Meta Refresh and retaining drop down list values

[sunil128]

Hi all,

I know there are similar threads, but I still can find the exact answer I need, basically I have inherited a web application from another developer; basically there is a page that holds a repeating datalist, which is populated from a SQL Server database query.

On this page the user can select values from a number of drop down lists (i.e. branch name, area etc) which filters the records returned by amending & rerunning the SQL statement i.e. “select * from table where BranchName = BranchDLL.index – you get the jist.

Anyway this page needs to be refreshed every five minutes or so as the data is changed quite often. The original programmer did this by using the Meta refresh tag, the exact code is follows

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="300; URL=/Property/Forms/Enquiry/OrderEnquiry.aspx">

Obviously the problem with this is that it does not retain the selected values of the drop down lists. Apologies for the simplicity of the question but can anyone tell me how I do this.

I also get the impression the meta refresh tag isn’t best practice either, can someone explain the concept of postback please.

 

[jmeckley]

can anyone tell me how I do this

option 1. use the MS AJAX library with an update panel and a timer control.
option 2. build your own js timer to re-submit the page for a full postback.
option 3. use a different 3rd party ajax library like jquery or prototype.

can someone explain the concept of postback please

this is core to webforms. there are many opinions about the asp.net life cycle. some love it, some hate it, some don't know anything else exists.

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.