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Dynamically Adding User Controls at Runtime

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Join Date: Nov 2008

Posts: 2

Reputation: patelb is an unknown quantity at this point

Solved Threads: 0

patelb

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Newbie Poster

Dynamically Adding User Controls at Runtime

Nov 26th, 2008

Im trying to dynamically add controls such as text boxes, radio buttons, check boxes, etc to a user control(ascx page). Im basically trying to build a very simple faceted search. Here is the scenario the user defines a string that specifies what is to appear on the page, some thing like this:

searchParams = "Name:TextBox, City:Radio{a;b;c}"

So the Name field will be a text box, and the City field will be a group of the three radio buttons "a,b,c". Im generating the user controls in a select case statement as follows:

 Help with Code Tags 
 asp.net Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
Select Case source(1)
Case "TextBox"%>
<%=source(0)%><br />
<asp:TextBox runat=server></asp:TextBox><br />
<% Case "DropDown"
Case "Radio"%>
<%=source(0)%><br />
<%
For Each opt As String In options
Dim radio As RadioButton
radio = New RadioButton
radio.Text = opt
radio.GroupName = "radio1"
Me.Controls.Add(radio)
%>
<%Next
%>
 
<%End Select
Select Case source(1)
Case "TextBox"%>
<%=source(0)%><br />
<asp:TextBox runat=server></asp:TextBox><br />
<% Case "DropDown"
Case "Radio"%>
<%=source(0)%><br />
<%
For Each opt As String In options
Dim radio As RadioButton
radio = New RadioButton
radio.Text = opt
radio.GroupName = "radio1"
Me.Controls.Add(radio)
%>
<%Next
%>

<%End Select

But im getting this error: The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks (i.e. <% ... %>).

when executing this line: Me.Controls.Add(radio)

So I researched this and I read places that I should try and add things to a placeholder instead of the page itself, I tried that but that didnt work. I also tryed using binding syntax <%#blah%> instead of <%%> and that didnt work either. Im running out of ideas and I dont know what the problem is? I need to be able to dynamically generate controls onto the page according to that user defined string. Any ideas?

Last edited by peter_budo; Nov 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm. Reason: Keep It Organized - For easy readability, always wrap programming code within posts in [code] (code blocks) and [icode] (inline code) tags.