J
J. Shane Kunkle
Hello - Please help,
I am having trouble copying the output of a User Control into a string.
For example - assume I have defined the following user control:
<%@ Control %>
<script runat="server">
Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
lblInput.Text = "The Page Load Event executed"
End Sub
</script>
<asp:label id="lblInput" runat="server" />
I have defined a generic function in another assembly that is called from a
button post back event. This function has to be able to instantiate any
user control whose URL is passed in and return it's rendered output in a
string. Note: the User Control specified by the input URL is not
necessarily loaded on the current page (which is the case in all the
examples I have seen).
Private Function AscxToString(ByVal url as string) as String
Dim objUserControl As New System.Web.UI.UserControl
Dim sw As StringWriter = New StringWriter
Dim hw As HtmlTextWriter = New HtmlTextWriter(sw)
'Create a new Page instance and a server-side form
Dim p As New Page
Dim hf As New HtmlForm
objUserControl = objUserControl.LoadControl(url)
'Build up the control hierarchy
p.Controls.Add(hf)
hf.Controls.Add(objUserControl)
'Call the page's RenderControl() method
p.DesignerInitialize()
objUserControl.RenderControl(hw)
p = Nothing
Return sw.ToString()
End Function
However whenever I execute the above code and pass in a URL to the ascx file
of the above user control - it returns the following html:
<span id="_ctl1_lblLanguage"></span>
It's like the User Control/Page is not going thru the life-cycle properly
and the Page_Load event is not being raised. (the string "The Page Load
Event executed" is never output)
I have tried creating my own page class that inherits from Page so I can
explicitly call OnLoad (etc) and I have tried adding the user control to the
current page - but that hasn't worked. Is there an easy way to force a page
or control to traverse all the steps of the life cycle?
Or maybe I'm going about this all wrong? Does anyone have a better idea of
how to programmatically create and get the rendered output of a user
control? What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance,
J. Shane Kunkle
I am having trouble copying the output of a User Control into a string.
For example - assume I have defined the following user control:
<%@ Control %>
<script runat="server">
Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
lblInput.Text = "The Page Load Event executed"
End Sub
</script>
<asp:label id="lblInput" runat="server" />
I have defined a generic function in another assembly that is called from a
button post back event. This function has to be able to instantiate any
user control whose URL is passed in and return it's rendered output in a
string. Note: the User Control specified by the input URL is not
necessarily loaded on the current page (which is the case in all the
examples I have seen).
Private Function AscxToString(ByVal url as string) as String
Dim objUserControl As New System.Web.UI.UserControl
Dim sw As StringWriter = New StringWriter
Dim hw As HtmlTextWriter = New HtmlTextWriter(sw)
'Create a new Page instance and a server-side form
Dim p As New Page
Dim hf As New HtmlForm
objUserControl = objUserControl.LoadControl(url)
'Build up the control hierarchy
p.Controls.Add(hf)
hf.Controls.Add(objUserControl)
'Call the page's RenderControl() method
p.DesignerInitialize()
objUserControl.RenderControl(hw)
p = Nothing
Return sw.ToString()
End Function
However whenever I execute the above code and pass in a URL to the ascx file
of the above user control - it returns the following html:
<span id="_ctl1_lblLanguage"></span>
It's like the User Control/Page is not going thru the life-cycle properly
and the Page_Load event is not being raised. (the string "The Page Load
Event executed" is never output)
I have tried creating my own page class that inherits from Page so I can
explicitly call OnLoad (etc) and I have tried adding the user control to the
current page - but that hasn't worked. Is there an easy way to force a page
or control to traverse all the steps of the life cycle?
Or maybe I'm going about this all wrong? Does anyone have a better idea of
how to programmatically create and get the rendered output of a user
control? What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance,
J. Shane Kunkle