Need a generic filling form generator.

[Jensen bredal]

Hello,
I need to write different kind of forms that the customer can use to enter
data and save the data into database. (The data access will be hand coded)

My problem is that the form may vary .

I therefore need an engine , that can produce the form based on let say an
xml file.
The form may contain textboxes, buttons , labels , pictures etc...

I have heard of xslt. Is it the way to go?

Is there other smart ways of doing this. If any asp.net beta 2 feature
allows this, please let me know.

Many thanks in advance

JB

 

[Rob Schieber]

Hello,
I need to write different kind of forms that the customer can use to enter
data and save the data into database. (The data access will be hand coded)

My problem is that the form may vary .

I therefore need an engine , that can produce the form based on let say an
xml file.
The form may contain textboxes, buttons , labels , pictures etc...

I have heard of xslt. Is it the way to go?

Is there other smart ways of doing this. If any asp.net beta 2 feature
allows this, please let me know.

Many thanks in advance

JB

I don't think xslt is going to buy you anything for asp.net because you
won't be able to access the output in the code behind. I would suggest
parsing the xml file and dynamically adding server controls (i.e.
System.Web.UI.WebControl.TextBox/DropDownList etc.) to the page or
something like that. At least you will be able to programatically
access the inputs.

 

[KMA]

Indeed, the key issue is how do you access the keyed in data.

for one page I append an identifier to each repeated control, txtAddress_1,
txtAddress_2 etc.

Then you can iterate the controls, determine their function based on the
name and do something useful with the data content.

 

[Jensen bredal]

I don't think xslt is going to buy you anything for asp.net because you
won't be able to access the output in the code behind. I would suggest
parsing the xml file and dynamically adding server controls (i.e.
System.Web.UI.WebControl.TextBox/DropDownList etc.) to the page or
something like that. At least you will be able to programatically access
the inputs.

This sounds reasonable.
Thank you
JB