Chapter 14. Custom and User Controls

Chapter 4 includes a chart of the five types of controls supported in ASP.NET: HTML controls, HTML server controls, web server controls, validation controls, and controls created by the developer. This chapter will discuss this last type of control, known as custom controls, and a subset of them called user controls.

Custom controls are compiled controls that act, from the client’s perspective, much like web (ASP) controls. Custom controls can be created in one of three ways:

  • By deriving a new custom control from an existing control (e.g., deriving your own specialized text box from asp:textbox). This is known as a derived custom control .

  • By composing a new custom control out of two or more existing controls. This is known as a composite custom control .

  • By deriving from the base control class, thus creating a new custom control from scratch. This is known as a full custom control .

Of course, all three of these methods, and the three control types that correspond to them, are variations on the same theme. We’ll consider these custom controls later in this chapter. The simplest category of custom controls is a subset called usercontrols. Microsoft distinguishes user controls as a special case because they are quite different from other types of custom controls. In short, user controls are segments of ASP.NET pages that can be reused from within other pages. This is similar to “include files” familiar to ASP developers. However, user controls are far more powerful. User controls support properties and events, and thus provide reusable functionality as well as reusable HTML.

User Controls

User controls allow you to save a part of an existing ASP.NET page and reuse it in many other ASP.NET pages. A user control is almost identical to a normal .aspx page, with two differences: the user control has the .ascx extension rather than .aspx, and it may not have <HTML>, <Body>, or <Form> tags.

The simplest user control is one that displays HTML only. A classic example of a simple user control is an HTML page that displays a copyright notice. Example 14-1 shows the complete listing for copyright.ascx .

Example 14-1. copyright.ascx

<%@ Control %>
<hr>
<table>
   <tr>
      <td align="center">Copyright 2005 Liberty Associates, Inc.</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
      <td align="center">Support at http://www.LibertyAssociates.com</td>   
   </tr>
</table>

To see this at work, you’ll modify Example 8-1, adding just two lines. At the top of the .aspx file, you’ll add the registration of your new user control:

<%@Register tagprefix="OReilly" Tagname="copyright" src="copyright.ascx" %>

This registers the control with the page and establishes both the prefix (OReilly) and the TagName (copyright). In the page you are modifying, there are any number of ASP elements such as <asp:ListItem>. The letters asp before the colon are the tag prefix that identifies this tag as being a web control, and the token ListItem is the TagName.

Your user controls will have a tag prefix as well (in this case, Oreilly), in addition to a specific tag name (in this case, copyright). Interestingly, there is nothing in the .ascx file itself that identifies the tag prefix.

The modified .aspx code is shown in Example 14-2. The output from this page is shown in Figure 14-1.

The copyright user control

Figure 14-1. The copyright user control

Example 14-2. Modification of Example 8-1

<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs" 
AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Validation04.WebForm1" %>

