What's the REAL deal with Javascript ?

[Liz]

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock() to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything beyond
trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

I guess I'm not clear why you can't put JS inline ? Doesn't it just get
emitted along with any literal HTML in your page ??

Is there a way to load an external xxx.js file into your code ?

Thanks for any input ...

Liz

[Jon Paal]

you can use all the normal js stuff...
"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock() to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything beyond
trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

I guess I'm not clear why you can't put JS inline ? Doesn't it just get
emitted along with any literal HTML in your page ??

Is there a way to load an external xxx.js file into your code ?

Thanks for any input ...

Liz

[Liz]

"Jon Paal" <Jon[ nospam ]Paal @ everywhere dot comwrote in message
news:OJ**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

you can use all the normal js stuff...

really ? so what's with the Page methods like "RegisterClientScriptBlock()"
?

L

"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message

news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock()

to

get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything

beyond

trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

I guess I'm not clear why you can't put JS inline ? Doesn't it just get
emitted along with any literal HTML in your page ??

Is there a way to load an external xxx.js file into your code ?

Thanks for any input ...

Liz

[Mark Rae]

"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

"Jon Paal" <Jon[ nospam ]Paal @ everywhere dot comwrote in message
news:OJ**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>you can use all the normal js stuff...

really ?

Yes.

so what's with the Page methods like "RegisterClientScriptBlock()"

It allows you to create dynamic JavaScript.

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message
news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock()
to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything beyond
trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

No, you do not HAVE to do anything. You can write code that does a lot of
things without having any emission of code. The issues comes when you start
working with server controls, as you either have to render, find the name
and write the script (or) emit to get the rendered name of the control.

I guess I'm not clear why you can't put JS inline ? Doesn't it just get
emitted along with any literal HTML in your page ??

Yes. It is largely for naming of controls without having to worry about
where they are on the page.

Is there a way to load an external xxx.js file into your code ?

Yes, you can link it in the HTML.

If you write your routines so they take the control as a parameter and then
emit the control specific calls, you end up with the best of both worlds.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com/

*************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
*************************************************

[Liz]

"Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <No************@comcast.netNoSpamMwrote in
message news:Os**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>
"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message
news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock()
to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything

beyond

trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

No, you do not HAVE to do anything. You can write code that does a lot of
things without having any emission of code. The issues comes when you

start

working with server controls,

ok ... so if I have a Grid and I want to swap CSS styles on rows when
onmouseover fires, what then ? I can't just delegate to a method in the
attribute because it'll run on the server ... is there a pattern to do this
on the client ?

L

[Jon Paal]

for a grid, you could add an event handler....

'************************************************* ******
Sub ReportGrid_ItemDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DataGridItemEventArgs)
'
' The ReportGrid_ItemDataBound helper method is used to
' highlight rows in grid table from mouse actions
'
'************************************************* ******

If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item or e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.AlternatingItem Then

If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item Then
'---------------------------------------------------
' Add the OnMouseOver and OnMouseOut method to the Row of DataGrid
'---------------------------------------------------
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseover", "this.style.backgroundColor='Silver'")
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseout", "this.style.backgroundColor='White'")
End If

If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.AlternatingItem Then
'---------------------------------------------------
' Add the OnMouseOver and OnMouseOut method to the Row of DataGrid
'---------------------------------------------------
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseover", "this.style.backgroundColor='Silver'")
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseout", "this.style.backgroundColor='CornSilk'")
End If

'We can add the onclick event handler
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onclick","this.style.backgr oundColor='lightblue'")
End If

End Sub


"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message news:u6**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>
"Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <No************@comcast.netNoSpamMwrote in
message news:Os**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>>
"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message
news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Do you really have to use these methods like RegisterClientScriptBlock()
to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything

beyond

trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

No, you do not HAVE to do anything. You can write code that does a lot of
things without having any emission of code. The issues comes when you

start

>working with server controls,

ok ... so if I have a Grid and I want to swap CSS styles on rows when
onmouseover fires, what then ? I can't just delegate to a method in the
attribute because it'll run on the server ... is there a pattern to do this
on the client ?

L

[Liz]

cool ... thanks :)

Liz
:: but wouldn't it have been easier/nicer if MS had opened up the server tag
attributes spec a bit so you could do something like:

<asp:Control runat="server" client::onmouseover="abc"
client::onmouseout="xyz" ... / ... or some such thing ... ?

"Jon Paal" <Jon[ nospam ]Paal @ everywhere dot comwrote in message
news:eh**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

for a grid, you could add an event handler....

