asked on

Register server tag for customized System.Web.UI.WebControls.Image

I created an "App_Themes" aware image derived from System.Web.UI.WebControls.Image.

It shows-up in my Toolbox and I can use it.

But I want to know how I can declare it, such that I can have it available EVERYWHERE like the <asp: ...> server controls are.

How can I do this?

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI;

namespace Campus_Webstore
{
    public class ThemeAwareImage : Image
    {           

        public ThemeAwareImage()
        {
        }

        public override string ImageUrl
        {
            get
            {
                return base.ImageUrl;
            }
            set
            {              
                Page p = (Page)HttpContext.Current.Handler;
                base.ImageUrl = "~/App_Themes/" + p.StyleSheetTheme + "/images/" + value;    
            }
        }
    }
}

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Bob Learned

Tom,

Here are some things to get the ball rolling:

1) If the custom control is defined in a referenced DLL, it should show up on the toolbox when you rebuild the solution. Then, you should be able to drag from the toolbox to the web page, and link everything up.

2) The @Register directive:

@ Register
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c76dd5k1.aspx

Creates an association between a tag prefix and a custom control, which provides developers with a concise way to refer to custom controls in an ASP.NET application file (including Web pages, user controls, and master pages).

Tom Knowlton

ASKER

I don't mean by using the @Register directive. I know about that.

I am talking about being able to do this:

<asp:TextBox ...

or

<asp:ListBox ...

How does Visual Studio recognize the <asp> tag?

I want to do the same thing with my derived controls.

Bob Learned

It sounds like you are looking for the TagPrefixAttribute...

TagPrefixAttribute.TagPrefix Property
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.tagprefixattribute.tagprefix.aspx

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

[assembly:TagPrefix("CustomControls", "custom")]


namespace CustomControls
{

	// Simple custom control
	public class MyCS_Control : Control
      {
            private String message = "Hello";

            public virtual String Message
            {
                  get
                  {
                        return message;
                  }
                  set
                  {
                        message = value;
                  }
            }

            [System.Security.Permissions.PermissionSet(System.Security.Permissions.SecurityAction.Demand, Name="FullTrust")] 
            protected override void Render( HtmlTextWriter writer)
            {
            writer.Write("<span style='background-color:aqua; font:8pt tahoma, verdana;'> "
                        + this.Message + "<br>" + "C# version. The time on the server is " + System.DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()
                        + "</span>");

            }

      }

}

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Tom Knowlton

ASKER

I'll buy that. :)

So, what would the markup look like for a brand new webform that had only this control on it?

Tom Knowlton

ASKER

I want my derived control to work ***just like**** the built-in asp .net server controls.......in that I do not have to declare them with the @Register directive in order to use them.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebForm3.aspx.cs" Inherits="Campus_Webstore.WebForm3" %>




/////////////// THIS IS NEEDED OR MY DERIVED CONTROL IS NOT RECOGNIZED ///////////////////
<%@ Register assembly="Campus Webstore" namespace="Campus_Webstore" tagprefix="ThemeAwareImage" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Open Notepad" onclick="Button1_Click" />       
    </div>


///////// IF I REMOVE THE @REGISTERED DIRECTIVE, I GET A RUNTIME ERROR /////////////
    <ThemeAwareImage:ThemeAwareImage ID="ThemeAwareImage2" runat="server" />
    




/////////////// THE PAGE "KNOWS" THE <asp> TAG, EVEN THOUGH NOTHING REGISTERED ABOVE ///////////////////
<asp:Button ID="Button2" runat="server" Text="Button" />




    </form>
</body>
</html>

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Bob Learned

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Tom Knowlton

ASKER

I was hoping that would not be your answer, LOL.

Tom Knowlton

ASKER

Sometimes the correct answer is, "You can't do that." :)