It is not uncommon to build your form dynamically; adding checkboxes, radio buttons, and other controls based on data extracted from a database. For example, you might like to add shipping methods (e.g., "first class," "next day," etc.) to the form. Typically you'd add these as radio buttons. To make the form flexible, you'd like to make it data-driven; getting the exact text for the radio buttons from a table in the database. That way, if you change from one delivery service to another, you do not need to change the web form; you just update the database and the form works. As you saw in Chapter 3, ASP.NET offers a dynamic radio button control, RadioButtonList, which you can add to the form, deferring the content of the radio buttons (and even the number of buttons to create) until runtime. Begin the example with the following HTML source, which defines a RadioButtonList control named rbList: <tr> <td> How should we ship? </td> <td> <asp:RadioButtonList RepeatDirection="Horizontal" id=rbList runat="server"> </asp:RadioButtonList> </td> </tr> You'll look at how to fill the radio buttons with data in just a moment, but while you're building the form, add checkboxes to allow the customer to choose extras to go with his choice of books: <tr> <td colspan="2"> Please choose any "extras" you'd like: <asp:CheckBoxList RepeatDirection="Horizontal" runat="server"></asp:CheckBoxList> </td> </tr> Normally, you'd fill the radio buttons and the checkboxes with data from the database. Database access is covered in the next chapter; for now, you'll keep things simple by extracting the data from array lists. Create a new ArrayList, shippingMethods, in the Page_Load function in the code-behind page. Add the various shipping alternatives that you would otherwise extract from the database (shown here in C# syntax): ArrayList shippingMethods = new ArrayList( ); shippingMethods.Add("3rd Class"); shippingMethods.Add("1st Class"); shippingMethods.Add("Ground"); shippingMethods.Add("2nd Day"); shippingMethods.Add("Next Day"); With this ArrayList in hand, you can bind to the radio button list created in the HTML page. This is done in two steps: first you set the data source for the radio button list to the Array List: rbList.DataSource=shippingMethods; Second, and as a separate step, call the radio buttons list object's DataBind method: rbList.DataBind( ); This separation is done for the reason explained earlier: by making the binding step explicit, you make the program more efficient, binding only when you invoke the DataBind method. You'll do the same thing with the checkboxes, creating an ArrayList, setting the DataSource and calling DataBind: ArrayList extras = new ArrayList( ); extras.Add("Gift Wrap"); extras.Add("Gift Card"); extras.Add("Book Mark"); extras.Add("Autographed copy"); extras.Add("Source Code"); cbList.DataSource=extras; cbList.DataBind( ); That's all it takes; when the page is loaded, the checkboxes and radio buttons are created, based on the data in their data sources, as shown in Figure 9-4. Figure 9-4. Binding to radio buttons and checkboxesThe user interface design is crude at best, and making this look nice is left as an exercise for the reader. While you are at it, you'll want to add a required field validator (see Chapter 8) to ensure that the user does select at least one shipping method. In this example, a button has been added to the form, and the autopostback attribute has been removed from the drop-down; these additions are shown in boldface in the HTML source in Example 9-5. The user selects a shipping method and zero or more of the "extras," and the user's choice is reflected in a label placed below the Submit button, as shown in Figure 9-5. The code to support this is in the Page_Load method in the code-behind page and is shown in boldface in the code-behind for both examples. Figure 9-5. Displaying choices from data bound controlsIf the IsPostBack property is true, then the page has been submitted and you need to pick up the values from the radio buttons and checkboxes. This is accomplished by iterating the Items collection of the CheckBoxList and RadioButtonList controls. For example, to see which extras were chosen, you iterate the Items collection of cbList (the checkbox list on the form) as follows: int chosen = 0; StringBuilder extrasChosen = new StringBuilder(" with these extras:"); for (int i = 0; i < cbList.Items.Count; i++) { if (cbList.Items[i].Selected) { chosen++; if (chosen > 1) extrasChosen.Append(", "); extrasChosen.Append(cbList.Items[i].Text); } }
Each time a selected item is found, the local counter variable chosen is incremented, so that a comma can be placed after the first item. The extrasChosen StringBuilder object adds all the selected items so that they may be displayed in the lblMsg label. Similar logic is applied to the radio buttons; however, you know in advance that only a single radio button can be selected: for (int i = 0; i < rbList.Items.Count; i++) if (rbList.Items[i].Selected) shippingMethod.Append(rbList.Items[i].Text);
