If only you spent as much time learning as you did ranting.
I'm yet to find any instance of a iterators for output code with the
level of dexterity I want
<asp:Literal ID="MyWebPage" runat="server">Generate your entire page
here</Literal>
That will let you do "old style" web development where you build up your
output as a concatinated string and dump it to the response stream. Your
code will, of course, be unmaintainable rubbish.
I don't want tables everywhere
So don't use them.
Again, I want to know why there is the reliance on client side
javascript to activate forms all the time
There isn't, you can disable autopostback (see first comment in this post).
Also, who in their right mind made an x/html element a
backend control element (the form runat="server") when semantically
forms (plural *or* singular) may not be needed on the page.
So don't include one. Only certain elements must be inside a FORM. If your
control isn't a form control it can sit outside a FORM. VS just adds the
FORM element for you as part of the default page, there is nothing stopping
you removing it (see first comment in this post) or adding more yourself
(although you can only have one that has runat="server")
..
ASP.NET terminology is not designed for the web at all
That's the desired affect. It gives desktop programmers a consistant
environment where they needn't learn the ins and outs of HTML and how the
web works. If, however, you *do* know the ins and outs that is an
advantage.
The approach is driving me nuts, because of this drag and drop,
wysiwyg
I don't use the drag and drop wysiwyg and I'm sure more regular posters on
this site are the same. Just cos MS give you a tool doesn't mean you *have*
to use it.
but if you want something slightly beyond simple tabular
data, or the occasional repeater, and keep code easily understood and
maintainable it seems like the effort required is phenomenal, even for
simple things
I disagree. Now why don't you use classic ASP or PHP and leave this forum
for people who want to move as technology moves?
