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The tables below provide the correspondence between the standard elements types and those of the ASP.NET platform. These are broken into categories: command, input, output, selection, image, message, component.
| Element Type |
Option |
ASP.NET Equivalent |
Category
|
| button |
|
<input type="button"> |
command |
| buttonReset |
|
<input type="reset"> |
command |
| buttonSubmit |
|
asp:Button |
command |
| caption |
|
asp:Label with specified AssociatedControlID |
output |
| checkbox |
|
asp:Checkbox |
selection |
| checkboxGroup |
|
asp:CheckboxList |
selection |
| file |
|
asp:FileUpload |
input |
| hidden |
|
asp:HiddenField |
input |
| image |
|
asp:ImageButton |
image |
| img |
|
asp:Image |
image |
| inputText |
|
asp:TextBox |
input |
| link
link |
post |
asp:HyperLink
asp:LinkButton |
command
command |
| messages |
(for page) |
asp:ValidationSummary |
message |
| messages |
(for element) |
(See validators) |
message |
| option |
|
asp:ListItem |
selection |
| options |
|
Bindings for options are reflected directly on List controls like - asp:CheckboxList, asp:DropDownList, and
asp:ListBox |
selection |
| outputText |
format
i18n |
asp:Literal
asp:Label
<%$Resources:ResourceKey%> |
output |
| password |
|
asp:TextBox TextMode="Password" |
input |
| radio |
|
asp:RadioButton |
selection |
| radioGroup |
|
asp:RadioButtonList |
selection |
| select |
|
asp:DropDownList
asp:ListBox |
selection |
| textarea |
|
asp:TextBox TextMode ="MultiLine" |
input |
| aggregator |
|
|
|
| component |
|
asp:GridView
asp:FormView |
component |
dWebSpec defines a set of standard input element that could map to server controls. For ASP.NET there are two set of server controls to choose from. These are described below.
ASP.NET - HTML Server Controls - derived from HtmInputControl class
These are based on HTML elements, which when included in ASP.NET files are, by default, treated as text. To make these elements server controls, the attribute runat="server" is all that need to be included.
ASP.NET - Web Server Controls - derived from WebControl class
These are special ASP.NET tags, they require a runat="server" attribute to work. However, these server controls do not map directly to existing HTML elements and may represent more complex elements.
In the table above, and the rest of this documentation, the concentration is on the Web Controls. This is because the HTML Server Controls have less design time support for attaching event, auto post back capability, and also less intuitive and less suitability for dynamic web development.
The element descriptor attributes capture the specifications that could easily be translated to the attributes of ASP.NET component. This is illustrated below. The translation of these attributes could vary for the different element types (input, output, command, and selection).
Example of descriptor specification is shown below.
ELEMENT DESCRIPTORS |
id |
caption |
type |
value |
component-id |
conversion-type |
validators |
formatter |
required |
visible |
enabled |
group-id |
spec-scope |
| depositAmount |
{bundle.depAmt} |
inputText |
{invoice.depositAmount} |
{bb.depositAmount} |
float |
TypeValidator |
$#######.## |
true |
true |
true |
payment |
page |
The table below provides some of these translations. For further details follow the link provided for the descriptor attributes.
Element Descriptor Attributes |
ASP.NET Component Attribute |
Element Types |
| id |
ID |
A |
| caption |
The caption for an element is captured with HTML Label for element in the source content. This could be transferred to the caption attribute of the descriptor, mainly for the purpose of externalization,
The implementation is achieved by converting the label for in the source content to asp:Label component. |
A |
| type |
The element type would determine the ASP.NET component to use for implementation |
A |
| component-id |
The server identifier is ID also capture by the element id attribute |
A |
| value |
The value binding application depends on the element type. For example, for the inputText, it is applied to the Text attribute. See the attribute description using the link provided. |
IOC |
| conversion-type |
This specification provides a contract with the model. The conversion type gives an indication on the type that the input entries must be compatible with,
This is reflected in other specifications like validations. |
IO |
| validators |
Implemented through an associated validator |
I |
| formatter |
It is within the value binding expression that the implementation of the formatting expression would be reflected. |
IO |
| required |
The RequiredFieldValidator, is use to implement this specification. |
I |
| visible |
Visible |
A |
| enabled |
Enabled |
A |
| spec-scope |
The default specification is page. The other options like object scope have implication of moving some of the implementations, like the validations, into the model. |
|
| group-id |
ValidationGroup |
|
A = all, I = input, O = output, C = commands, S = selections except for options, O = selection Option(s)
Other attributes that could be prescribed for an element involve the Passthrough Attributes, these are very important, since these could be entered during the initial page UI design, and must eventually be reflected in the final implementation.
Although the handlers are the subjects of the event descriptors, these specifications are reflected on the control attributes as shown in the table below.
Events |
Controls |
OnClick, OnClientClick |
Button ImageButton LinkButton |
OnCheckChanged |
CheckBox RadioButton |
OnTextChanged |
TextBox |
OnSelectedIndexChanged |
DropDownList CheckBoxList RadioButtonList ListBox |
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Technologies
