Data-Binding Expression Syntax in Composite Control

Posted by Community Admin on 03-May-2011 00:00

Having Trouble Understanding How Composite Controls Work
My process usually consists of creating a UserControl and then adding properties to the CodeFile and then calling DataBind() method on the UserControl.

public class someusercontrol : UserControl

public String FirstName get; set;

someusercontrol ()

FirstName = "Default FirstName";

protected void Page_Load(Object sender, Event Args e)

DataBind();

<%@ Page ...>

Hi my name is <%# FirstName %>

How can I do this with a server control in a module widget. I have set the LayoutTemplateName propertly. I have set properties in the widget server control but I don't see a way to databind these properties, as I normally do, to update the layout template.

So how to I use this regular syntax to bind the data from my server control to the layout template that I am using. There seems to be a disconnect.

Posted by Community Admin on 03-May-2011 00:00

Hello jwize,

You can make a reference to the controls from your template using the container

sample

protected virtual TextBox TextBox

            get

                return this.Container.GetControl<TextBox>("TextBox1", true);



The you can bind these controls inside InitializeControls or CreateChildControls.

Best wishes,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

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Posted by Community Admin on 03-May-2011 00:00

I have no problem referencing controls in the view template.
I already understand the code you gave me and how it works.
How would take care of this scenario using html and tokens as I described in my question?

<%@ Control Language="C#" %>

<style type="text/css">

.gallery-item

text-align: center;

width: <%# ThumbWidth %>px;

.gallery-image

width: <%# ThumbWidth %>px;

padding: <%# PaddingTop %>px <%# PaddingRight %>px <%# %>px <%# PaddingLeft %>px;

</style>

<div class="gallery-item">

<a href='<%# Thumbnail %>' title='<%# Description %>' rel="lightbox">

<img class="gallery-image" src='<%# Image %>' />

</a>

<p><%# Description %></p>

</div>

I understand I could take the css out and put it into a stylesheet but then it wouldn't be possible for the user to easily change the values for the padding from user interface of sitefinity.

I also understand that I could use asp server controls instead of the html controls. I just want to have the flexibility of adding the tokens as illustrated above.

Posted by Community Admin on 06-May-2011 00:00

Hello jwize,

There is a widget templates editor that will allow your users to make changes.

This is how you can store a template using the ControlPresentation persistent object.

Copy Code

var manager = PageManager.GetManager();

var template = manager.CreatePresentationItem<ControlPresentation>(id);

template.DataType = Presentation.AspNetTemplate;

template.Name = name;

template.ControlType = controlType;

////If the template is embedded you can use those properties::

template.EmbeddedTemplateName = embeddedResourcePath;

template.ResourceAssemblyName = "Telerik.Sitefinity.Resources.Reference, Telerik.Sitefinity.Resources";

template.IsDifferentFromEmbedded = false;

//Else just set the Data Property to the markup

template.Data = markup;

template.IsDifferentFromEmbedded = true;

manager.SaveChanges();

And this is how you can get the layoutTemplates for the control by the control type of the template.

Copy Code

var pageManager = PageManager.GetManager();

var layoutTemplates = pageManager.GetPresentationItems<ControlPresentation>()

.Where(tmpl => tmpl.DataType == Presentation.AspNetTemplate);

int? totalCount = 0;

var filterExpression = String.Format(@"ControlType == ""0""", this.DesignedDetailViewType);

layoutTemplates = DataProviderBase.SetExpressions(layoutTemplates, filterExpression, String.Empty, 0, 0, ref totalCount);

You can edit the template in a dialog that is rendered on the following url:
~/Sitefinity/Dialog/ControlTemplateEditor
To do so you need to place a RadWindow control in the designer of your widget. Then on the client call this method:

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//This function will open the a template editor dialog in edit mode or create mode depending on the 'viewMode' value.

// the appropriate values can be found in the server side constants:

//ControlTemplatesDefinitions.BacknedEditDetailsViewName

//ControlTemplatesDefinitions.BacknedInsertDetailsViewName

_openTemplateDialog: function

(string viewMode) 

            //The RadWindow component that will open the widget template editor.

if (this

._widgetEditorDialog) 

                                             //The resolved ~/Sitefinity/Dialog/ControlTemplateEditor

var dialogUrl = new Sys.Uri(this._resolvedTemplateEditorDialogUrl);

dialogUrl.get_query().ViewName = viewMode;

this._widgetEditorDialog.set_navigateUrl(dialogUrl.toString());

dialogBase.get_radWindow().maximize();

this._widgetEditorDialog.show();

this._widgetEditorDialog.maximize();

$("body").removeClass("sfSelectorDialog");

,

You also have to do a bit more configuring of the dialog on its show event:

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_onWidgetEditorShown: function (sender, args)

var frameHandle = sender.get_contentFrame().contentWindow;

if (frameHandle)

if (frameHandle.createDialog)

var params =

//The id of the template that you wish to edit or Guid.Empty

TemplateId: this._selectedTemplateId,

//The type of the control to which the template was registered.

ControlType: this._controlType

;

frameHandle.createDialog(null, null, null, dialogBase, params, null);

,

All the best,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

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