generally they are right.
You will typically put a "place holder" into the template and then replace
that "place holder" with content created from a control (.ascx file). the
content is injected into the position of the "place holder" by using the
page.loadcontrol method.
example:
------------------------
....somewhere in your code
' Dynamically inject a signin login module into the page
'---------------------------------------------------------------------
If Request.IsAuthenticated = False Then
LoginControl.Controls.Add(Page.LoadControl("~/SignIn.ascx"))
End If
..... somewhere in your template
<asp:placeholder id="LoginControl" runat="server" />
"Mark" <mark12b@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:mark12b-F29D08.12133710052005@news.isp.giganews.com...[color=blue]
>I am setting up an asp.net site using the Ektron CMS. Every page in the
> site uses the same basic template, with the look of the page changing
> via CSS and an id on the body. The id is shared by all pages in a
> subsection, e.g. everything in /about/ needs to have <body id="about">.
>
> In the past what I've done is set a global variable in index.asp, then
> include the template to render the page:
>
> <%
> pageid = "about"
> defaultcontentid = 33
> %>
> <!--#include virtual="/include/mastertemplate.asp" -->
>
> mastertemplate.asp would be the entire page, echoing and processing the
> variables like so:
>
> <!--#include virtual="/include/cmsfunctions.asp" -->
> <body id="<%= pageid %>">
> <%= cmsRenderContent(defaultcontentid) %>
>
> This worked great. I needed one index.asp for each subsection, and had
> no duplication of template code. If the template needed to be updated, I
> just gave it to the designer, who modified it in Dreamweaver or
> whatever. The separation between presentation and logic was good, and
> any code that generated html was in an easily-modified function.
>
> I've experimented with a similar approach in asp.net, and have the start
> of it working, but the additional complication is that
> mastertemplate.aspx has some codebehind related to the cms server
> controls that it uses, and I need to use the passed-in variables within
> that codebehind. For example, I'd establish a default content id in the
> calling page, and if the mastertemplate.asp doesn't detect an id in the
> url, it will use the default.
>
> I am looking for examples of this approach in asp.net but I keep running
> across advice to use user controls instead. But it seems like user
> controls are used for parts of pages, not the page template itself. Is
> that right? Can a user control contain server controls? How would I pass
> variables from a "stub" calling page to the user control page? Can a
> user control be modified in something like Dreamweaver?
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> mark[/color]