<%@Register tagprefix="OReilly" Tagname="copyright" src="copyright.ascx" %>

<HTML>
  <HEAD>

<!-- Demonstrate simple required field validation -->
      <meta name=vs_targetSchema content="Internet Explorer 5.0">
      <meta name="GENERATOR" Content="Microsoft Visual Studio 7.0">
      <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" Content="C#">
  </HEAD>
   <body>
      <h3>
         <font face="Verdana">Bug Report</font>
      </h3>
      <form runat="server" ID="frmBugs">
         <table bgcolor=gainsboro cellpadding=10>
            <tr valign="top">
               <td colspan=3>
                  <!-- Display error messages -->
                  <asp:Label ID="lblMsg" 
                  Text="Please report your bug here" 
                  ForeColor="red" Font-Name="Verdana" 
                  Font-Size="10" runat=server />
                  <br>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td align=right>
                  <font face=Verdana size=2>Book</font>
               </td>
               <td>
               <!-- Drop down list with the books (must pick one) -->
                  <ASP:DropDownList id=ddlBooks runat=server>
                     <asp:ListItem>-- Please Pick A Book --</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>Programming ASP.NET</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>Programming C#</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>
                        Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days
                     </asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>
                        Teach Yourself C++ In 24 Hours
                     </asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>TY C++ In 10 Minutes</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>TY More C++ In 21 Days</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>C++ Unleashed</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>C++ From Scratch</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>XML From Scratch</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>Web Classes FS</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>Beg. OO Analysis & Design</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>Clouds To Code</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>
                        CIG Career Computer Programming
                     </asp:ListItem>
                  </ASP:DropDownList>
               </td>
               <!-- Validator for the drop down -->
               <td align=middle rowspan=1>
                  <asp:RequiredFieldValidator 
                  id="reqFieldBooks" 
                  ControlToValidate="ddlBooks" 
                  Display="Static" 
                  InitialValue="-- Please Pick A Book --" 
                  Width="100%" runat=server>
                     Please choose a book
                  </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td align=right>
               <!-- Radio buttons for the edition -->                  
                  <font face=Verdana size=2>Edition:</font>
               </td>
               <td>
                  <ASP:RadioButtonList id=rblEdition 
                  RepeatLayout="Flow" runat=server>
                     <asp:ListItem>1st</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>2nd</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>3rd</asp:ListItem>
                     <asp:ListItem>4th</asp:ListItem>
                  </ASP:RadioButtonList>
               </td>
               <!-- Validator for editions -->
               <td align=middle rowspan=1>
                  <asp:RequiredFieldValidator 
                  id="reqFieldEdition" 
                  ControlToValidate="rblEdition" 
                  Display="Static" 
                  InitialValue="" 
                  Width="100%" runat=server>
                     Please pick an edition
                  </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td align=right style="HEIGHT: 97px">
                  <font face=Verdana size=2>Bug:</font>
               </td>
               <!-- Multi-line text for the bug entry -->               
               <td style="HEIGHT: 97px">
                  <ASP:TextBox id=txtBug runat=server width="183px" 
                  textmode="MultiLine" height="68px"/>
               </td>
               <!-- Validator for the text box-->               
               <td style="HEIGHT: 97px">
                  <asp:RequiredFieldValidator 
                  id="reqFieldBug" 
                  ControlToValidate="txtBug" 
                  Display="Static" 
                  Width="100%" runat=server>
                     Please provide bug details
                  </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>
               </td>
               <td>
                  <ASP:Button id=btnSubmit 
                  text="Submit Bug" runat=server />
               </td>
               <td>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>
      </form>
<OReilly:copyright runat="server" />
   </body>
</HTML>

In Figure 14-1 the horizontal rule at the bottom of the page, and the copyright notice below it, comes from the .ascx user control you’ve created. This control can be reused in many pages. If you update the copyright, you will make that update only in the one .ascx file, and it will be displayed appropriately in all the pages that use that control.

In the next example, you will recreate the book drop-down list itself, this time as a user control. The process of converting part of an existing HTML page into a user control is very simple; you just extract the code that creates the drop-down list into its own HTML file and name that file with the .ascx extension.

Visual Studio .NET provides support for creating user controls. Right-click on the project and choose Add Add New Item. One of the choices is New User Control. This choice opens a new form. The HTML at the top of the form includes the Control directive, which sets the language attributes, etc.

Rename the new item BookList.ascx and copy in the code for creating the book list, as shown in Example 14-3.

