Hi there,

 Is there any way to set the amount  text a user can into the textbox during edit/insert mode of a detailsview? Right now I have insert and edit validation but it still allows users to enter more text (it just shows an error message and the user needs to reduce the amount of text)

The method I've implemented can get tedious for the user as they would have to count the number of letter entered and then reduce to the right amount.

Is there an easier way?

 

For limit the value in insert and edit you can use the rangeattribute that you can specify the min and max value that you accept.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.dataannotations.rangeattribute.aspx

[Range(10, 1000, ErrorMessage = "Value for {0} must be between {1} and {2}.")]
public object Weight;

Or if you want limit a lenght of a string there is a StringLengthAttribute
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.dataannotations.stringlengthattribute.aspx

 [StringLength(10, ErrorMessage= "The file name cannot exceed 10 characters long")]
public object ProductNumber;

 Or if you want other validation you can use a RegularExpressionAttribute
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.dataannotations.regularexpressionattribute.aspx

[RegularExpression(@"^[a-zA-Z''-'\s]{1,40}$")]
public object LastName;

 

Hi Mdesoysa, if you look at the code in the Text_Edit field template Page_Load method: 

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TextBox1.MaxLength = Column.MaxLength;
    if (Column.MaxLength < 20)
        TextBox1.Columns = Column.MaxLength;
    TextBox1.ToolTip = Column.Description;

    SetUpValidator(RequiredFieldValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(RegularExpressionValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(DynamicValidator1);
}

You will see the line in BOLD ITALIC if your column size is set to say 10 the text box length will be set to 10 and and so you will not be able to enter more than 10 chars. But as you can see from the code this is turned off after 20 chars so what you could do is: 

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TextBox1.MaxLength = Column.MaxLength;
    if (Column.MaxLength < 20)
    {
        TextBox1.Columns = Column.MaxLength;
    }
    else
    {
        TextBox1.Columns = Column.MaxLength;
        TextBox1.Width = 150;
    }

    TextBox1.ToolTip = Column.Description;

    SetUpValidator(RequiredFieldValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(RegularExpressionValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(DynamicValidator1);
}

 What happens now is the columns property of the textbox is now always set but the width of the textbox is now fixed at over 20 chars.

 Hi Sjnaughton,

 So if want to set different textbox widths for each column does that mean I would have to create a new Field template for each one? or can I create a new class for each one that inherits the Text_Edit field template?

Both these ways still seem quite tedious especially if you have a lot of columns with different textbox lengths required...

Please let me know if I'm on the right track?

no you could add an Attribute to set the column width and then in the Template check the length and set it there.

This is a bugbear of mine with DD.

I don't want to set the field-lengths of my strings in metadata AND the database, I want the MaxLength to automatically inherit the database maxlength.

If I want to set a MINimum length I will use the attribute, but I CAN'T SET A MINLENGTH WITHOUT SETTING MAXLENGTH AS WELL! Grrrrrr.....If I set a maxlength of 0 when I specify a minlength as well I get an error......

I ended up writing my own extension method MaxLength2 which retrieves maxlength from the database for the applicable field.  Wherever the templates used MaxLength, I made them use my MaxLength2 instead.  I still have to specify a maxlength when I want a minlength though.....

 

The rant seems pointless as you can easily set this up, the reason this does not happen out of the box is most want the defaults.

For those odd Fields that are not caught by MultilineText you could try something like this:

 

private int LargeFiled;
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // get larg field min size default = 100
    LargeFiled = Session["LargeField"] != null ? int.Parse(Session["LargeField"].ToString()) : 100;

    TextBox1.MaxLength = Column.MaxLength;
    if (Column.MaxLength < 20)
    {
        TextBox1.Columns = Column.MaxLength;
    }
    else if(Column.MaxLength >= LargeFiled)
    {
        TextBox1.TextMode = TextBoxMode.MultiLine;
        TextBox1.Width = 100;
        TextBox1.Height = 150;
    }

    TextBox1.ToolTip = Column.Description;

    SetUpValidator(RequiredFieldValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(RegularExpressionValidator1);
    SetUpValidator(DynamicValidator1);
}

 in the Text_Edit FieldTemplate

 I disagree with you that "most people" want to set their field lengths in both the database AND the metadata.

Yes, it's fairly easy to setup your own implementation of MaxLength, but is there ever a time when I want a DB field to allow 20 characters, but the screen field to only allow 10?  The model always has a maxlength for a text column, so why not just use it "by default" and have the attribute used to override it, if you want to?

I realise it's a preference thing, but my preference is to have to do as little work as possible :)

 

Dave

Hi Dave, I agree with you (about doing as little as possible) I can't see why you would have two different sizes? All I'm interested in is fixing the width of the textbox to a sensible size after all you don't what your textbox to be 200 chars wide do you.

The nice thing about DD is how extensible it is (without the need to add attributes) after all nobody is going to please everybody all of the time are they, so I'm glad the ASP.Net team made DD so extensible