'************************************************* ******
Sub ReportGrid_ItemDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

DataGridItemEventArgs)

'
' The ReportGrid_ItemDataBound helper method is used to
' highlight rows in grid table from mouse actions
'
'************************************************* ******

If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item or e.Item.ItemType =

ListItemType.AlternatingItem Then

>
If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item Then
'---------------------------------------------------
' Add the OnMouseOver and OnMouseOut method to the Row of DataGrid
'---------------------------------------------------
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseover",

"this.style.backgroundColor='Silver'")

e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseout",

"this.style.backgroundColor='White'")

End If

If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.AlternatingItem Then
'---------------------------------------------------
' Add the OnMouseOver and OnMouseOut method to the Row of DataGrid
'---------------------------------------------------
e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseover",

"this.style.backgroundColor='Silver'")

e.Item.Attributes.Add("onmouseout",

"this.style.backgroundColor='CornSilk'")

End If

'We can add the onclick event handler

e.Item.Attributes.Add("onclick","this.style.backgr oundColor='lightblue'")

End If

End Sub


"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message

news:u6**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

"Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <No************@comcast.netNoSpamMwrote

in

message news:Os**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>
"Liz" <li*@tiredofspam.comwrote in message
news:Oo**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Do you really have to use these methods like

RegisterClientScriptBlock()

to
get client-side Javascript into an ASP.NET 2.0 page ? For anything

beyond

trivial scripting, this is really a painful process, no ?

No, you do not HAVE to do anything. You can write code that does a lot

of

things without having any emission of code. The issues comes when you

start

working with server controls,

ok ... so if I have a Grid and I want to swap CSS styles on rows when
onmouseover fires, what then ? I can't just delegate to a method in the
attribute because it'll run on the server ... is there a pattern to do

this

on the client ?

L

[Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft]

Hi,

Liz wrote:

cool ... thanks :)

Liz
:: but wouldn't it have been easier/nicer if MS had opened up the server tag
attributes spec a bit so you could do something like:

<asp:Control runat="server" client::onmouseover="abc"
client::onmouseout="xyz" ... / ... or some such thing ... ?

They did.

<asp:ListBox Runat="server"
ID="lsbWhichTreeview"
AutoPostBack="True"
onchange="alert('Test');">

....

</asp:ListBox>

generates this client side code:

<select size="4" name="lsbWhichTreeview"
onchange="alert('Test');setTimeout('__doPostBack(\ 'lsbWhichTreeview\',\'\')',
0)" language="javascript" id="lsbWhichTreeview">

....

</select>

Note the inclusion of the client-side code before the "__doPostBack"
code. I rather recommend against this way, because it worsens the code
readibility. I prefer to do that in the code behind, using the
"Attributes" collection.

I usually add JavaScript to my HTML ages or custom controls using
JavaScript files (always recommended, better encapsulation, easier to
debug, etc...). In the code behind, I use the Attributes collection to
set the event handlers. And I use the ClientScript manager only for
dynamic JavaScript code, which is usually limited to setting "constants"
(JavaScript doesn't have them, I use normal variables for that), and for
localization (setting strings that I get from the resource files).

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

[Mark Rae]

"Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:Om**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

which is usually limited to setting "constants" (JavaScript doesn't have
them, I use normal variables for that)

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs...atements:const

[Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft]

Hi,

Mark Rae wrote:

"Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:Om**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>which is usually limited to setting "constants" (JavaScript doesn't have
them, I use normal variables for that)

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs...atements:const

The same page also states

"const is a Mozilla-specific extension, it is not supported by IE or Opera."

But I agree that I should have been more precise.

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

[Liz]

"Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:Om**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>:: but wouldn't it have been easier/nicer if MS had opened up the server
tag
attributes spec a bit so you could do something like:

<asp:Control runat="server" client::onmouseover="abc"
client::onmouseout="xyz" ... / ... or some such thing ... ?

They did.

<asp:ListBox Runat="server"
ID="lsbWhichTreeview"
AutoPostBack="True"
onchange="alert('Test');">

it's limited ... basically to events where server-side processing might make
sense .... you don't see a mouseover event for ListBox, right ?

[Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft]

Hi,

Liz wrote:

"Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:Om**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>>:: but wouldn't it have been easier/nicer if MS had opened up the server
tag
attributes spec a bit so you could do something like:

<asp:Control runat="server" client::onmouseover="abc"
client::onmouseout="xyz" ... / ... or some such thing ... ?

They did.

<asp:ListBox Runat="server"
ID="lsbWhichTreeview"
AutoPostBack="True"
onchange="alert('Test');">

it's limited ... basically to events where server-side processing might make
sense .... you don't see a mouseover event for ListBox, right ?

One more reason to use the Attributes collection instead. Honestly, in
all my years of ASP.NET programming, I never once added a client-side
event handler to an ASP.NET control tag.

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

[Mark Rae]

"Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:Od**************@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

One more reason to use the Attributes collection instead. Honestly, in all
my years of ASP.NET programming, I never once added a client-side event
handler to an ASP.NET control tag.

Me neither.