Example 14-3. The BookList user control

<!-- Drop down list with the books (must pick one) -->
   <ASP:DropDownList id=ddlBooks runat=server>
      <asp:ListItem>-- Please Pick A Book --</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>Programming ASP.NET</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>Programming C#</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>
         Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days
      </asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>
         Teach Yourself C++ In 24 Hours
      </asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>TY C++ In 10 Minutes</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>TY More C++ In 21 Days</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>C++ Unleashed</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>C++ From Scratch</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>XML From Scratch</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>Web Classes FS</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>Beg. OO Analysis & Design</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>Clouds To Code</asp:ListItem>
      <asp:ListItem>
         CIG Career Computer Programming
      </asp:ListItem>
   </ASP:DropDownList>

Tip

In Example 14-3, you’ll strip out the validator code, to keep the focus on working with the user control. The validator can be used with the user control exactly as it was with the ASP control.

To make this work in your page, you’ll add a new Register statement:

<%@Register tagprefix="OReilly" Tagname="bookList" src="bookList.ascx" %>

In the body of the page, you’ll add the new user control, exactly where you cut the original code:

<OReilly:bookList runat="server" ID="Booklist"/>

Adding Code

So far, all you’ve put into the user control is straight HTML. This is simple, but also somewhat limited. There is no reason to so severely limit the user control. In the next example, you’ll add support for filling the list box with books from a database. To do so, you’ll need to add a table to the ProgASPNetBugs database, as shown in Figure 14-2.

Design of the Books table

Figure 14-2. Design of the Books table

You’ll also need to populate this table with the values shown in Figure 14-3, or simply download the entire database with data already provided.

Contents of the Books table

Figure 14-3. Contents of the Books table

You are ready to fill the list box dynamically, usingdata binding. Strip out all the code that fills the list box by hand. This reduces Example 14-3 to two lines:

<ASP:DropDownList id=ddlBooks runat=server>
</ASP:DropDownList>

The key to making this work is now in the Control tag:

<%@ Control Language="c#" AutoEventWireup="false" 
Codebehind="BookList.ascx.cs" 
Inherits="UserControl1.WebUserControl1"%>

The Codebehind attribute points to the code-behind page. In that page, you’ll add code to the Page_Load method to bind the list box to the appropriate table in the database. That code is shown in Example 14-4 for C# and Example 14-5 for VB.NET.

Example 14-4. C# Page_Load from the code-behind page for the user control

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   if (!IsPostBack)
   {
      string connectionString = 
         "server= " + ServerName + 
         "; uid=sa;pwd=" +
         Password + "; database= " + DB;

      // get records from the Bugs table
      string commandString = 
         "Select BookName from Books";

      // create the data set command object 
      // and the DataSet
      SqlDataAdapter dataAdapter = 
         new SqlDataAdapter(
         commandString, connectionString);

      DataSet dataSet = new DataSet(  );

      // fill the data set object
      dataAdapter.Fill(dataSet,"Bugs");

      // Get the one table from the DataSet
      DataTable dataTable = dataSet.Tables[0];

      ddlBooks.DataSource = dataTable.DefaultView;
      ddlBooks.DataTextField = "BookName";
      ddlBooks.DataBind(  );
   }
}

Example 14-5. VB.NET Page_Load from the code-behind page for the user control

Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                      ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
   If Not IsPostBack Then
      Dim connectionString As String = _
               "server= " & ServerName & 
               "; uid=sa;pwd=" +
               Password + "; database= " + DB;

            ' get records from the Bugs table
            Dim commandString As String = _
               "Select BookName from Books"

            ' create the data set command object 
            ' and the DataSet
             Dim dataAdapter as SqlDataAdapter = _
               new SqlDataAdapter( _
               commandString, connectionString);

            Dim dataSet As DataSet = New DataSet(  )

            ' fill the data set object
            dataAdapter.Fill(dataSet, "Books")

            ' Get the one table from the DataSet
            Dim dataTable As DataTable = dataSet.Tables(0)

            ddlBooks.DataSource = dataTable.DefaultView
            ddlBooks.DataTextField = "BookName"
            ddlBooks.DataBind(  )
        End If
    End Sub

The host page does not change at all. The updated user control now works as intended, loading the list of books from the database, as shown in Figure 14-4.

