Hi,

I try to find a way to generate dynamically TextBoxes on my side. Example:

Database:

ID            Name
--------|---------------
1      | Tom
2      | Jerry
3      | Lukas

My page should like this:

Tom:    emptyTextBox         'With TextBox.ID = 1
Jerry:   emptyTextBox         'With TextBox.ID = 2
Lukas:   emptyTextBox      'With TextBox.ID = 3

Hope anybody can help me.

Greetz, Chris
 

Hi,

You could try a GridView with a column for the name and a column for your TextBox: 

        <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">
            <Columns>
                <asp:BoundField DataField="Name" DataFormatString="{0}:" />
                <asp:TemplateField>
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
            </Columns>
        </asp:GridView>

UPDATE: I don't believe you can set the TextBox ID in the ItemTemplate, as I think you will get an error.  However, you should be able to retrieve the ID's from the rows by other means.

Cheers,

~ mellamokb

actually, you can use ID in the ItemTemplate. To acess the textboxes, you have to implement the RowDataBound method and retrieve the TextBox with the GridViewRowEventArgs.Row.DataItem.FindControl([[TextBoxId]])

 regards

Here's an example for you: 

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

public partial class Posts_GeneralASPNET_DataPresentationControls_1295197 : System.Web.UI.Page
{
	protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
	{
		this.AddTextBoxes();
	}

	private void AddTextBoxes()
	{
		foreach (DataRow dr in this.GetData().Tables[0].Rows)
		{
			this.Form.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(String.Format("{0}: ", dr["FirstName"])));
			
			TextBox txt = new TextBox();
			txt.ID = String.Concat("txt", dr["EmployeeID"]);
			this.Form.Controls.Add(txt);

			this.Form.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("<br />"));
		}
	}

	private DataSet GetData()
	{
		DataSet ds = null; 
	
		SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["NorthwindConnectionString"].ConnectionString);
		SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM [Employees]", conn);
		SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);

		try
		{
			conn.Open();

			ds = new DataSet();
			adapter.Fill(ds);
		}
		finally
		{
			if (conn != null) { conn.Close(); }
		}

		return ds;
	}
}

 Hi,

 thank you all for the fast response. Can you help me also with an example in vb?

Thank you again, Chris
 

 Some more informations about my problem...

I have two tables in a database. In the first one there are stored the metadatanames, for example for an invoice

ID | Metadatname
---|----------------------
1 | creditor
2 | invoice-nr
3 | invioce-date

On the webpage the user should enter for example:

Label            TextBox
--------------------------------------
creditor:         "Microsoft"
Invoice-nr:     "1234"
Invoice-date: "2008-07-24"

The labels in front of the textboxes should be created dynamically from table1. With the answers in the TextBoxes I want to start a Select in table2, for example:

Select * From table2 where value1 like '%' + TextBox1.text + '%' OR value2 like '%' + TextBox2.text + '%' OR value3 like '%' + TextBox3.text + '%'

Result should be a gridview like this:

 ID        Creditor   Invoice-nr   date              link to document
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1         Microsoft   12345      2008-07-24   \\server\path\invoice.pdf

My problem is just to create this dynamic page and use the text entrys of the user as search criteria in the select...

Thanks, Chris 

Here you go: 

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
	Me.AddTextBoxes()
End Sub

Private Sub AddTextBoxes()
	For Each dr As DataRow In Me.GetData.Tables(0).Rows
		Me.Form.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl(String.Format("{0}: ", dr("FirstName"))))

		Dim txt As New TextBox()
		txt.ID = String.Concat("txt", dr("EmployeeID"))
		Me.Form.Controls.Add(txt)

		Me.Form.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("<br />"))
	Next
End Sub

Private Function GetData() As DataSet
	Dim ds As DataSet = Nothing

	Dim conn As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("NorthwindConnectionString").ConnectionString)
	Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM [Employees]", conn)
	Dim adapter As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)

	Try
		conn.Open()

		ds = New DataSet()
		adapter.Fill(ds)
	Finally
		If conn IsNot Nothing Then
			conn.Close()
		End If
	End Try

	Return ds
End Function

 Hi Ed,

I get the error 'Type "DataRow" is not defined'?

Chris 

Another version with SQLDataSource and dynamic generated textbox.

<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="dynamicTextBoxVB.aspx.vb" Inherits="dynamicTextBoxVB" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
    <title>Untitled Page</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
         <asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource1" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:test_for_forumConnectionString %>"
            SelectCommand="SELECT [ID], [Name] FROM [NameForTextBox]" DataSourceMode="DataReader"></asp:SqlDataSource>
  
