Creating Server Controls

[Jonathan Wood]

Okay, I'm stuck.

I have a stack of ASP.NET books, the Internet, and a bunch of time I've
spent. I've tried dozens of code samples, all of which either didn't have
any effect or wouldn't compile. Can someone please let me know the secret
cantation.

I'm creating a server control and I want to improve the editor
functionality. For example, if I have a URL property, I'd like to use the
same editor that is used to edit URLs in the standard server controls (the
ones that come with VS). Surely, there must be some straight forward syntax
for this, and perhaps a site that lists valid values!

I've tried searching for Designers, Editors, and tried adding attributes
such as [Editor(...)], [EditorAttribute(...)], [UrlProperty] and absolutely
nothing will come even close to working for me.

I would just like to know how to have the property editor to use the same
code used by Visual Studio for the standard server controls.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Jonathan

 

[Patrice]

Hello,

You could use a tool such as Reflector to see what are the attributes. For
example, for Image.ImageUrl it shows :

[DefaultValue(""), Editor("System.Web.UI.Design.ImageUrlEditor,
System.Design, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", typeof(UITypeEditor)), UrlProperty,
WebSysDescription("Image_ImageUrl"), Bindable(true),
WebCategory("Appearance")]

This tool is available from :
http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/

Also :
http://referencesource.microsoft.com/
should allow to download the source code to see how it's done.

Both should allow to see if you are missing some attribute or if some value
is not properly defined...

 

[Jonathan Wood]

Thanks, I actually did just that since my original post.

The problem I'm having with this is all the version, culture, and public key
token information included. I've seen examples that don't use that and it
suggests to me that it would make my code incompatible with any other
version of .NET.

I guess I need a good server control development book; however, I should
probably wait for one to come out for VS2010.

Jonathan

Hello,

You could use a tool such as Reflector to see what are the attributes. For
example, for Image.ImageUrl it shows :

[DefaultValue(""), Editor("System.Web.UI.Design.ImageUrlEditor,
System.Design, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", typeof(UITypeEditor)), UrlProperty,
WebSysDescription("Image_ImageUrl"), Bindable(true),
WebCategory("Appearance")]

This tool is available from :
http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/

Also :
http://referencesource.microsoft.com/
should allow to download the source code to see how it's done.

Both should allow to see if you are missing some attribute or if some
value is not properly defined...

--
Patrice

Okay, I'm stuck.

I have a stack of ASP.NET books, the Internet, and a bunch of time I've
spent. I've tried dozens of code samples, all of which either didn't have
any effect or wouldn't compile. Can someone please let me know the secret
cantation.

I'm creating a server control and I want to improve the editor
functionality. For example, if I have a URL property, I'd like to use the
same editor that is used to edit URLs in the standard server controls
(the ones that come with VS). Surely, there must be some straight forward
syntax for this, and perhaps a site that lists valid values!

I've tried searching for Designers, Editors, and tried adding attributes
such as [Editor(...)], [EditorAttribute(...)], [UrlProperty] and
absolutely nothing will come even close to working for me.

I would just like to know how to have the property editor to use the same
code used by Visual Studio for the standard server controls.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Jonathan

 

[Patrice]

I always tend to use the documentation that I find not that bad (once you
got an idea about what to search).

For example http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/37899azc.aspx (Extending
Design-Time Support) including material about User Interface Type Editors...

 

[Jonathan Wood]

Thanks. But, in contrast, I find the documentation largely unusable and
general avoid MSDN pages when searching on the Web.

My biggest complaint is that sifting through page after page is required
when one paragraph and a code sample would've been a dozen times more clear.
Fortunately, those paragraphs and code samples are usually available.