swap one control for another?

[MrPeds]

Hi,

I have a simple web form written in vb.net that allows you to edit some information. (The back end is SQL Server) and i am using Visual studio 2003.

at the moment, you select a value from a drop down list and the corresponding fields are populated with values based upon teh selection. This works fine for an edit or a delete.

however, I would like to know if it is possible to swap the drop down menu for a standard text field when i add a new record to the database. i.e. when i click 'Add new record' the form posts back on itself and the drop down is replaced by the text field, and the other text boxes are blank.

I know i can do it by copying the said form and creating a new one but it seems like overkill for one control.

any suggestions on what techniques or clever approaches can allow me to do this? i think that if i was doing this in Access I could simply type over the top of the drop down , but not sure if you can do this in a web control.

thanks in advance,

MrPeds

 

[jn03]

you can have both controls on your form, and then initially set the textbox.visible= false.

when you click on 'Add new record', set the dropdownlist visibility to false and that of the textbox to true.

 

[gazzeruk]

I have had to do this a number of times add, edit and delete db records. As you are I use a list to select particular records. For add I pop up a simple 1 textbox form in a modalDialog and immediately receive name (key) of new record - on OK this can then be posted back and varified to be unique before adding to db with default values and then presented to user as a normal record that can be edited. This allows error messages etc. if key already used.

Just some thoughts...

Gary

 

[simonfarrell]

Use a PlaceHolder server control.

<asplaceHolder id=&quot;plhText&quot; runat=&quot;server&quot;/>

Then change the control at the place holder dynamically according to the edit mode.

txtBox = new Textbox
txtBox.Text = &quot;Enter here&quot;
plhText.Controls.Add(txtBox)

 

[MrPeds]

thanks for this guys - I will post my code on here for other newbies in due course.

The placeholder method seems a lot cleaner than older version of ASP from what I can make out so far.

MrPeds.