Use Calendar control without postback to Server?

[John Kotuby]

Hi all,

Just wondering. I am converting an ASP application to ASP.NET 2.0. The ASP
version used a JavaScript Calendar that would pop up on the client side and
populate various text fields with the selected date. Very cool. I am trying
to emulate that behavior with the ASP.NET Calendar control, but it seems to
require a call back to the server (postback) to actually populate a textbox.
I can see how that would take a while for a dial-up connection. Even using
my local IIS server I can see a delay during refresh. Is there anyway to use
an ASP.NET calender in the browser without requiring a postback?

Considering that ASP.NET is much more advanced than "legacy" ASP, I am
guessing there must be a way to do this. Maybe I am trying to use the wrong
control or don't yet understand all it's capabilities.

Does anyone have any input on this or maybe can point me to a resource
describing such a use?

Thanks muchly for any help with this....

 

[Mark Rae]

Considering that ASP.NET is much more advanced than "legacy" ASP,

It certainly is.

I am guessing there must be a way to do this.

Not natively... You can use Ajax / Anthem which will allow you to use the

Maybe I am trying to use the wrong control

You are if you are looking for a completely client-side solution...

point me to a resource describing such a use?

There isn't one...

Begs the question, though, why not continue to use your JavaScript date
picker...?

 

[John Kotuby]

Thanks Mark...

I was hoping that ASP.NET had another solution, but if the J in AJAX refers
to JavaScript then JS is not considered legacy. I was having trouble getting
the call to the DatePicker to work correctly. But you already know that
since you were trying to help me with that....which I appreciate.

Hmm - you might be able to fix it by escaping one of the pairs of quotes
e.g. \'.....\'

Another option, though a bit of a kludge, might be something like:

var objCreateDate =
document.getElementById('<%=txtCreateDate.ClientID%>');
href="show_calendar(objCreateDate)";

I had since discovered a way to get the Calendar control to "pop up" over
the other controls using CSS
Style="visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:40%; left:30%" and then
changing the visibility attribute upon click of the anchor element. A
discovery for me since I have been programming almost excusively in VB6 and
SQL 2000 for the last 5 years. Lot's of new disciplines to learn for web
applications.

But if I'm even going to consider asynchonous call backs or get proficient
at what used to be called DHTML, then I had better get my JS skills in gear.

Your dedication to this newsgroup is impressive. I tried answering someone
else's question with a code example of my own and found out what type of
effort that takes. Especially when deadlines loom.

OK, back to the drawing board...

Have a good evening,

 

[Mark Rae]

I was hoping that ASP.NET had another solution, but if the J in AJAX
refers to JavaScript then JS is not considered legacy.

Indeed not... Powerful though ASP.NET is, its main function remains the
creation and output of markup to be streamed to a client browser, and
JavaScript is still an extremely important part of that... And the 'J' in
AJAX does indeed refer to JavaScript...

But if I'm even going to consider asynchonous call backs or get proficient
at what used to be called DHTML, then I had better get my JS skills in
gear.

Absolutely!