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Combo Control

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4.56/5 (52 votes)
24 Jan 20052 min read 252.2K   2.8K   125   104
4-in-1 component for ASP.NET DHTML tab, tree, panel, menu - horizontal, vertical, pop-up, fading effects
Sample screenshot

Introduction

This is a control that will help to generate Tabs, Menus, Slider Bars and Tree Views. The controls are created "Just in Time" dynamically from XML.

Background

We see many web pages with lots of controls. Most of the controls available in the market are quiet expensive and they do only one job (i.e. if it is a menu control, we can't use it for tab). This control has all the built-in features, including security. For example, the user may want some of the items in the tab to be visible to a particular set of users, say administrators, and some less important to the common users. In that case, this plays an important role.

This control is very easy to use. The control exposes some public properties to set the data, the look 'n' feel and the events for the panel. By setting these properties, the collapsible panel can be used to group information very nicely.

Using the Code

The user control has six public properties:

  • Controltype - To mention the type of control (tab, tree, panel, menu)
  • Display - To set alignment of the control (only to Controltype = menu)
  • PageTitle - To set the page title (only to Controltype = tab)
  • MainMenuSelected - To set the Main menu (only to Controltype = tab)
  • SubMenuSelected - To set the Submenu selected (only to Controltype = tab)
  • ImageUrl - To set the Image in the tree (only to Controltype = tree).
ASP.NET
<%@ Register TagPrefix="CONTROL" Namespace="Controls" Assembly="FOURINONE"%>
 
// for tab
<CONTROL:FourinOne runat="server" 
  PageTitle="Congress Type" Controltype="tab"
  MainMenuSelected="2" SubMenuSelected="1" />
 
// for tree
<CONTROL:FourinOne runat="server" Controltype="tree" />
 
// for panel bar
<CONTROL:FourinOne runat="server" Controltype="panel" />
 
// for menu - horizontal
<CONTROL:FourinOne runat="server" Controltype="menu" Display="h" />
 
// for menu - vertical
<CONTROL:FourinOne runat="server" Controltype="menu" Display="v" />

For generating the menu, tree, panel or tab dynamically, the XML should be of the form:

XML
<Menu>
  <MainMenu Label="Registration" BaseURL="SearchCongress.aspx" MenuID="8"
    MainSecurity="AM" MenuSequence="1" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif">
    <SubMenu Label="Search" URL="SearchCongress.aspx" MenuID="8"
      Security="AM" SubMenuID="9" SubMenuSequence="1" 
      ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Add Company" URL="CompanyDetails.aspx" MenuID="8"  
      Security="A" SubMenuID="6" SubMenuSequence="4" 
      ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="New Order" URL="NewOrder.aspx" MenuID="8" Security="AM" 
      SubMenuID="7" SubMenuSequence="5" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
  </MainMenu>
  <MainMenu Label="Maintenance" BaseURL="Congress.aspx" MenuID="6" 
    MainSecurity="A" MenuSequence="4" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif">
    <SubMenu Label="Congress Type" URL="Congress.aspx" 
      MenuID="6" Security="A" SubMenuID="1" 
      SubMenuSequence="1" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Event Type" URL="EventType.aspx" MenuID="6" Security="A" 
      SubMenuID="2" SubMenuSequence="2" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Sales Type" URL="SalesType.aspx" MenuID="6" Security="A" 
      SubMenuID="3" SubMenuSequence="3" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Venue" URL="CongressVenue.aspx" MenuID="6" Security="A" 
      SubMenuID="4" SubMenuSequence="4" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Office" URL="Office.aspx" MenuID="6" Security="A" 
      SubMenuID="6" SubMenuSequence="6" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Sales Person" URL="SalesPerson.aspx" 
      MenuID="6" Security="A" SubMenuID="7" SubMenuSequence="7" 
      ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Tax Rate" URL="TaxRate.aspx" MenuID="6" Security="A" 
      SubMenuID="8" SubMenuSequence="8" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="User" URL="User.aspx" Security="A" MenuID="6" 
      SubMenuID="9" SubMenuSequence="9" ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
    <SubMenu Label="Option Type" MenuID="6" URL="PriceOption.aspx" 
      Security="A" SubMenuID="10" SubMenuSequence="10" 
      ImageUrl="xp_documents.gif"/>
  </MainMenu>
</Menu>

The MainSecurity attribute in the MainMenu node and the Security attribute in the SubMenu node are used to implement the security in displaying the menu items. To implement security in this control, keep the UserType in the session, for example (A for administrator), when the user logs on to the system. By comparing the value in session, the security is implemented.

