NGWS SDK Documentation  

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Web Forms Controls by Function

The Web Forms controls are listed here according to general function. The following sections individually provide details about Web controls and HTML controls.

Note   For more about the differences between Web and HTML controls, see Web Forms Server Controls.

Web Controls

Web controls include traditional user-entry controls as well as special-purpose controls such as a calendar. All Web controls can be bound to a data source. To find properties that are available to all Web controls, see Base Web Control Properties. To find style properties that are supported by some Web controls, see Style Object Properties.

Function Control Description
Text display (read only) Label Displays text that users can't directly edit.
Text edit TextBox Displays text entered at design time that can be edited by users at run time or changed programmatically.

Note   Although other controls allow users to edit text (for example, DropDownList), their primary purpose is not usually text editing.

Selection from a list DropDownList Allows users to either select from a list or enter text.
  ListBox Displays a list of choices. Optionally, the list can allow multiple selections.
Graphics display Image Displays an image.
  AdRotator Displays a sequence (pre-defined or random) of images.
Value setting CheckBox Displays a box that users can click to turn on and off.
  CheckBoxList Creates a grouping of check boxes. The list control makes it easy to create check boxes using data binding.
  RadioButton Displays a single button that can be turned on or off.
  RadioButtonList Creates a grouping of radio buttons. Inside the group, only one button can be selected.
Date setting Calendar Displays a graphic calendar to allow users to select a date.
Commands
Note   These controls cause the form to be posted to the server for processing.
Button Used to perform a task.
  LinkButton Like a Button control, but has the appearance of a hyperlink.
  ImageButton Like a Button control, but incorporates an image instead of text.
Navigation controls Hyperlink Creates Web navigation links.
Table controls Table Creates a table.
  TableCell Creates an individual cell within a table row.
  TableRow Creates an individual row within a table.
Grouping other controls CheckBoxList Creates a collection of check boxes.
  Panel Creates a borderless division on the form that serves as a container for other controls.
  RadioButtonList Creates a grouping of radio buttons. Inside the group, only one button can be selected.
List controls Repeater Displays information from a data set using a set of HTML elements and controls you specify, repeating the elements once for each record in the data set.
  DataList Like the Repeater control, but with more formatting and layout options, including the ability to display information in a table. The DataList control also allows you to specify editing behavior.
  DataGrid Displays information, usually data-bound, in tabular form with columns. Provides mechanisms to allow editing and sorting.

HTML Controls

HTML controls map directly to HTML elements. The controls listed in this section are pre-defined controls. However, any HTML element can be made into a control; in that case, the control supports a generic set properties and methods. All HTML controls can be bound to a data source. To find properties that are shared by all HTML controls, see

Function Control Description
Forms HtmlForm Defines an HTML form. The values of controls within the form are posted to the server when the form is submitted.
Text edit HtmlInputText Can be blank or display text entered at design time that can be edited by users at run time, or changed programmatically. This control can also be used to create password boxes that display their values as asterisks (*).
  HtmlTextArea Displays large quantities of text. Used for multi-line text entry and display.
Commands
Note   These controls cause the form to be posted to the server for processing.
HtmlAnchor Creates Web navigation.
  HtmlButton Performs a task. This control can contain any arbitrary HTML, and therefore is very flexible in look and feel. However, it is not compatible with all browsers.
  HtmlInputButton Performs a task. This button is supported on all browsers.
  HtmlInputImage Like a button, but displays a graphic.
Selection from a list HtmlSelect Displays a list of text and graphical items (icons).
Graphics display HtmlImage Displays an image.
Information storage HtmlInputHidden Stores state information for a form (information that needs to be available with each round trip to the server).
Navigation HtmlAnchor Creates a Web navigation link.
Value setting HtmlInputCheckBox Creates a box that users can click to turn on and off. The CheckBox control includes a label.
  HtmlInputRadioButton Displays a button that can be turned on or off. Radio buttons are typically used to allow the user to select one item from a short list of fixed options.
Table manipulation HtmlTable Creates a table.
  HtmlTableRow Creates an individual row within a table.
  HtmlTableCell Creates an individual cell within a row within a table row.
File transfer HtmlInputFile Allows users to specify files to be uploaded to a server. (The server must allow uploads.)
Other functions HtmlGenericControl Creates a basic object model (properties, methods, events) for any HTML element converted to a control.

Validation Controls

Validation controls provide a way to ensure that users enter appropriate data into a Web Forms page. You can apply one or more of the validation controls listed in the following table to any Web control or HTML control.

Function Control Description
Required entry RequiredFieldValidator Ensures that the user does not skip an entry.
Comparison to a value (including database fields) CompareValidator Compares a user's entry against a constant value or a property value of another control using a comparison operator (less than, equal, greater than, and so on). To check against a database field, for the comparison value you specify an expression that gets the data to compare against.
Range checking RangeValidator Checks that a user's entry is between specified lower and upper boundaries. You can check ranges within pairs of numbers, alphabetic characters, and dates. Boundaries can be expressed as constants or as values derived from another control.
Pattern matching RegularExpressionValidator Checks that the entry matches a pattern defined by a regular expression. This type of validation allows you to check for predictable sequences of characters, such as those in social security numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, postal codes, and so on.
User-defined CustomValidator Checks the user's entry using validation logic that you code yourself. This type of validation allows you to check for values derived at run time.

See Also

Web Forms Server Controls |