Chapter 22. Web UI Controls

IN BRIEF

The .NET Framework enables you to create web applications with pages and controls using the technology of ASP.NET. ASP.NET provides many built-in, predefined UI controls that are either wrappers for standard HTML elements or implementations of some standard functionality that is often used when accessing websites.

For example, you could represent an input text box as simple static HTML text, but you are allowed to use the predefined server HTML ASP.NET control System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputText or the web server control System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox. Web controls are very similar to HTML controls, but they implement more advanced functionality and enable you to create more complex UI.

Basically, ASP.NET gives you all the web controls that are necessary for creating web applications. However, developers often need to create their own web controls for advanced functionality or to create a more complex and advanced UI. For this purpose, ASP.NET provides the ability to create your own web controls that contain custom logic, code, or user interface elements.

This chapter will explain what HTML and web controls are, the differences between server and user controls, how to use web controls, and how to create and use your own control.

WHAT YOU NEED

RECOMMENDED REQUIRED SOFTWARE	.NET Framework v1.1 Visual Studio .NET 2003 (C#) IIS version 5.0 or greater Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows Server 2003
RECOMMENDED HARDWARE	.NET-enabled coding familarity desktop client
SKILLS REQUIRED	C# coding familarity

WEB UI CONTROLS AT A GLANCE

Server Controls		440
	User Controls	444
Summary		455
Further Reading		455