        <asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource2" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:test_for_forumConnectionString %>"
            DeleteCommand="DELETE FROM [NameForTextBoxForInsert] WHERE [ID] = @ID" InsertCommand="INSERT INTO [NameForTextBoxForInsert] ([fromLabel], [fromTextBox]) VALUES (@fromLabel, @fromTextBox)"
            SelectCommand="SELECT [ID], [fromLabel], [fromTextBox] FROM [NameForTextBoxForInsert]"
            UpdateCommand="UPDATE [NameForTextBoxForInsert] SET [fromLabel] = @fromLabel, [fromTextBox] = @fromTextBox WHERE [ID] = @ID">
            <DeleteParameters>
                <asp:Parameter Name="ID" Type="Int32" />
            </DeleteParameters>
            <UpdateParameters>
                <asp:Parameter Name="fromLabel" Type="String" />
                <asp:Parameter Name="fromTextBox" Type="String" />
                <asp:Parameter Name="ID" Type="Int32" />
            </UpdateParameters>
            <InsertParameters>
                <asp:Parameter Name="fromLabel" Type="String" />
                <asp:Parameter Name="fromTextBox" Type="String" />
            </InsertParameters>
        </asp:SqlDataSource>
        <asp:GridView ID="GridView2" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" DataKeyNames="ID"
            DataSourceID="SqlDataSource2">
            <Columns>
                <asp:BoundField DataField="ID" HeaderText="ID" InsertVisible="False" ReadOnly="True"
                    SortExpression="ID" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="fromLabel" HeaderText="fromLabel" SortExpression="fromLabel" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="fromTextBox" HeaderText="fromTextBox" SortExpression="fromTextBox" />
            </Columns>
        </asp:GridView>
        <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" OnClick="Button1_Click" Text="Insert data from Textbox" />
    
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

 
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Data
Imports System

Partial Class dynamicTextBoxVB
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub OnInit(ByVal e As EventArgs)
        'generate all textbox 

        myfunctionAddTextBox()
        MyBase.OnInit(e)

    End Sub

    Protected Sub myfunctionAddTextBox()
        Dim ctrlTable1 As New Table()
        ctrlTable1.CellPadding = 0
        ctrlTable1.CellSpacing = 1
        ctrlTable1.Attributes.Add("Border", "1")


        Dim reader As System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader = DirectCast(SqlDataSource1.[Select](DataSourceSelectArguments.Empty), System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader)


        ' start 

        While reader.Read()
            Dim tr As New TableRow()


            Dim tc1 As New TableCell()
            Dim lbl1 As New Label()

            lbl1.Attributes.Add("runat", "Server")
            lbl1.EnableViewState = True
            lbl1.Width = 20
            lbl1.ID = "lbl" + reader(0).ToString()

            lbl1.Visible = True
            lbl1.Text = reader(1).ToString()
            '0:ID; 1:Name; 
            tc1.Controls.Add(lbl1)
            tr.Cells.Add(tc1)


            Dim tc2 As New TableCell()
            Dim tb2 As New TextBox()

            tb2.Attributes.Add("runat", "Server")
            ' tb2.EnableViewState = true; 
            tb2.Width = 80
            tb2.ID = "txt" + reader(0).ToString()
            'tb2.ReadOnly = true; 
            tb2.Visible = True


            tc2.Controls.Add(tb2)
            tr.Cells.Add(tc2)


            ctrlTable1.Rows.Add(tr)
        End While


        Me.Form.Controls.Add(ctrlTable1)
    End Sub
    Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        Dim reader As SqlDataReader = DirectCast(SqlDataSource1.[Select](DataSourceSelectArguments.Empty), SqlDataReader)

        While reader.Read()
            Dim strLabel As String = ""
            Dim strTextBox As String = ""

            Dim myLabel As New Label()
            Dim myLabelId As String = "lbl" + reader(0).ToString()

            Dim txtTextBox As New TextBox()
            Dim myTxtId As String = "txt" + reader(0).ToString()





            txtTextBox = DirectCast(Me.FindControl(myTxtId), TextBox)
            If txtTextBox IsNot Nothing Then

                strTextBox = txtTextBox.Text.ToString()
            Else
                strTextBox = ""
            End If


            myLabel = DirectCast(Me.FindControl(myLabelId), Label)
            If myLabel IsNot Nothing Then

                strLabel = myLabel.Text.ToString()
            Else
                strLabel = ""
            End If



            If strLabel <> "" Then


                SqlDataSource2.InsertParameters("fromLabel").DefaultValue = strLabel
                SqlDataSource2.InsertParameters("fromTextBox").DefaultValue = strTextBox
                'SqlDataSource2.InsertParameters["createdBy"].DefaultValue = User.Identity.Name; 
                'SqlDataSource2.InsertParameters["createdDate"].DefaultValue = DateTime.Now.ToString(); 



                'add data to table2 
                SqlDataSource2.Insert()



                txtTextBox.Text = ""

            End If
        End While
        ' Close the reader 
        reader.Close()


    End Sub

End Class
 
Tables:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[NameForTextBoxForInsert](
[ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[fromLabel] [nvarchar](50) NULL,
[fromTextBox] [nvarchar](50) NULL)
 
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[NameForTextBox](
[ID] [int] NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](50) NULL
)
 

 Hi,

generating the dynamic textboxes is now working with the code of limno (thanks).

How can I now use the different textboxes for further search - what is the ID for example for the  third TextBox if I want to use it in a later SQL Select?

Chris
 

If you can save the data from textbox to your database table, you should be able to do the same to find the value from the textbox to construct your search parameter. You may need to add condtion check to choose which textbox to use in your code.

 Hi,

now it is working, thanks, but how to position the dynamic table somewhere on the page. It always appears in the bottom end...

Chris 

You can try to use a placeholder to hold the dynamic controls or to create an asp table from your UI page instead of dynamic creation.