Example 9-5 is the complete .aspx file. Example 9-6 is the complete code-behind source file in VB .NET, and Example 9-7 is the code-behind in C#. Example 9-5. aspx file for radio button and checkbox dynamic controls (with C# page directive)<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="BindRadioButtons.WebForm1" %> <HTML> <HEAD> <meta content="Internet Explorer 5.0" name=vs_targetSchema> <meta content="Microsoft Visual Studio 7.0" name=GENERATOR> <meta content=C# name=CODE_LANGUAGE> </HEAD> <body MS_POSITIONING="GridLayout"> <form id=Form1 method=post runat="server"> <table> <tr> <td>Book </td> <td> <!-- the drop-down --> <asp:dropdownlist id=ddlBooks Runat="server" DataValueField="ISBN" DataTextField="Title"> </asp:dropdownlist> </td> </tr> <! -- shipping method, radio buttons built dynamically --> <tr> <td> How should we ship? </td> <td> <asp:radiobuttonlist id=rbList runat="server" RepeatDirection="Horizontal"> </asp:radiobuttonlist> </td> </tr> <! -- extra features. checkboxes built dynamically --> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Please choose any "extras" you'd like: <asp:CheckBoxList RepeatDirection="Horizontal" runat="server"></asp:CheckBoxList> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <asp:Button runat="server" Text="Submit"> </asp:Button> </td> </tr> <tr> <!-- the label to display the selection --> <td colspan="2"> <asp:Label Runat="server" Text="" /> </td> </tr> </TABLE></FORM> </body> </HTML> Example 9-6. VB .NET code-behind for dynamic radio buttons and checkboxesImports System.Collections Imports System.Text Public Class Example_9_7 Inherits System.Web.UI.Page #Region " Web Form Designer Generated Code " 'This call is required by the Web Form Designer. <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent( ) End Sub Protected WithEvents ddlBooks As System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList Protected WithEvents rbList As System.Web.UI.WebControls.RadioButtonList Protected WithEvents cbList As System.Web.UI.WebControls.CheckBoxList Protected WithEvents Submit As System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button Protected WithEvents lblMsg As System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label Private designerPlaceholderDeclaration As System.Object 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 Public Class Book Private _Price As Double Private _Title As String Private _ISBN As String Public Sub New(ByVal thePrice As Double, _ ByVal theTitle As String, ByVal theISBN As String) _Price = thePrice _Title = theTitle _ISBN = theISBN End Sub Public ReadOnly Property Price( ) As Double Get Return _Price End Get End Property Public ReadOnly Property Title( ) As String Get Return _Title End Get End Property Public ReadOnly Property ISBN( ) As String Get Return _ISBN End Get End Property End Class Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load If Not IsPostBack( ) Then ' create the array list Dim bookList As New ArrayList ' add all the books ' (formatted to fit in margins) bookList.Add(New Book(49.95F, "Programming ASP.NET", "100000000")) bookList.Add(New Book(49.95F, "Programming C#", "100000001")) bookList.Add(New Book(34.99F, "Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days", _ "067232072x")) bookList.Add(New Book(24.95F, "Teach Yourself C++ In 24 Hours", _ "0672315165")) bookList.Add(New Book(12.99F, "TY C++ In 10 Minutes", "067231603X")) bookList.Add(New Book(24.95F, "C++ Unleashed", "1199000663")) bookList.Add(New Book(29.99F, "C++ From Scratch", "0789720795")) bookList.Add(New Book(39.99F, "XML From Scratch", "0789723166")) ' set the data source ddlBooks.DataSource = bookList ' bind to the data ddlBooks.DataBind( ) ' shippingMethods array list stands in for ' data retrieved from database Dim shippingMethods As New ArrayList shippingMethods.Add("3rd Class") shippingMethods.Add("1st Class") shippingMethods.Add("Ground") shippingMethods.Add("2nd Day") shippingMethods.Add("Next Day") ' set the data source for the dynamic ' radio button list rbList.DataSource = shippingMethods ' bind the data rbList.DataBind( ) ' extras array list stands in for ' data retrieved from database Dim extras As New ArrayList extras.Add("Gift Wrap") extras.Add("Gift Card") extras.Add("Book Mark") extras.Add("Autographed copy") extras.Add("Source Code") ' set the data source for the ' dynamic checkbox list cbList.DataSource = extras ' bind the data cbList.DataBind( ) Else ' string builders to hold text from controls Dim extrasChosen As New StringBuilder(" with these extras: ") Dim shippingMethod As New StringBuilder(" We will ship ") ' build up string of choices. if more than one choice ' make them comma delmited Dim chosen As Integer = 0 Dim i As Integer = 0 For i = 0 To cbList.Items.Count - 1 ' if the item was selected If (cbList.Items(i).Selected = True) Then ' if this is not the first item ' add a comma after the previous ' before adding this one chosen += 1 If (chosen > 1) Then extrasChosen.Append(", ") ' add the item to the string builder extrasChosen.Append(cbList.Items(i).Text) End If Next i ' find the selected shipping method and add it ' to the string builder For i = 0 To rbList.Items.Count - 1 If (rbList.Items(i).Selected) Then shippingMethod.Append(rbList.Items(i).Text) End If Next i ' create the output text by concatenating the book title ' isbn, the selected items and the shipping method lblMsg.Text = "Selected: " & ddlBooks.SelectedItem.Text & _ "(" & ddlBooks.SelectedItem.Value & ")" & _ extrasChosen.ToString( ) & _ ". " & shippingMethod.ToString( ) & "." End If End Sub End Class Example 9-7. 