Toolbox Control of ASP.net

Toolbox is an area where all the controls existed. It helps the developer to develop any application very quickly, only drag the control from the toolbox and drop it on the form. To change its properties we have to select the control and make the properties changes from Properties window. We can do it manually by writing code-behind. There are over 100 controls available in ASP.NET 4.0. I am listing here all the controls available in ASP.NET 4.0 and writing some lines on each of them.

Standard Controls

Name explains everything. This section includes list of controls which is widely used. 

• Pointer: It is just a pointer. If we drag any other control on form it causes to create that control on form but pointer does not create any control on form. In other word we can say, we select it for to ignore any other selected control.

• AdRotator: This control is used to display the image adds on web page. We can use multiple images and multiple urls. This control can be controlled by xml or any other database very easily. Assume that we have an area on web page where we want to display ads of our four clients then we can use the advantage of this control.

• Bulleted List: This control is used to display list of items with bullets. We can connect this control to database to display list items.

• Button: Very widely used control. Writing some lines about this control is very tinny thing. It is used everywhere like have to submit form, login, delete, create user, etc.

• Calendar: This control is used to pick the correct format of date. If we want to pick the date in text box then we have to write TextBox1.Text=Calendar1.SelectedDate in Selection Changed event of Calendar.

• Checkbox: This control is used to accept the data in true/false or say in yes/no Boolean format. Like if we checked it then it says true or yes. By default its checked property is false but we can set it to true. Checkbox cannot be bind with database.

• Checkbox List: This control also works as checkbox as given above but it has some more properties like, it can have collection of check boxes, and one great advantage, it has database binding property.

• Dropdown List: This control is used to select any one item from list of items. We cannot select multiple items from dropdown list. It has also database binding property.

•  File Upload: This control is used to upload any type of file. After writing some code behind it only selects specified format of files, like we can set it to select only jpg and gif files. It provides the user a way to send the file to any other computer using internet.

• Hidden Field: This control gives the developer a way to store information without displaying it on the page or say to user. Mostly it is used to store the states.

• Hyperlinks: This control is used to link any other page. Like when user clicks on Home page it navigates to home.aspx page, this is because of hyperlink feature.

• Image: This control is used to display the image on the form. Like if you open any community website and have look your image means they have used image control. Using ImageUrl property we can change the image.

• Image Button: This control look like button control but it has image. We simply click on image and works like button control. We can set its image using ImageUrl property.

• Image Map: This control is also known as hot spot control. We can categories any one in image into multiple sections or say regions and each section (regions) has different urls.

• Label: This control is mostly used to display texts con form. Programmatically we can hide/unhide or set the text for label, and this feature helps the developer to display some message when any task completed.

• Link Button: This controls works like hyperlink button. It is mostly used to post back a form to server.

• List Box: This control is used to select one or more items from predefined items. It has same properties list as combo box but combo box can't select multiple items. Change Selection Mode property to multiple in List Box for multiple selections.

• Literal: This control is used to display text directly to client browsers. It works as container and we can't apply any style to it.

• Localize: This control is used to display localize text anywhere in browser. This control has only two properties Text and ID. We also can't apply any style to this control.

• Multiview: This control is used to display different view to different client based on some criteria.

• Panel: This control is very useful because it works like container of every control. Assume we have very long content page and wishing to display it in very short area on web page, surely we can use it by enabling Scrollbars property.

• Placeholder: This control is used to place new controls dynamically or say at run time. It is simply a place of control which only results at run time.

• Radio Button: This control is used to accept the data in true/false or say in yes/no Boolean format. Like if we select it then it says true or yes. By default its checked property is false but we can set it to true. Radio Button cannot be bind with database.

• RadioButtonList: This control also works as Radio Button as given above but it has some more properties like, it can have collection of radio buttons, and one great advantage that it has database binding property.

• Substitution: This control is very famous in advertise or news portals where some area of web page are frequently changes, it is no mean visitor is refreshing the page or navigating or not.

• Table: This control enables us to create table on web page. We can create row or columns in table.

• Textbox: This control is used to enter information for processes. Like if we are wishing to create a web page where user can enter his username and password, surely take the advantage of text box here. We can change the Textbox Text Mode property by Single Line, Multiline or Password.

• View: This control also works as container of another control on web page. It only works with Multiview control.

• Wizard: This control is very useful when we wish to create any form which has multiple steps or say multiple sections on the same form. It mostly used to collection the user information.

•  Xml: This control is mostly used to display the xml content or to display the result of xsl transformation on the web page.

Data Control

Data Control section includes the controls which mostly let us to connect from external databases. Means in this section we are going introduce about all controls which have ability to leads the databases on web page. There are mainly two types of control we will find here that is Data Source Control and Data Control. For example Data Source Controls includes controls like EntityDataSource, LinqDataSource, ObjectDataSource, SiteMapDataSource, SqlDataSource, XmlDataSource and Data Control includes recent all excluding pointer as listed below.

