using Asp.net panels

[Guest]

Is there a setting in VS.net 2003 IDE that I can change, so when I add a
PANEL to my ASP.net page and place controls on the PANEL itself, it will
allow me to move the controls on the Panel where I want them?

Currently, I’m creating an asp page that contains a few panels, and I’m
adding labels and text boxes on them, but I can’t seem to move them around ON
THE PANEL where I want them. On the webpage I can move the controls around
where I want them just fine.

I’m developing in C# now, but I remember when creating forms in VB, you
could place controls on a panel where you wanted them. Is this a feature not
included when developing in ASP.net/C#?

Thanks,

 

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

Don't think in terms of moving things around. This is still the web. The
things you could do with creating forms in VB for Windows don't work on the
web. The placing of things in specific spots doesn't work very well for the
web as HTML really didn't anticipate this originally. You have to get
creative with using tables. Earlier versions of VS.Net defaulted to the
absolute positioning, but it just doesn't work. In essence, forget
everything that you could do with windows application user interfaces. Think
of trying to layout a design as a series of carefully cut up tables, similar
to making a complex Word document. It's not that this kind of development is
a feature missing from ASP.net and C#, it more that this is the way the web
works.

hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

 

[Guest]

Mark is right. A few other thoughts that might be useful:

If you do need this degree of print-like control with pixel-precise
positioning and formatting, exact sizings, etc, your best bet in a
ubiquitious web technology right now is probably Adobe Flash. Its support
for programmatically positioned elements is rich, and you can make viable
apps with using its XML capabilities. Look at Full Browser Flash (FBF)
techniques if you want to emulate some or all of the behaviors of a webpage.

MSFT's Expression Interactive Designer looks like it will eventually be
interesting third way, but it's not something that's yet ready for prime
time.

-KF

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips. One would think that as powerful as the VS IDE is, that
whether you developing a Windows app or Web app, you would have the same
control over the placement of controls on the forms.

Based on the advice I’ve read here, I was able to use a Flow Layout Panel
from the HTML toolbox rather than the Panel from the Web Forms toolbox to
achieve the results I was looking for.

Thanks again for the help.