ASP.Net: Calendar Web Control

Introduction

Calendar web control is provided by Microsoft.Net framework, it can display a calendar in a web page, user can navigate to any day in any year, user can also select dates, and it can also used to display some information, like appointment or schedule, in the calendar.

This article gives you an example application of programming on Calendar control. We have a XML file which has holiday data in year 2002, we use a DataSet object to read this XML file and mark them on the Calendar, when you select a date, the date and a description, if it is a holiday, will be displayed in a Label control.

In this article I will provide a step-by-step guide to show you how to:

1. Read XML file into a DataSet object
2. Display the DataSet data in a DataGrid
3. Program Calendar control to display information
4. Program Calendar control when user select a date
   
   

Requirement

You need the following things to do this work

1. Windows 2000 Pro or Server with service pack 2 as your operation system.
2. Visual Studio.Net is installed on your system
   

Create a XML file and read it into a DataSet object

1. Start your Visual Studio.Net, from the File menu, point to New, and then click Project to display the New Project dialog box.
2. Select Visual C# Projects in the Project Types pane, and then select ASP.Net Web Application. Name the project Calendar, then click OK. Visual Studio will add this project to Solution Explorer and display a new web page in the designer.
3. From the File menu, point to New, and then click File. The New File dialog box appears.
4. Select XML File and click Open.
5. Paste the following code into the editor below the XML declaration, (Right-click the editor and select Paste as HTML )

   <holidays>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/1/1</Date>
   
       <Description>New Years' Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/1/15</Date>
   
       <Description>Martin Luther King</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/2/19</Date>
   
       <Description>President's Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/3/28</Date>
   
       <Description>Memorial Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/7/4</Date>
   
       <Description>Independence Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/9/3</Date>
   
       <Description>Labor Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/10/8</Date>
   
       <Description>Columbus Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/11/12</Date>
   
       <Description>Veterans Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/11/22</Date>
   
       <Description>Thanksgiving Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
     <holiday>
   
       <Date>2002/12/25</Date>
   
       <Description>Christmas Day</Description>
   
     </holiday>
   
   </holidays>

6. From the File menu, point to Save XMLFile1 As. Name the file holiday.xml and click Save.
7. In Solution Explorer window, select WebForm1.aspx, right click and select View Code.
8. Declare a DataSet Object, under public class WebForm1

   protected DataSet dsHoliday = new DataSet("holiday");
   
    

   In private void Page_Load method, write this:
   

   dsHoliday.ReadXml("C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Calendar\holiday.xml");
   
    

9. Now, you have read the XML file into your DataSet object.
   

Display the XML file in a DataGrid control

1. From the Web Forms tab of the Toolbox, drag a DataGrid control onto the design view of WebForm1.aspx page.
2. Add the following three lines into the private void Page_Load method

   DataGrid1.DataSource = dsHoliday;
   
   DataGrid1.DataMember = "holiday";
   
   DataGrid1.DataBind();
   
    

3. In Solution Explorer, right-click the page and choose Build and Browse. Confirm that a list of holiday is displayed in the grid.

Programming on the Calendar control

Now the XML data is already in our DataSet object, we need to do is mark them in the Calendar control by programming on the DayRender event of Calendar object. When the Calendar control is generating the calendar data, it raises an event you can handle. You create a event handler to hook this event, the control calls your event handler for each day as it is preparing the day for display, and you can then programmatically examine which date is being rendered and customize it appropriately.

1. From the Web Forms tab of the Toolbox, drag a Calendar control onto the design view of WebForm1.aspx page.
2. If you like you can change the appearance by clicking Auto Format... like under the Properties window, you can also change individual style properties to change the appearance.
3. In Properties window, click Event button, and select DayRender event, double click it. This will create an event handler in your code view of WebForm1.aspx page.
   private void Calendar1_DayRender(object sender, System.Web.UI.WebControls.DayRenderEventArgs e)
   
4. Copy the following code into this Calendar1_DayRender method.

   DataGrid1.DataSource = dsHoliday;
   
   Style holidayStyle = new Style();
   
   holidayStyle.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
   
   
   
   foreach (DataRow myDataRow in dsHoliday.Tables["holiday"].Rows)
   
   {
   
    string s = myDataRow["Date"].ToString();
   
    DateTime holiday_date = DateTime.Parse(s);
   
    if ( (e.Day.Date == holiday_date) && 
   
    (!e.Day.IsOtherMonth)               )
   
    {
   
    e.Cell.ApplyStyle(holidayStyle);
   
    }
   
   } 

   At first, set the DataSource of DataGrid1 to dsHoliday DataSet. Then create a Style to mark the calendar red for the holidays.
   When Calendar control generate the calendar data, this DayRender event is fired for every day in the calendar, the date is in the parameter DayRenderEventArgs e, the above code compares the date in parameter e and every record in dsHoliday DataSet, if the date in parameter e equals to a date in dsHoliday record, then apply the holidayStyle to that date cell in calendar.
   
