In the VS IDE, I will format my code all nice and neat (in other words readable) when I am coding a ASPX page in HTML mode. I will switch to DESIGN mode or run the project and when I come back to HTML mode, my code is ALL messed up and once again un-readable.

HOW CAN I STOP THIS??? You have to be able to format your code to be able to read it, right?

An example is below:

MY FORMATTING- NICE - NEAT - READABLE

<tr>


<td class="headtxt" align="right">Address:</td>


<td>


  <asp:textbox 


          id="txt_BillingAddress" 


          runat="server" 


          tabIndex="5" 


          BorderStyle="Inset" 


          CssClass="mdtxt"


          ToolTip="Please enter billing address" 


          MaxLength="100"


         Columns="50">


   </asp:textbox>


  <asp:RequiredFieldValidator 


           id="req_BillingAddress" 


           tabIndex="6"  


           runat="server" 


           BorderStyle="None" 


           ErrorMessage="Billing Address is required!"


          ControlToValidate="txt_BillingAddress">


   </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>


</td>


</tr>

VISUAL STUDIO TURNS IT INTO THIS

				<tr>


					<td class="headtxt" align="right">Address:</td>


					<td><asp:textbox id="txt_BillingAddress" runat="server" tabIndex="5" BorderStyle="Inset" CssClass="mdtxt"


							ToolTip="Please enter billing address" MaxLength="100" Columns="50"></asp:textbox>


						<asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="req_BillingAddress" tabIndex="6" runat="server" BorderStyle="None" ErrorMessage="Billing Address is required!"


							ControlToValidate="txt_BillingAddress"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator></td>


				</tr>

PLEASE tell me this is a way to prevent this. Thanks in advance!!

This is a major problem with VS 2002/2003. It has been fixed in the version of VS currently under development but it took a major re-architecture to do it. There are only a couple choices to work-around this and none of them are optimal:

1) Set the HTML editor to open in source view. Turn off auto-formatting. This will allow you to format the HTML how you want. Do not switch to design view. If for some reason you must switch to design view, when you switch back to HTML view you can type Ctrl+Z to undo the formatting done by the design view.

2) Turn on auto formatting and accept the way it formats your code. Note, the auto-formatter will try to fix the changes that the design view made. It is also possible to write your own auto-formatter for VS 2003. If your interested in that let me know and I'll find the link to an MSDN article that explains it.

Hi,

In tools -> options -> text editor -> html/xml > format

there is a "Apply automatic formatting" option for when you save or switch views.

Hope this helps,
John

Just thought I would update this for those people who want to change this in VS 2005 - I wanted to stop HTML ID's being changed when pasting in Source View

Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> HTML -> Miscellaneous

Uncheck "Auto ID elements on paste in Source view" for my problem,

and uncheck "Format HTML on paste" for the one at the top of this thread