (or let Visual Studio do it for you).
aspx files usually will have the UI and will which is usually HTML tags, some ASP.NET server control embed code. aspx.vb file (codebehind) will have server-side coding in VB.NET.
In the MVC logic, you can relate aspx page to View and aspx.vb to Controller action methods.
I have a web solution with Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.Net 4.0. In this solution there is a web site as well as a class library.
I added a new User Control to the site and was able to build everything. I was even able to publish with the new control. The issue arises when I try to reference the class name of that control in a different part of code. When I do this, I still am able to build / rebuild the entire solution. But when I try to publish, I get the error "type or namespace name could not be found."
When we publish, we always UNCHECK the box "Allow this precompiled site to be updatable" and we always CHECK the box "Use fixed naming and single page assemblies."
If I do a publish and UNCHECK the box "Use fixed naming and single page assemblies" it will publish just fine. But for some reason I can not get it to publish with that box CHECKED which is what I need to be able to do.
I have tried:
Cleaning the solution
Restarting Visual Studio
Restarting Computer
Clearing out .net temp files folder
Recreating the control
Putting everything in website into a namespace
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
EDIT:
I figured it out. I was adding this new control dynamically. But I didn't realize it also needed registered on the page that I am using it on. After registering the control, everything worked as expected
When you want to use your web user control dynamically, as you use other .net controls like textbox, label etc. you need to follow these steps.
(1) Add a ClassName property in your control directive as below (in ascx file)
<%# Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="CustomControl.ascx.cs"
Inherits="CustomControl" ClassName="CustomControl" %>
Note : Make sure the ClassName & Inherits both are same as class name in the CS file.
(2) Add a Reference directive on the page where you want to use your web user control dynamically
<%# Reference Control="~/usercontrol/CustomControl.ascx" %>
Note : Reference directive is different then Register directive.
(3) Now you can add your user control dynamically anywhere on your page like below
ASP.CustomControl cuCtrl = (ASP.CustomControl)LoadControl("~/usercontrol/CustomControl.ascx");
//add dynamically created custom control to an existing panel or any container control on your page
pnlDemo.Controls.Add(cuCtrl);
Note : You can always include the ASP namespace in the using ;)
After this, you should not face any problem publishing even when checking the Allow this precomplied site to be updatable option.
I figured it out. I was adding this new control dynamically. But I didn't realize it also needed registered on the page that I am using it on. After registering the control, everything worked as expected.
I tried that and still have the same problem when publishing, either with reference tag or register tag it doesn't publish. Only way to work by now is to uncheck the "updatable site"
I'm using VS2008 and want to create a web application (not a web site) with Code-Beside
but, the default mode of aspx is Code-Behind.
I have tried to change the CodeBehind=ClassFile.cs to CodeFile=ClassFile.cs in the header of aspx's <%#Page%> part, and deleted the aspx.designer.cs file,but if I added a server control to the page, the compiler is also send me an error of no member defined.the cs file is the orinal file of codebehind, it is partial class.
You don't want to delete aspx.designer.cs you want to delete the aspx.cs file, then place a similar file next to it and declare it as a partial class. designer.aspx.cs is still required to provide you direct access to controls placed within the page, rather than going through FindControl.
You definitely don't want to delete the .designer.cs file, as this is where the server control definitions will be placed.
In general the codebehind model is much better as it makes the code easier to find, use and maintain.
I have a set of UserControls in a ASP.NET website that I would like to share to multiple website. But it seems we are unable to create a class library with UserControls in it with the ascx file. While MSDN suggest building a Web Control, I Would rather find a way to share the existent controls instead of destroying them to create new web controls.
Is there any way of creating a library of UserControls?
Thanks
Here is one way of doing it:
Creating and Using User Control Libraries.
You can't compile them into a project per se. You can get something close to this by linking the files into the project so there is one master version of the file but each project also has its own copy. You can either:
Using a source control share function to have one location and share it into the other projects
Create one project for the controls and then link them into other project by using "Add Existing Item", clicking the little arrow next to the Add button, and selecting "Add As Link".