• Pointer: It is just a pointer. If we drag any other control on form it causes to create that control on form but pointer does not create any control on form. In other word we can say, we select it for to ignore any other selected control.

• AccessDataSource: This control is used to connect the Microsoft Access Databases. We can say this control is derived from SqlDataSource, which has complete connection string like credentials, path etc. but AccessDataSource has only its MDB database path.

• Chart: This control is used to create professional looking data visualization charts. It is mostly used in windows based applications. We have 35 types of chart in .Net 4.0 with fully 3D support.

• Data List: This control is used to list the data from database and it looks like table on web form. We can select or edit any data Selection or edition of any row is possible here.

• Data Pager: This control is generally used with List View control. As we List View control is data driven so we have to create List View on web page first and provide some data to it and now add Data Pager control onto the page to enhance web page functionality.

• Details View: This control is used to display, edit, insert, or delete a single record at a time from its associated data source; it displays only a single data record at a time, even if its data source exposes multiple records.

• EntityDataSource: This control is used to create, read, update, and delete data like other data sources. It works like editable grids or say form with lots of user controlled techniques like sorting, filtering etc.

• Form View: This control is similar to Details View control, which gives us the ability to work with a single record from a data source. Main difference between both controls is that Details View control uses a tabular layout where each field of the record is displayed as a row. In Form View control we can create template containing any other control.

• Grid View: This control is used to displays data from data source in a table. In table column represents a field and row represents a record. We can select, edit or sort the data items here.

• LinqDataSource: This control is used to connect wide variety of data sources that includes database data, data-source classes, and in-memory collections. It also let us to specify database like retrieval tasks like selecting, filtering, grouping, and ordering against all types of data sources. We also use this control for updating, deleting, and inserting database tables.

• List View: This control is used to display the data from database. It is similar to Grid View, Repeater and Data List, which also help us to display data. List view control is template driven control.

• ObjectDataSource: This control is introduced in ASP.Net 2.0, which helps us to connect with database using very less coding. In this control we use Type Name property instead of using Connection String property in another data source controls. It supports properties such as Select Method, Update Method, Insert Method, and Delete Method etc.

• Query Extender: This control is used to filer data from database without using WHERE clause. As we know database filtering requires WHERE clause in command.

• Repeater: This control is used to display a repeated list of items that are bounded to the control. It may be bound to a database like XML file, or another.

• SiteMapDataSource: This control is used to retrieve navigation data from a site map provider that is from any data source using DataSourceID and then passes the data to a control that displays that data such as the Tree View and Menu controls. This is very informative for website visitors to find any link in huge list of links.

• SqlDataSource: This control is used to control or access data located in a relational database, including different database service providers like Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases, as well as OLE DB and ODBC data sources.

• XmlDataSource: This control is used to display XML data from XML database. It usually used to display or read only XML data. User can edit, delete and update XML data using XmlDataSource control only through some code.

Introduction of Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms or WPF applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, .NET Framework, .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.

Visual Studio is a complete set of development tools for building ASP.NET Web applications, desktop applications , XML Web Services, and mobile applications. Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, and Visual J# all use the same integrated development environment (IDE), which allows them to share tools and facilitates in the creation of mixed-language solutions. In addition, these languages leverage the functionality of the .NET Framework, which provides access to key technologies that simplify the development of ASP Web applications and XML Web Services.

Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer.

 Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2012, 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students.

 Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:

Windows Forms Designer

Window Form Designer

The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI (Graphical User Interface) applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound to data sources like databases or queries. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI (User Interface) is linked with code using an event-driven programming model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.

WPF Designer

WPF Designer

The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to authoruser interfaces targeting Windows Presentation Foundation. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding and automatic layout management. It generates XAML code for the UI. The generated XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.

Web Form Designer

Web designer/development

Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET applications and supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data project available from Microsoft

Class designer

The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.

Data Designer

Data designer

The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schemas, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.

Mapping designer

Mapping

From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL to design the mapping between database schemas and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework, replaces and improves the old technology.

Open Tabs Browser

The open tabs browser is used to list all open tabs and to switch between them. It is invoked using CTRL+TAB.

Properties Explorer

Properties Explorer

The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.

Object Browser

The Object Browser is a namespace and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed assemblies. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.

Solution Explorer

Solution Explorer

In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.

Data Explorer

Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedures, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code via SQL CLR. Debugging and IntelliSense support is available as well.

Server Explorer

The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse runningWindows Services, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queues and use them as a datasource. 

Team Explorer

Team Explorer

Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server, the Revision Control System into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.