Chapter 13. Writing Controls for ASP.NET

In this chapter

Getting Started: Creating SimpleControl

Using Controls from the Toolbox

Adding Properties and Methods to Your Control

Creating and Using Composite Controls

In Chapter 6, "ASP.NET Controls," I discussed ASP.NET server controls in great detail. The controls in Chapter 6 come with ASP.NET, but you might be ready to add your own controls for additional functionality. That's what this chapter covers.

Creating ASP.NET server controls is easy. Creating reusable server controls makes your job as the developer much easier. You can easily reuse your code, and what's more, the server controls abstract out much of the HTML content that often is interwoven into ASP/ASP.NET code.

In this chapter, I demonstrate two aspects of server controls: creating them and using them. The controls were created in a C# Web Control Library, and they were consumed and tested in a C# Web application. I could have just as easily consumed and tested them in a VB Web application because .NET is language agnostic , and components written in one language can easily be consumed in another language.