How to Use the ListBox Control in ASP.NET 2.0

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Any developer who is using the Listbox control in his applications needs to be aware of how data binding has changed from VS 2003 to ADO.NET 2.0. This article will explain the changes. It appears to be an improvement over the previous techniques used.

Introduction

While the concept of data binding has not changed, the mechanics and objects involved in data binding have changed from VS2003 (.NET Framework 1.1x) to ADO.NET 2.0. This can be easily seen by comparing the Toolbox items in VS2003 and VS2005 as shown in the next two pictures. The connection, command, transactions, parameters have been replaced by the DataSource Controls. The data binding in ASP.NET 2.0 relies on the data binding expressions and the data source controls. This tutorial is about the ListBox control and how it is bound to data. It should interest those who might be using ListBox Control in their applications. You will see for yourselves how much better off you will be using the Data Source Controls in ADO.NET 2.0.

VS 2003

VS 2005

ListBox Control

The ListBox control displays items in a list appearing sequentially and vertically in a scrollable window. It may display single or multiple items. It usually displays items by pulling the information from memory and formatting them according to the way they are requested. The ListBox control as seen in the Object Browser of VS 2005 has its inheritance as shown in the next paragraph.

Public Class ListBox Inherits System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListControl Member of: System.Web.UI.WebControls Summary: Represents a list box control that allows single or multiple item selection.

This inheritance is common to the other type of list controls as well, such as DropDownList, CheckBoxList, RadioButtonList and the BulletItemList which is new in VS 2005.

Because of this inheritance one can access a large number of properties, methods and events of the list controls in applications shown in the Object Browser.

The ListBox control has additional properties for setting its BorderColor, BorderStyle, and BorderWidth. Also it has some properties not available in other types of list controls, namely Rows and SelectionMode properties shown in the object browser.

Next: Usage of the ListBox Control in web pages >>
 

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