5. Build the project and run, you will see the Calendar control displayed in your browser, then navigate it to the months with a holiday, you will see the holiday date is displayed in red.

Programming When User Select a Date from Calendar

When user click on a date on a Calendar control, the Calendar control fires a SelectionChanged Event, developer can add a event handler and some code to program it. In this sample, when user click on a date, the date string, like Wednesday, July 17, 2002, will be displayed in a Label control, if that date is a holiday, the description of the holiday is also displayed.

1. In Properties window, click Event button, and select SelectionChanged event, double click it. This will create an event handler in your code view of WebForm1.aspx page.
   private void Calendar1_SelectionChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   
2. In the design view of WebForm1.aspx, drag a Label control from the Toolbox.
3. Copy the following code into this Calendar1_SelectionChanged method.

   
   
   string holiday_descr = "";
   
   if (e != null){
   
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar cl = 
           (System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar)sender;
   
   foreach (DataRow myDataRow in dsHoliday.Tables["holiday"].Rows)
   
   {
   
   DateTime holiday_date = DateTime.Parse(myDataRow["Date"].ToString());
   
   if ( cl.SelectedDate.Date == holiday_date ){
   
   holiday_descr = ", " + myDataRow["Description"].ToString();
   
   }
   
   }
   
   Label1.Text = cl.SelectedDate.Date.ToLongDateString() + holiday_descr;  
   
   }
   
    

   When the Calendar control fires this event, the parameter object sender is the Calendar control itself, the code above will cast the sender to Calendar object, then you can use SelectedDate property of Calendar control. The above code will go over all the records to find whether the selected date is a holiday, if it is, then get the description of the holiday.
4. Build the project and run it, when you click on a date, the date string will be displayed in the Label control.
   

More ASP.NET Code Articles
More By aspfree

developerWorks - FREE Tools!

NEW! Driving Business Success with Rational Process Library Join this webcast, to learn how the Rational Process Library can help with compliance issues, drive process improvement, and assist in service-oriented architecture (SOA) or Agile development. We will take a peek into the Rational Process Library with content around software and systems engineering (including RUP), operations and systems management, program and portfolio management, and asset and SOA governance. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Best Practices: The Integrated Project and Portfolio Management Platform. Hear how IBM Rational Project and Portfolio Management integrated solutions help teams put the right tools and processes in place to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of project teams and ensure that the business vision is being executed correctly. Learn how to automate and integrate requirements prioritization, top-down project planning, communications and controls, and methodology deployment to keep your scope, costs, and schedules under control. Tackle with an end-to-end approach the management of scope and scope changes, usage of methodology to control and empower project teams, and optimization of resources to align activity costs with the overall project plan. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! "ebook: Exploring IBM SOA Technology & Practice Learn field-tested SOA principles, methodology, technology and implementation from the global SOA market leader - in a new e-book by an IBM SOA expert. Written by IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer Bobby Woolf, "Exploring IBM SOA Technology & Practice" is the ultimate insider's guide to SOA - a PDF e-book packed cover to cover with IBM's specific advice on how to make your SOA implementation a success. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! BlammoSplat: Build a community Web site of OpenLaszlo animations, Part 3: The community animation Learn to enable users to both rate existing animations and to combine existing animations into new snippets. This is the third in a series of three tutorials that chronicle the building of a site that enables collaborative discussion and animation building using Domino and OpenLaszlo. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Improve your build process with IBM Rational Build Forge, Part 2: Automate builds for a real-world Tomcat project Learn how Rational Build Forge can extend a simple compile and package build process by adding customization and deployment capability. Go from a manual method to automating: checking for code changes; getting the latest source; compiling and packaging; customizing; copying to and restarting a deployment server; and sending e-mail notification that a new version is available. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Maintaining QoS and Process Integrity in an SOA Environment This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Successful Change and Release Management for .NET Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! The dirty dozen: preventing common application-level hack attacks As organizations have grown increasingly dependent on online software, the risk of malicious attacks has also become far more serious. Fortunately, well-governed organizations can protect their Web applications by injecting vulnerability assessments and ethical hacks into their software development and delivery processes. This paper describes 12 of the most common hacker attacks and provides basic rules that you can follow to help create more hack-resistant Web applications. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Webcast: Accelerating Software Innovation with System z Attend this launch webcast with Scott Hebner, Vice President of IBM Rational Marketing and Strategy, where he will overview Rational’s new offerings and programs to help customers accelerate software innovation on System z. He will discuss how these solutions help organizations extend their core business processes toward modern architectures such as SOA and web technologies to deliver business improvements that stand the test of time. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Webcast: Application security testing and Web compliance Join the IBM Watchfire team for an informative discussion on techniques and best practices to proactively manage Web application security and how to effectively build application security testing into the software development lifecycle (SDLC). In this Software Delivery Platform webcast you will learn: How to better understand potential web application security vulnerabilities, best practices and how to effectively integrate application security testing into the software development lifecycle, the importance of detecting and removing software vulnerabilities during application development. FREE! Go There Now!

All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!