@Control Properties

There can be only one @Control directive for each user control. This attribute is used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler to set attributes for your user control. Possible values are shown in Table 14-1.

Table 14-1. Values for @Control properties

Attribute

Description

Possible values

AutoEventWireup

true (the default) indicates the page automatically posts back to the server. If false, the developer must fire the server event manually.

trueor false; default is true.

ClassName

The class name for the page.

Any valid class name.

CompilerOptions

Passed to compiler.

Any valid compiler string indicating options.

Debug

Whether to compile with debug symbols.

true or false; default is false.

Description

Text description of the page.

Any valid text.

EnableViewState

Is view state maintained for the user control?

trueor false; default is true.

Explicit

Should page be compiled with VB.NET option explicit

true or false; default is false.

Inherits

Defines a code-behind class.

Any class derived from UserControl.

Language

The language used for inline rendering and server-side script blocks.

Any .NET-supported language.

Strict

Page should be compiled using VB.NET Strict option?

true or false; default is false.

Src

Name of the source file for the code-behind.

Any valid filename.

WarningLevel

Compiler warning level at which compilation will abort.

0-4.

Loading the book list from the database in a user control

Figure 14-4. Loading the book list from the database in a user control

Tip

The src attribute is not used in Visual Studio .NET. VS.NET uses precompiled code-behind classes with the Inherits attribute.

Adding Properties

You can make your user control far more powerful by adding properties. Properties allow your client (in this case WebForm1) to interact with your control, setting attributes either declaratively (when the user control is added to the form) or programmatically (while the program is running).

You can, for example, give your book list control properties for the server name, the password, and the database to which you will connect. You do this in four steps:

  1. Create a property. You must decide if you will provide a read-write, read-only, or write-only property. For this example, you’ll provide read-write properties.

  2. Provide an underlying value for the property. You can do this by computing the property, retrieving it from a database or, as you’ll do here, storing the underlying value in a private member variable. You must also decide if you’ll provide a default value for your properties.

  3. Integrate the underlying values into the body of the code.

  4. Set the property from the client, either declaratively (as an attribute) or programmatically.

Creating a property

There is nothing special about the property for the user control; you create it as you would any property for a class. In C#, this takes the form:

public string ServerName
{
   get
   {
      return serverName;
   }
   set
   {
      serverName = value;
   }
}
public string Password 
{ 
      get { return password; } set { password = value; } 
} 

public string DB 
{ 
   get { return db; } set { db = value; } 
}

In VB.NET, the code is:

Public Property ServerName As String
   Get
      Return sServerName
   End Get
   Set
      sServerName = Value
   End Set
End Property

Public Property Password As String
   Get
      Return sPassword
   End Get
   Set
      sPassword = Value
   End Set
End Property

Public Property DB As String 
   Get 
      Return sDB
   End Get
   Set
      sDB = Value
   End Set
End Property

Note that you can take advantage of C#’s case-sensitivity to differentiate the property name (such as ServerName) from the private variable representing the underlying property value (such as serverName). However, because VB.NET is case-insensitive, you must use a property name (such as ServerName) that is clearly distinctive from the private variable holding the underlying property value (such as sServerName).

When coding in C#, we tend to prefer the more extended property declaration style, as shown with ServerName. However, in this book we often use the terser form to save space, as shown for Password and DB.

Providing an underlying value for the property

You certainly can compute the value of a property, or look up the value in a database. In this example, however, you’ll simply create member variables to hold the underlying value. In C#, the code is:

private string serverName;
private string password;
private string db = "ProgASPDotNetBugs";

In VB.NET, it’s:

Private sServerName, sPassword As String
Private sDB As String = "ProgASPDotNegBugs"

Acting in the role of control designer, you have decided to provide a default value for the db property (the name of the database), but you have not provided a default value for the name of the server or the sa (system administrator) password. This is appropriate; you can safely assume the database is ProgASPDotNetBugs, but you can’t possibly know in advance what database server will be used, or what the sa password is.

