Using Web Parts in ASP.Net 2.0 - Properties
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So that’s the ultimate basic implementation of web parts, but we have a number of properties available to us to modify the appearance and behavior of the web part. They are:
- AllowClose
- AllowEdit
- AllowHide
- AllowMinimize
- AllowZoneChange
- Caption
- ChromeState
- ChromeType
- Description
- Direction
- HelpMode
- HelpUrl
- Hidden
- IsShared
- ProviderConnectionPoints
- Title
- TitleStyle
- TitleUrl
- Verbs
- Zone
- ZoneID
- ZoneIndex
Most of these are self-evident as to their purpose. I’ll quickly explain those that perhaps aren’t as obvious:
- AllowZoneChange: controls whether or not users can drag the Web part onto another zone.
- ChromeState: sets the display state of the web part as normal or minimized.
- ChromeType: modifies how the Web part is framed. The default is title and border, but you can set it to border, title, or none.
- IsShared: determines whether multiple users are to share the Web Part.
- ProviderConnectionPoints: used for communicating, or sharing data, between multiple Web parts on one page.
- Verbs: allows you to modify the wording where "minimize/close/restore" appears.
Rather than setting these properties programmatically on an individual basis for each Web Part object, it is simpler to set properties in the zone, to apply to all Web Parts that are contained within. I’ll take the previous example, and add some formatting to it:
<%@ register tagprefix=”jc” tagname=”Weather” src=”weather.ascx” %>
<%@ register tagprefix=”jc” tagname=”Stocks” src=”stocks.ascx” %>
<%@ page language=”C#” %>
<html>
<head>
<title>webparts tutorial</title>
</head>
<body>
<form runat=”server” id=”Form1”>
<asp:WebPartManager runat=”server” id=”myWebMgr” />
<asp:WebPartZone runat=”server” id=”zone1” PartChromeType=”Title”>
<CloseVerb text=”hide” />
<minimizeverb text=”shrink” />
<PartStyle BackColor=”#CCC” />
<ZoneTemplate>
<jc:Weather runat=”server” id=”myWeather” />
<jc:Stocks runat=”server” id=”myWeather” />
</ZoneTemplate>
</ asp:WebPartZone>
</form>
</body>
</html>
I changed a couple of the display settings here. To make the interface all the more user friendly, you could change the "verbs" (minimize/close) to images reminiscent of the same functionality in your favorite operating system. Here’s an example:
<CloseVerb imageurl=”~/images/x.png” text=”hide”
Description=”close this section”/>
If you do this, the text property now becomes the alternate text for x.png, the image button used in its place.
Next: Changing the Layout >>
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