How would I generate text fields for user input in ASP.NET C#?

[Guest]

Hi,
I'm relatively new at this language, so I've been trying to find parallels
to problems I've run into in the past.

This is the hypothetical problem:
I want to write a CD inventory application. There is a page where it asks
the user for the number of tracks on a CD. After they enter the number of
tracks, I would like to generate that number of text fields on the page (i.e.
if user enters 30, I want to generate 30 text fields), so the user can enter
track titles.

I haven't found any ASP.NET books that talks about this yet, so I asked
around for ideas.

Here is what I heard:
1) Generate the entire form in Javascript and then submit the form. Let the
server-side now deal with it. (I don't like this idea too much, since I
don't want to assume that Javascript is working on the client.)

2) Create a <asp:table> in the aspx page with a column to have an
<asp:textbox> in it. In the code-behind, add new rows to that Table object

3) Try to create a textBox object and add it to Page.Controls collection.
(But I don't have control over the layout anymore.

When I tried to solve this problem in PHP, Coldfusion, or XSL, I could loop
the HTML textfield within a code block. However, this model does not
separate code from presentation any more. Are the above 3 suggestions the
best answers to this problem?

Are there any books or websites that might talk about such topics?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Arjen]

Hi there,

Add this inside your aspx file:

<asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" /><br />
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button"
OnClick="Button1_Click" /><br /><br />
<asplaceHolder ID="PlaceHolder1" runat="server" />

Add this method inside your code-behid file:

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Read the number of cd's
int numberOfCd = Convert.ToInt32(TextBox1.Text);

// Add textboxes for tracks
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfCd; i++)
{
// Create textbox
TextBox cdTrack = new TextBox();
cdTrack.ID = "track" + i.ToString();

// Create newline
LiteralControl newline = new LiteralControl();
newline.Text = "<br />";

// Add textbox
PlaceHolder1.Controls.Add(cdTrack);
PlaceHolder1.Controls.Add(newline);
}
}

Hope this helps,
Arjen

 

[Guest]

Hi Arjen,
I didn't know about the Placeholder class. I just read up on Placeholder's
class definition, and what you describe in the code is what I want to do.
And it's a lot cleaner and less complex.

Thank you! I'll go try this out.