7 C# code-behind for dynamic radio buttons and checkboxesnamespace BindRadioButtons { using System; using System.Collections; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Drawing; using System.Text; // for string builder using System.Web; using System.Web.SessionState; using System.Web.UI; using System.Web.UI.WebControls; using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls; public class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page { protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList ddlBooks; protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.RadioButtonList rbList; protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.CheckBoxList cbList; protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button Submit; protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label lblMsg; public WebForm1( ) { Page.Init += new System.EventHandler(Page_Init); } protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e) { // // CODEGEN: This call is required by the // ASP.NET Windows Form Designer. // InitializeComponent( ); } #region Web Form Designer generated code /// <summary> /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify /// the contents of this method with the code editor. /// </summary> private void InitializeComponent( ) { this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Page_Load); } #endregion public class Book { private float price; private string title; private string isbn; public Book(float price, string title, string ISBN) { this.price = price; this.title = title; this.isbn = ISBN; } public float Price { get {return price;} } public string Title { get {return title;} } public string ISBN { get {return isbn;} } } private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { if (! Page.IsPostBack) { // create the array list ArrayList bookList = new ArrayList( ); // add all the books // (formatted to fit in margins) bookList.Add( new Book(49.95f, "Programming ASP.NET", "100000000")); bookList.Add( new Book(49.95f,"Programming C#", "100000001")); bookList.Add( new Book(34.99f,"Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days", "067232072x")); bookList.Add( new Book(24.95f,"Teach Yourself C++ In 24 Hours", "0672315165")); bookList.Add( new Book(12.99f,"TY C++ In 10 Minutes", "067231603X")); bookList.Add( new Book(24.95f,"C++ Unleashed", "1199000663")); bookList.Add( new Book(29.99f,"C++ From Scratch", "0789720795")); bookList.Add( new Book(39.99f,"XML From Scratch", "0789723166")); // set the data source ddlBooks.DataSource=bookList; // bind to the data ddlBooks.DataBind( ); // shippingMethods array list stands in for // data retrieved from database ArrayList shippingMethods = new ArrayList( ); shippingMethods.Add("3rd Class"); shippingMethods.Add("1st Class"); shippingMethods.Add("Ground"); shippingMethods.Add("2nd Day"); shippingMethods.Add("Next Day"); // set the data source for the dynamic // radio button list rbList.DataSource=shippingMethods; // bind the data rbList.DataBind( ); // extras array list stands in for // data retrieved from database ArrayList extras = new ArrayList( ); extras.Add("Gift Wrap"); extras.Add("Gift Card"); extras.Add("Book Mark"); extras.Add("Autographed copy"); extras.Add("Source Code"); // set the data source for the // dynamic checkbox list cbList.DataSource=extras; // bind the data cbList.DataBind( ); } else // is post-back, form was submitted { // string builders to hold text from controls StringBuilder extrasChosen = new StringBuilder(" with these extras: "); StringBuilder shippingMethod = new StringBuilder(" We will ship "); // build up string of choices. if more than one choice // make them comma delmited int chosen = 0; for (int i = 0; i < cbList.Items.Count; i++) { // if the item was selected if (cbList.Items[i].Selected == true) { // if this is not the first item // add a comma after the previous // before adding this one chosen++; if (chosen > 1) extrasChosen.Append(", "); // add the item to the string builder extrasChosen.Append(cbList.Items[i].Text); } } // find the selected shipping method and add it // to the string builder for (int i = 0; i < rbList.Items.Count; i++) if (rbList.Items[i].Selected) shippingMethod.Append(rbList.Items[i].Text); // create the output text by concatenating the book title // isbn, the selected items and the shipping method lblMsg.Text = "Selected: " + ddlBooks.SelectedItem.Text + "(" + ddlBooks.SelectedItem.Value + ")" + extrasChosen + ". " + shippingMethod + "."; } // end else } // end page load } // end class } // end namespace There is complexity in the details here, but the essential idea remains quite simple: you bind a data source to a control. In this case, the data source was an ArrayList, but typically the data source will be created with data from a database (see Chapter 11). In this example, you bound the data to a radio button list and to a checkbox list so that you could dynamically create the controls based on the data in the data source. |