ASP.Net newbie needs help

Astaroth

I have a page which contains a form which will have a variable number of textboxes for the user to complete. The text boxes are called (for arguements sake) Textbox1, Textbox2, Textbox3 etc

I was intending to create a Do.... Loop using a counter and variable to create the textbox name and then use this variable in the request.form command - see below as an example of what I am trying to say.

            Dim loopcount As Integer = 1
            Dim item_IDs As String = ""
            Dim textboxname As String
            Do
            textboxname = "textbox" & loopcount
            If Request.Form(textboxname) < 1 Then Exit Do
            item_IDs = item_IDs & "," & Request.Form(textboxname)
            loopcount = loopcount + 1
            Loop

The problem that I am having is that the request.form(textboxname) is not returning an results, though if I put a test piece of script in of request.form("textbox1") it does return the anticipated value.

How do I get round this problem?

Many thanks

wolfman

I don't really use VB.Net, but using C# you could try something like:

int i = 0;
foreach (System.Web.UI.Control c in Page.Controls)
!!
    if (c is TextBox)
    !!
        TextBox data = c as TextBox;
          
        if(c.ID == string.Format("myTextBox{0}", i))
        !!
            // do something
            i++;
        }
    }
}

It'll depend where you have the TextBoxes sat. The above example assumes they aren't nested within any other .Net objects (such as a PlaceHolder), and that they are sat directly on the page.

Or you could use the

TextBox t = Page.FindControl("myTextBoxId") as TextBox

if(t != null)
!!
    // do something
}

Dynamic forms can be a nightmare. Another alternative, if possible, would be to put all the TextBoxes on the page, and turn then visible/hidden depending upon whether they are needed. If it's truly dynamic though, then it can be quite a pain.

mparter

ASP.Net is object orientated so you should be refering to your textboxes as objects, not as properties of the Request.Form object as was the case in Classic ASP.

The following code is based upon having 3 TextBox controls on a page with a Button control for postback.

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        If Page.IsPostBack Then
            Dim intLoop As Integer = 1
            Dim strObjName As String = ""
            Dim objTextbox As TextBox
            Do
                strObjName = "TextBox" & intLoop
                objTextbox = CType(Me.FindControl(strObjName), TextBox)
                If Not objTextbox Is Nothing Then
                    Response.Write(objTextbox.Text)
                Else
                    Exit Do
                End If
                intLoop = intLoop + 1
            Loop

        End If
    End Sub

mparter

For some reason I'm unable to edit the post I created!!

This will only work if your textboxes are consecutively named. You'd probably be better iterating through the Controls collection on the page and looking for textboxes.

wolfman

Sweet, cheers, didn't know there was a CODE entry when doing posts. Updated mine to look nicer.

mparter

wolfman wrote:

Sweet, cheers, didn't know there was a CODE entry when doing posts. Updated mine to look nicer.

Yeah, it doesn't actually show it but I've remembered it from other VBulletin based forums.

Astaroth

mparter wrote:

ASP.Net is object orientated so you should be refering to your textboxes as objects, not as properties of the Request.Form object as was the case in Classic ASP.

The following code is based upon having 3 TextBox controls on a page with a Button control for postback.

Many thanks.... as I say... am still very much struggling to get my head round object orientated scripting (and failing)

The text boxes are of an unknown number but are consecutively named.... I have tried to use the more built in functions to do what I want but a combination of lack of knowledge and using MySQL as the db is meaning that I am struggling with some parts so having to use slight cellotape and glue methods of getting it working and will then look to streamline my code once I am more proficient at .net

wolfman

I'd maybe have a look at C#. I always find OOP much easier with it.

Also, if you're using MySql, maybe have a look at SubSonic (http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=actionpack). It's a simple code generator, just point it at your database and it'll do the rest. Very much like Ruby On Rails, but for .Net. Watch the video at the link above and you'll see how easy it is to use. Should make data access much easier for you.

FXCop (http://www.gotdotnet.com/Team/FxCop/) is very good tool for checking over your code. Basically it'll raise alerts if it's not correctly formatted or named, which will help you write more consistent code.

And lastly, make sure you're using something like Visual Studio to build the project in. It makes things so much easier.

Astaroth

Currently using the Visual Web Developer

Will have a look at subsonic - have heard people talk about ruby on rails but never have known what it is/ havent had chance to look into it.

The simple wording of VB.Net reminds me much more of the old days of BBC Basic programming and of cause from classic ASP where as C# just looks too much like javascript/ perl that used to scare me

Astaroth

D'oh

Would appear that I spoke too soon.... the code works perfectly when I have a fixed number of input boxes which I can therefore give IDs of textbox1 textbox2 etc to but doesnt work with my textboxs that are within a gridview (using MySQL I cannot use the gridviews native database update/ couldnt make it look as I wanted even without the actual update working).... dont get any error codes but it simply doesnt pick up the values of the text box.

The previous way that I did it was to use HTML textboxes with the ID being set dynamically with the row number at the end of the "column name". Obviously cant use your script to gather the inputs as they are not controls and cannot see how to put a variable into the request.form() - as per my original query.

How can I either.... a) get the values of the controls out of the gridview or b) sequentially ID textbox controls in a table? c) any other way to do this given the mysql limitation?

wolfman

You'll need to loop through the GridView. I don't really use them (too heavy) but I think it's probably made up of items called something like GridViewItems. So,

int i = 0;
foreach(GridViewItem item in myGridView.Items)
!!
    TextBox t = item.FindControl("TextBox" + i) as TextBox;

    if(t != null)
    !!
        string theValue = t.Text.Trim();
        i++;
    }
}

...or at least that's the rough logic when using a Repeater. It shouldn't be too different if it's not right.