I'm new to ASP.NET and web programming in general, and coming from a
traditional fat client background, I'm having some trouble figuring out
what is the best web technique to use when designing a web page, that
is, when to use client side-script, when to use server events, and what
is the proper situation to use both.
The current UI paradigm I'm looking to implement is this: A user is
presented with a DetailsView control in edit mode. Some of the edit
field templates contain DropDownLists, populated with data from the
database for the given lookup field, along with two static list items,
one for "(select an item from the list)" - a placeholder for when the
database field is blank - and one for "(add a new item to the list)" -
a placeholder for when the user wants to add a new lookup to the table
without leaving edit mode on the current record. When the user selects
"(add a new item to the list)", I would like a modal pop up window to
be displayed, where I will show another DetailsView in insert mode (I
already have this form). When the user adds a record, I would like to
return control to the original DetailsView form, refresh the
DropDownList with the new data and sync it to the newly added lookup.
Ideally, I would also like to return info to the original form if the
user cancels the pop-up, so that no database call needs to be
implemented.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could steer me in the right
direction in terms of the correct combination of client script, server
events, session state variables, etc. that I would need to accomplish
this. To me, this is a trivial matter in a standalone desktop
application, but as a web newbie, I'm finding myself at a loss.
BTW, I'm using Visual Studio 2005 as my IDE.
Thanks in advance,
Ronn
