I have 4 different dropdown lists (DDL's) on my Web form that are linked together. When you select a value on the first DDL, the other 3 DDL's will change values according to the selected value on the first DDL;  when you select a value on the second DDL, the other 2 DDL's will change values according to the selected value on the first and second DDL's etc. Whenever there is a selected made to one of the DDL's, the postback will refresh the Web form with a set of new values for the DDL's (obtained from the DB). This works fine as far as functionality is concered. However, the refreshing of the DDL causes a flickering effect on the form (just as when you click the Refresh button on the browser). This is somewhat disturbing for the user.

My question is: is there a way to prevent (or at least minimize) this flickering effect when doing a refresh of the form? I think Windows forms are much more stable (as far as the flickering is concerned) than Web Forms, is this true?

While this may be a small matter, my goal is to produce a quality Web-based product that will have the same look and feel for the users as a Windows-based product.

 Please help and thanks in advance.

sg2000

Try AJAX for ASP.NET

Regards

Raj 

    It's not that winforms are more stable than web forms, but rather that web forms have to be reloaded every time you post back.

    There are various approaches you can take toward setting up relational lists that don't require a postback.  One way is to use the new ajax tools; another is to code it without ajax if you don't have too much data.

    If you want it done quickly, there are some nice custom controls (like EasyListBox, for example) that do all of this for you.  Some are a bit less robust, like Andy Smith's collection of controls at Metabuilders, which breaks up some of the functionality into separate controls (and is unsupported, but free).  Also, ELB is the only one I know of that can handle multiselect parents (as dropdownlists too) and it also provides ComboBox behavior -- with some impressive extras -- which adds to the windows-forms-like experience.

Cheers, 

Thanks Raj, will take a look at it.

sg2000

Thanks Peter, will take a look at it.

sg2000