C#
private bool isAuthorised(string sSecString, string sSecType)
{
  return(sSecString.IndexOf(sSecType)>=0);
}

The isAuthorized method returns true if the user is authorized to view that page, else it returns 0. For exmple, I have taken two users, Administrator (A) and Moderator (M). I have mentioned the pages that can be viewed only by the administrator as A and pages that can be viewed by both of them as AM. The menu can be configured using web.config.

XML
<add key="MenuXMLPath" value="/helper/" />
<add key="MainMenuFontColor" value="#ffffff" />
<add key="MainMenuShadowColor" value="#999999" />
<add key="MainMenubGColor" value="#000088" />
<add key="MainMenuMouseoverColor" value="#000088" />
<add key="SubmenuBgColor" value="#cfd3d8" />
<add key="SubmenuMouseoverColor" value="#ffffff" />
<add key="SubmenuBorderColor" value="#0000cc" />
<add key="SubmenuFontColor" value="#000000" />
<add key="SubmenuMouseOverFontColor" value="#000000" />
<add key="SubmenuShadowColor" value="#666666" />

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


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Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionI like your control. Pin
Light-Point17-Mar-12 18:15
Light-Point17-Mar-12 18:15 
GeneralFor Tab Controls Pin
PradeepPuru23-Jul-07 21:03
PradeepPuru23-Jul-07 21:03 
QuestionDon't know how to install... too bad! Pin
ahuitt29-Aug-06 4:55
ahuitt29-Aug-06 4:55 
GeneralDon't know what to do Pin
bolivar_roger10-May-06 13:27
bolivar_roger10-May-06 13:27 
GeneralThank you so much Pin
ch9280126-Mar-06 10:06
ch9280126-Mar-06 10:06 
GeneralUnable to use this control Pin
Hafeezi17-Dec-05 1:28
Hafeezi17-Dec-05 1:28 
AnswerRe: Unable to use this control Pin
BSami29-Dec-05 0:11
BSami29-Dec-05 0:11 
Questionhow can i use this control to show context menu on right click for each item of datagrid Pin
Amin J. Ismaili27-Oct-05 3:36
Amin J. Ismaili27-Oct-05 3:36 
QuestionWho can help me? Pin
djdada4-Sep-05 23:07
djdada4-Sep-05 23:07 
AnswerRe: Who can help me? Pin
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 0:23
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 0:23 
GeneralRe: Who can help me? Pin
djdada5-Sep-05 1:02
djdada5-Sep-05 1:02 
GeneralRe: Who can help me? Pin
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 1:39
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 1:39 
GeneralRe: Who can help me? Pin
Anonymous5-Sep-05 3:05
Anonymous5-Sep-05 3:05 
GeneralRe: Who can help me? Pin
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 20:00
enjoycrack5-Sep-05 20:00 
GeneralObject reference not set to an instance of an object. Pin
nSerj2-Sep-05 1:30
nSerj2-Sep-05 1:30 
GeneralTool tip Pin
prateek pagey31-Aug-05 19:55
prateek pagey31-Aug-05 19:55 
QuestionHow can I to locate the menu horizontal or vertical on the page? Pin
lobobox23-Aug-05 1:08
lobobox23-Aug-05 1:08 
GeneralInstall Pin
luisgph2-Aug-05 10:15
luisgph2-Aug-05 10:15 
QuestionHow to disable menu transparency Pin
Member 210965527-Jul-05 11:47
Member 210965527-Jul-05 11:47 
Questionhow to use this control in my existings appn Pin
Member 149144427-Jul-05 4:34
Member 149144427-Jul-05 4:34 
QuestionThree level menu FOURINONE.dll? Pin
Adeel Ahmed Abassi16-Jun-05 20:48
Adeel Ahmed Abassi16-Jun-05 20:48 
GeneralFacing Problem in using FOURINONE.dll and control Pin
Adeel Ahmed Abassi15-Jun-05 18:59
Adeel Ahmed Abassi15-Jun-05 18:59 
GeneralRe: Facing Problem in using FOURINONE.dll and control Pin
Venkat Eswaran16-Jun-05 1:34
Venkat Eswaran16-Jun-05 1:34 
GeneralRe: Facing Problem in using FOURINONE.dll and control Pin
Adeel Ahmed Abassi16-Jun-05 18:57
Adeel Ahmed Abassi16-Jun-05 18:57 
GeneralThanks for your efforts Pin
Daniel Vaughan6-Jun-05 16:23
Daniel Vaughan6-Jun-05 16:23 

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