Integrating the property into your code

Having declared the properties, you must now modify the connection string to use the properties, rather than the hard-coded values. In C#, the code is:

string connectionString = 
   "server= " + serverName + 
   "; uid=sa;pwd=" +
   password + "; database= " + db;

and in VB.NET, it’s:

Dim connectionString As String = _
   "server= " & sServerName & _
   "; uid=sa;pwd=" & _
   sPassword & "; database= " & sDB

Here you concatenate hard-coded string values (“server=”) with the member variables that will be set through the properties. You could, as an alternative, just use the properties’ Get accessors, rather than using the underlying values:

string connectionString = 
   "server= " + ServerName + 
   "; uid=sa;pwd=" +
   Password + "; database= " + DB;

While using the underlying value is trivially more efficient, using the property has the advantage of allowing you to change the implementation of the property without breaking this code.

Setting the property from the client

In the client you must now provide values for the two required attributes, ServerName and Password , and you may provide a value for the DB property. For example, you might write:

<OReilly:bookList runat="server" ID="Booklist"
DB="ProgASPDotNetBugs" Password="yourPassWord"
ServerName="YourServer"

Notice that in the preceding code, you have provided a value for the DB property. This code will continue to work if you leave out this attribute, but adding it makes the code self-documenting.

Handling Events

Event handling with user controls can be a bit confusing. Within a user control (e.g., bookList), you may have other controls (e.g., a list box). If those internal controls fire events, you’ll need to handle them within the user control itself. The page the user control is placed in will never see those events.

That said, a user control itself can raise events. You may raise an event in response to events raised by internal controls, in response to user actions or system activity, or for any reason you choose.

Handling events in C#

You declare new events for the user control just as you would for any class. Example 14-6 shows the complete code listing for BookList.ascx.cs.

Example 14-6. BookList.ascx.cs

namespace UserControl2A1
{
   using System;
   using System.Data;
   using System.Data.SqlClient;
   using System.Drawing;
   using System.Web;
   using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
   using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

   public abstract class BookList : System.Web.UI.UserControl
   {
      protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList ddlBooks;
      private string serverName;
      private string password = "oWenmEany";
      private string db = "ProgASPDotNetBugs";

      public delegate void 
         ListChangedHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
      public event ListChangedHandler ListChanged;

      protected virtual void OnListChanged(EventArgs e)
      {
         if (ListChanged != null)
            ListChanged(this, e);
      }

      public string ServerName
      {
         get
         {
            return serverName;
         }
         set
         {
            serverName = value;
         }
      }
      public string Password 
      { 
         get { return password; } 
         set { password = value; } 
      } 

      public string DB 
      { 
         get { return db; } 
         set { db = value; } 
      } 
      
      public BookList(  )
      {
         this.Init += new System.EventHandler(Page_Init);
      }

      private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
      {
         if (!IsPostBack)
         {
            string connectionString = 
               "server= " + ServerName + 
               "; uid=sa;pwd=" +
               Password + "; database= " + DB;

            // get records from the Bugs table
            string commandString = 
               "Select BookName from Books";

            // create the data set command object 
            // and the DataSet
            SqlDataAdapter dataAdapter = 
               new SqlDataAdapter(
               commandString, connectionString);

            DataSet dataSet = new DataSet(  );

            // fill the data set object
            dataAdapter.Fill(dataSet,"Bugs");

            // Get the one table from the DataSet
            DataTable dataTable = dataSet.Tables[0];

            ddlBooks.DataSource = dataTable.DefaultView;
            ddlBooks.DataTextField = "BookName";
            ddlBooks.DataBind(  );
         }
   
      }

      private void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
         InitializeComponent(  );
      }

