Question

ASP.NET Database Search - Results on same page or a different page

Asked by: rawdrib

I am building a fairly complicated database search application and some questions about what the best route to display the results would be.  

I have a search criteria form, which is essentially 6 separate search forms on one page.  The user clicks a button on the page specfying the search type and the page posts back and shows the appropriate ASP:PANEL control depending on the button clicked.  The user can then specify his search criteria in one of these forms and click the search button to postback the page.

That being said, each of the searches displays a different result set and uses different database calls to populate the dataList.  If I were to display results on the same page, then i would have literally 6 separate datalists on the page (although only one would be shown at a time).  There are two options: 1. Display results on the same page, which seems to be the .NET way 2. Redirect to a different page based on the search type performed.

I am an ASP guy, just getting started with .NET, so obviously the latter is something i'm familiar with.  Any suggestions on which is better (i'm leaning towards the 2nd)?

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Asked On
2005-02-19 at 09:52:31ID21321351
Tags

page

,

search

,

results

,

same

Topic

Programming for ASP.NET

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: NetDeveloperPosted on 2005-02-19 at 11:28:47ID: 13354632

Hi, use as you said Panels where you include the variuos Grids...to maintain the current grid always in the same position in the page set for them an asbsolute position style doing:

yourgrid.Attributes.Add("style","Z-INDEX: 102; LEFT: 304px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 104px")

so that u won't have the effect to see holes of empty space in ur page

 

by: champ_010Posted on 2005-02-19 at 15:45:04ID: 13355591

It don't think one way is better than the other--performance wise in this case.  Just a matter of preference on how you like to organize your pages/site.  The .NET hidden panels maybe nice and easy to use than before .NET--when you had to write your own javascript etc. but doesn't mean it's necessary the '.Net way'.  If anything the '.Net way' just means these panels are now built in and easier to use.

So if your forms and result DataList templates are long lines of code then it will be easier and maybe best that you separate them into pages (Suggestion: 1 page for the selection type with 6 forms in hidden panels and then 6 separate result pages).  If you ever had to upgrade these pages it would be easier to manage the code and design of the result pages than if you had to go fishing through a long page.

If you had everything on one page, user selects the search type (postback: refresh 1), user fills in the form that appears and submits (postback: refresh 2), the results are displayed.  Same thing as user selects search type (postback: refresh 1), user fills in form and submits (goes to the relevant form result page: refresh 2), results show.  So pick the one that suits your organization style in this case. Note how it's probably easier for you to build the user selects to display appropriate form part nowadays with the .NET way--so I would take advantage of that part and then build different result pages like you did the ASP way.

 

by: champ_010Posted on 2005-02-19 at 15:57:49ID: 13355631

Something I did recently was...using your case as an example, build the master search page with the select box.  Then build 6 user control pages each with the form and datalist and all the processing code for that form/result. On the master search page, create an array with the form control names:

string[] formsList={"form1.ascx","form2.ascx", "form3.ascx","form4.ascx","form5.ascx","form6.ascx"}

so that on postback you can grab the id of the selected search type and dump it in the array to get the name of the user control you want to put on your search page (in a placeholder control):

//Variable to hold the path of the User Control
myForm= search/forms/"+formsList[Int32.Parse(id)];  //id being the selected that was postedback

//Load UserControl
      Control myPlaceHolder= LoadControl(myForm);

//Add the User Control to the Control Collection for the Placeholder
      Controls.Add(myPlaceHolder);

//Add the Control to the content Placeholder
      placeHolder1.Controls.Add(myPlaceHolder);

And then in your HTML you have:

<asp:PlaceHolder id=placeHolder1 runat="server"/>

Just another way to organize that's all.

 

by: champ_010Posted on 2005-03-15 at 14:03:45ID: 13549525

Does rawdrib have any questions re: the suggestions that were offered?  Are you still waiting for another opinion? Did any of the posted responses help you come to a conclusion?

When a question is one where the asker wants an opinion on something, how do you know who to award the points to? There's no right or wrong answer, just suggestions and opinions such as in this case.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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