You should use instead a Composite control. Here is a comparison between web user controls and composite controls:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa719735(VS.71).aspx
Suppose you have 2 different ASP.NET applications in IIS. Also, you have some ASCX controls that you want to share across these 2 applications.
What's the best way to create a "user control library", so that you can use the same control implementation in the 2 applications, withuot having to duplicate code?
Controls have ASCX with HTML + code behind.
Composite controls will be difficult, because we work with designers who use the HTML syntax in the ASCX files to style the controls.
Tundey, we use SVN here. Do you have an example on how to implement your suggestion? How can SVN share the ASP.NET controls?
Thanks!
Scott Guthrie gives some great advice here on how to set up a User Control Library project, then use pre-build events to copy the user controls into multiple projects. It works really well.
http://webproject.scottgu.com/CSharp/usercontrols/usercontrols.aspx
You would need to create composite controls instead of .ASCX controls if you wanted to be able to use them in separate projects.
In addition to what Tundey said, NTFS Link shell extension is helpful when it comes to sharing a large chunk of content (e.g.: a folder with .ascx/.aspx) between otherwise independent projects. In case of code, i think making another working copy from VCS is preferable.
Have a look at this: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/ASP2UserControlLibrary.aspx?msg=1782921
An alternative is to use your source control tool to "share" the ASCX controls between your webapps. This will allow you to make changes to the controls in either application and have the source control ensure the changes are reflected in the our webapps.
The biggest problem I've noticed with controls in ASP.Net is that you can't easily get designer support for both building the control and using the control in a site once you built it. The only way I've been able to do that is create an .ascx control with no code-behind (ie: all the server-side code is in a script tag in the .ascx file with the runat="server" attribute).
But even then, you still have to copy the .ascx file around, so if you ever need to make a change that means updating the file at every location where you've used it. So yeah, make sure it's in source control.
I managed to do this by sacrificing some of the ease of building the controls in the first place.
You can create a Control Library project that will generate a control library DLL for you. The drawback is that you have to create the controls with code only. In my last project, this was fine. In more complicated controls, this may be a problem.
Here's an example:
<DefaultProperty("Text"), ToolboxData("<{0}:BreadCrumb runat=server />")> _
Public Class BreadCrumb
WebControl
<Bindable(True)> _
Property Text() As String
'...'
End Property
Protected Overrides Sub RenderContents(output as HtmlTextWriter)
output.write(Text)
End Sub
Private Sub Page_Load(...) Handles MyBase.Load
' Setup your breadcrumb and store the HTML output '
' in the Text property '
End Sub
End Class
Anything you put in that Text property will be rendered.
Then, any controls you put in here can function just like any other control you use. Just import it into your Toolbox, make your registration reference, then plop it onto the ASP page.
I use StarTeam here and it allows you to "share" objects (files, change requests, requirements etc) across multiple folders. Not sure if Subversion (SVN) has that feature. If it doesn't, here's another trick you can use: create a junction from the primary location of the controls to a location in the other projects. A junction is just like a Unix symbolic link. You can download the tool for creating junctions in Windows from here
I have a suggestion.WE can use user control across multiples application by creating user control inside website project as normally.Then change the website property Use fixed naming and single page assemblies.Then we can use the user control dll into multiple applications.
I recently did a web application that just referenced the files (about 90 in total) from one web application (aspx, master and ascx) without too much of an issue. That said I was using a heavily modified version of the MVP pattern, a lot of interfaces and conventions to keep the complexity down, the same middle tier and one site was a subset of the other.
Big issues:
Master pages (and in turn designers and html view formatting) don’t work on a referenced file so you lose a lot of functionality. A pre-build step and a lot of svn:ignore entries was my hack around this. It was also a pain to get CruiseControl.NET to get the pre-build task to execute in the right folders.
Shared pages/controls need to be extremely aware of what they touch and reference as to avoid bringing in extra dependencies.
Both sites are locked together for deployment.
I now have to pray that the maintainer reads my pokey little document about the mess I made. It’s so far outside of what I’ve seen in ASP.NET projects.
I was under a massive time pressure to get it to work, it does and now both apps are in production. I wouldn’t recommend it but if you’re interested start at:
Add Existing Item, select some files, click on the Add button’s arrow and say Add as a Link.