        #region Web Form Designer generated code
      ///        Required method for Designer support - do not modify
      ///        the contents of this method with the code editor.
      /// </summary>
      private void InitializeComponent(  )
      {
         this.ddlBooks.SelectedIndexChanged += 
            new System.EventHandler(this.OnSelectedIndexChanged);
         this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Page_Load);

      }
        #endregion

      public class BookListArgs : EventArgs
      {
         public string bookSelected;
      }

      private void OnSelectedIndexChanged(
         object sender, System.EventArgs e)
      {
         OnListChanged(e);
      }
   }
}

You start by declaring a delegate that describes the event procedure:

public delegate void ListChangedHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);

You then declare the event itself:

public event ListChangedHandler ListChanged;

You must create a method that begins with the letters “On” followed by the name of the event, as follows:

protected virtual void OnListChanged(EventArgs e)
{
}

This method typically checks that the event has one or more handlers registered, and if so, it raises the event, as the following code shows:

protected virtual void OnListChanged(EventArgs e)
{
   if (ListChanged != null)
      ListChanged(this, e);
}

You are now ready to test the event. For this example, go back to the list box within the book list user control and add an event handler for the selected item being changed:

private void OnSelectedIndexChanged (object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   OnListChanged(e);
}

When the item is changed, you call the OnListChanged method, which in turn fires the ListChanged event. More about this shortly.

Your web page can add an event handler for its BookList element. The declaration in the .aspx page is unchanged:

<td><OREILLY:BOOKLIST id=Booklist runat="server" 
    ServerName="yourServer" Password="yourPW" 
    DB="ProgASPDotNetBugs"></OReilly:bookList></TD></TR>

The code-behind changes, however. To register the event, you’ll need an instance of a booklist object:

protected UserControl3.BookList Booklist;

You now have only to register the event handler. Within the InitializeComponent method of WebForm1.aspx.cs, add this code:

this.Booklist.ListChanged += 
new UserControl3.BookList.ListChangedHandler(this.Booklist_ListChanged);

The event handler Booklist_ListChanged is thus wired to the ListChanged event of the booklist. When the user chooses a book, the internal list box fires a postback event, the OnSelectedIndexChanged event fires within the .ascx page, and the OnSelectedIndexChanged event handler within the user control responds.

When the ListChanged event is fired, it is caught in the containing page’s BookList_ListChanged method, and the label is updated:

public void Booklist_ListChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   lblMsg.Text = "The list changed!!";
}

To the user, it appears just as it should; the list box within the user control appears just to be another control with which the user can interact, as shown in Figure 14-5.

The List event fired

Figure 14-5. The List event fired

Handling events in VB.NET

Defining a custom event, trapping the DropDownList control’s SelectedIndexChanged event, raising a custom event, and handling it within the .aspx page are very easy and require fewer lines of code in VB.NET than in C#. Within the class definition of the BookList control, you simply declare the event and its signature, as follows:

Public Event ListChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

Since Visual Studio automatically declares the DropDownList control in the code-behind file using the WithEvents keyword, the control’s events are automatically trapped by VB.NET, and any event handler, if one is present, is executed. Hence, you simply need to define the following event handler, which raises the custom ListChanged event:

Private Sub ddlBooks_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _
            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
            Handles ddlBooks.SelectedIndexChanged
   RaiseEvent ListChanged(sender, e)
End Sub

That’s all the code that’s required in the user control’s code-behind file. In the ASP.NET application, you have to declare the instance of the Booklist class using the WithEvents keyword:

Protected WithEvents Booklist1 As UserControl1VB.Booklist

The final step is to provide the event handler, as follows:

Private Sub Booklist1_ListChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                                  ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                                  Handles Booklist1.ListChanged
   lblMsg.Text = "The list changed!!"
End Sub

The complete code-behind page for the Booklist user control is shown in Example 14-7.

