asked on

Accessing stuff in web user control - Round 3

Alot of what I'm doing on this project is very exploratory for me, so forgive me if I ask the same question again.

I know that I can access members of a web user control if I expose them first:

public string SetLabelName
{
set{this.label1.text=value;}
get{return label1.text;}
}

I have also been shown that I can call a function on that control that sets the values locally by passing a long list of arguments or passing an array:

customer custControl = new customer();
custControl.fillLabels(args);

Here is my new question. I just did a bunch of reading and I was going over the static keyword. When I make my members public static, I can call them using a type name instead of an instance reference. When I type the dot operator, it shows the members properly and everything compiles perfectly.

So now, I have some static members in a class, and when I try to run in debug mode it throws an error on a page thats not part of my code. Here is the output:
Compiler Error Message: CS0176: Static member 'CMAlite.Controls.Customer.txtFirstName' cannot be accessed with an instance reference; qualify it with a type name instead.
Line 66: #line default
Line 67: #line hidden
Line 68: this.txtFirstName = __ctrl;
Line 69:
Line 70: #line 8 "http://localhost/CMAlite/Controls/customer.ascx"

I don't have that anywhere in any file that I wrote, so I must be doing something that asp.net doesn't like.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
dave

praneetha

i think when u have a static method...which means you can;t have instance of class...

so change
set{this.label1.text=value;}

change that to with out this....

try with

set
{
label1.Text
}

KaiserSose

ASKER

I don't even have set/get function to expose the members in there. My other class just makes a call to Customer.txtFirstName.Text and it compiles but errors at runtime with the above text.

praneetha

is customer...user control name...

and is it static class?

KaiserSose

ASKER

Yes to both.

public class Customer : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{
public static System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtFirstName;
.
.
.
other stuff
.
.
.
}

praneetha

ok just create a new webform and drag a textbox and change it to

public static System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtFirstName;

and run it it throws the same error...

when u go to view->source..you can see the line it is talking about..

i guess it is some code which .net writes to set the textboxes using this...

Line 128: #line default
Line 129: #line hidden
it says it is hidden...so i guessi t is some internal code..

but good question...

praneetha

i am not sure if i am right..may be someone else can provide good explanation

KaiserSose

ASKER

I'm not sure either. If I can't get this to work then I'm going to use the other method of exposing the members separately.

dave

KaiserSose

ASKER

Check this out...

This class throws an error on the set function of the public string. It says Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Stepping through the code, the 'value' is being passed correctly.

public class Customer : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{

protected internal System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtFirstName;

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
      //nothing
}

public string expTxtFirstName
{
      set
      {
            txtFirstName.Text = value;
      }
      get
      {
            return txtFirstName.Text;
      }
}
}

praneetha

isi t only for this property....do all the other properties work fine?

KaiserSose

ASKER

No, none of them work, same error.

praneetha

then i guess the problem is with how u r calling this property...

cope paste the code in aspx page..

the declaration of usercontrol
calling the property

KaiserSose

ASKER

protected void loadUserDetails(object sender, CommandEventArgs e)
            {
                  CustomerFunctions objCF = new CustomerFunctions();
                  CustomerInfo objCust = new CustomerInfo();
                  objCust = objCF.loadUserDetails(e.CommandArgument.ToString());

                  //Account Tab Data
                  Customer custObj = new Customer();
                  custObj.expTxtFirstName = objCust.firstName; <-----------------------It makes it to this line just fine and dies.

praneetha

did u drag and drop the usercontrol onthe web form?

KaiserSose

ASKER

No I did not. I am using a tab control that only shows tab 1 in design view. I tried to drag and drop, but it either ends up on tab 1 or in limbo. I manually entered the control registration and then put the user control tag where I wanted it. Could I have missed something? Here is my 2 lines:

<%@ Register TagPrefix="s2f" TagName="customerControl" src="Controls/customer.ascx" %>

<s2f:customerControl id="customerControl" runat="server" />

praneetha

in the code behind...

don't do that....assuming Customer is usercontrol class...
Customer custObj = new Customer();
custObj.expTxtFirstName = objCust.firstName;

in the decalaration region that would be before Page_load...

declare..

Customer customerControl;//same as id in HTML

and then

custometControl.expTxtFirstName="whatever"

KaiserSose

ASKER

Same deal, as soon as the code steps into the Set function on the ascx codebehind it can't find txtFirstName. Do you think I could save alot of this headache by making Web Custom Controls instead of Web User Controls?

praneetha

is it doing for all properties...or just txtFirstName...

try with out interbal in your textbox declaration...(it should not make a diff though)
change your set property to that
set
{
txtFirstName.Text = "testing";
}

with out setting any properties if you run the application can u see the user control on your webform?

public class Customer : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{

protected internal System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtFirstName;

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
//nothing
}

public string expTxtFirstName
{
set
{
txtFirstName.Text = value;
}
get
{
return txtFirstName.Text;
}
}
}

KaiserSose

ASKER

Ok, I tried it with this and it still couldn't find txtFirstName:

set
{
txtFirstName.Text = "working";
}

I can see the user control when the page loads because I don't set those properties until you search for a user. That part works fine, until you try to load the users data into the textboxes.

This is straight from that class:

namespace CMAlite.Controls
{
      using System;
      using System.Configuration;
      using System.Data;
      using System.Data.SqlClient;
      using System.Drawing;
      using System.Web;
      using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
      using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

      /// <summary>
      ///            Summary description for customer.
      /// </summary>
      public class Customer : System.Web.UI.UserControl
      {
            protected internal System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtFirstName;
            protected internal System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtLastName;
            //The rest taken out for readability but all are declared the same way



            private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
            {
                  if(!IsPostBack)
                  {
                        bindDropDownLists();
                  }
            }

            /// <summary>
            ///            Loads all data for the items in the dropdown lists.
            /// </summary>
            private void bindDropDownLists()
            {
                  //Working function that binds dropdown lists from a sql db
            }

            #region Exposed Members
            public string expTxtFirstName
            {
                  set
                  {
                        txtFirstName.Text = "working";//value;
                  }
                  get
                  {
                        return txtFirstName.Text;
                  }
            }
}
}

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

praneetha

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KaiserSose

ASKER

This project is making me go gray.... >8^]

praneetha

hmm could you make it work with small usercontrol..

believe me once u learn how to do it...it makes your life lot easier...

KaiserSose

ASKER

Yeah, I'll probably end up doing that.

Thanks so much for your help

dave

praneetha

ok good luck...u rwelcome..

let me know if you could fix it...

and thanks for the points :)