Example 14-7. The VB.NET version of the Booklist user control’s code-behind file

Imports System.Data.OleDb

Public MustInherit Class Booklist
    Inherits System.Web.UI.UserControl

      Protected WithEvents ddlBooks As System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList
      Public Event ListChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

#Region " Web Form Designer Generated Code "

    'This call is required by the Web Form Designer.
    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent(  )

    End Sub

    Private Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                          ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Init
        'CODEGEN: This method call is required by the Web Form Designer
        'Do not modify it using the code editor.
        InitializeComponent(  )
    End Sub

#End Region

    Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                          ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        If Not IsPostBack Then
            Dim connectionString As String = _
               "server= " & ServerName & 
               "; uid=sa;pwd=" &
               Password & "; database= " & DB

            ' get records from the Bugs table
            Dim commandString As String = _
               "Select BookName from Books"

            ' create the data set command object 
            ' and the DataSet
            Dim dataAdapter as SqlDataAdapter = _
               new SqlDataAdapter( _
               commandString, connectionString);

            Dim dataSet As DataSet = New DataSet(  )

            ' fill the data set object
            dataAdapter.Fill(dataSet, "Books")

            ' Get the one table from the DataSet
            Dim dataTable As DataTable = dataSet.Tables(0)

            ddlBooks.DataSource = dataTable.DefaultView
            ddlBooks.DataTextField = "BookName"
            ddlBooks.DataBind(  )
        End If

    End Sub

   Private Sub ddlBooks_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object,_
                                     ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                                     Handles ddlBooks.SelectedIndexChanged
      RaiseEvent ListChanged(sender, e)
   End Sub

End Class

Custom event arguments

It would be even more useful if the control could tell the page what book was chosen. The idiom for doing so is to provide a custom event argument type derived from System.EventArgs. To accomplish this, you’ll add a class declaration nested within the Booklist class. In C#, this takes the form:

public class BookListArgs : EventArgs
{
   public string bookSelected;
}

In VB.NET:

Public Class BookListArgs
   Inherits EventArgs

   Public bookSelected As String

End Class

You can now declare the event to use this new type of Event argument. In C#, you do this by modifying the delegate statement:

public delegate void ListChangedHandler(object sender, BookListArgs e);

In VB.NET, you modify the Event statement:

Public Event ListChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As BookListArgs)

In C#, the event handler for the list box change event is now updated to get the selected item’s text and add that to the BookListArgs object’s bookSelected property:

private void OnSelectedIndexChanged(
   object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    BookListArgs bookListArgs = 
       new BookListArgs(  );
    bookListArgs.bookSelected = 
       ddlBooks.SelectedItem.ToString(  );
    OnListChanged(bookListArgs);
}

Remember to update OnListChanged to take the new type of event argument:

protected virtual void OnListChanged(BookListArgs e)
{
   if (ListChanged != null)
      ListChanged(this, e);
}

In VB.NET, you just have to modify the handler for the DropDownList control’s SelectedIndexChanged event:

Private Sub ddlBooks_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _
                     ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                        Handles ddlBooks.SelectedIndexChanged

   Dim bla As New BookListArgs(  )
   bla.bookSelected = ddlBooks.SelectedItem.ToString(  )
   RaiseEvent ListChanged(sender, bla)

End Sub

All of the changes noted so far are within the BookList.ascx file. The only change in the page is to the event handler itself. In C#, the code is:

public void Booklist_ListChanged(object sender, UserControl3.BookList.BookListArgs e)
{
   lblMsg.Text = "Selected: " + e.bookSelected;
}

In VB.NET, it’s:

Private Sub Booklist1_ListChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
       ByVal e As UserControl1VB.Booklist.BookListArgs) _
       Handles Booklist1.ListChanged
   lblMsg.Text = "Selected: " & e.bookSelected
End Sub

When you view the web page, it is now able to display the text of the selection, even though the selection event occurs within the user control, as shown in Figure 14-6.

Passing text from the list box within the user control to the page

Figure 14-6. Passing text from the list box within the user control to the page

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