Navigation for ASP.NET Web Forms

Source code checked in, #08eb66147b9a

GrahamMendick — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:48:35 GMT

Allowed markup to include current data only, e.g., {NavigationData &} or {NavigationLink Action,&}

Source code checked in, #693e81c5fdc2

GrahamMendick — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:34:37 GMT

Allowed a custom StateRouteHandler to be provided. Enables a different file naming structure to be used, e.g., aPage_Mobile.aspx instead of the default aPage.Mobile.aspx. In particular, gears it up for use with Glimpse, i.e., the StateRouteHandler can be wrapped making the DisplayInfo available to a Glimpse plugin

Source code checked in, #09cb4b2a44b5

GrahamMendick — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:26:46 GMT

Removed the href rendering from the Adapter and left it up to the Interceptor so it behaves like a RefreshLink if the Adapter isn't registered

Source code checked in, #f9a970e7ffee

GrahamMendick — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:26:53 GMT

Replaced StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase with OrdinalIgnoreCase

Source code checked in, #efad13026bf5

GrahamMendick — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:43:32 GMT

Added ability to include current data in NavigationData markup by prefixing with &, e.g., {NavigationData &key1=value1} (can already pick out pieces of current data by specifying a key without a value {NavigationData key1})

Source code checked in, #adbeeee7d0c4

GrahamMendick — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:19:08 GMT

It's important that refresh navigation behaves the same regardless of whether or not it's a post back. So made the following changes to ensure that derived data is the same in both scenarios: 1. If it's not a post back then assume that derived data would be calculated, so need to retain derived data when it is a post back. This caters for when derived data is not recalculated on post back but works equally well when it is recalculated since this will happen after the post back event 2. If it's not a post back then derived data can't be passed, so if it is a post back then need to restore derived data after the ToData is processed, ensuring any derived data values in the ToData are ignored

Source code checked in, #e5856e2983ac

GrahamMendick — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:21:47 GMT

Specifying ToData in NavigationData markup didn't work when ViewState was disabled for a Refresh PostBack because it was only set in PageComplete (PreRender or SaveState). Needed to be set ToData before the RaisePostBackEvent of the NavigationHyperLink was called. Adding a listener to the NavigationHyperLink Load Event would have resulted in more calls than necessary because only want to parse the NavigationData markup when the PostBack happens. So added a PreNavigationDataChange event to the NavigationHyperLink for the ControlBuilderInterceptor to listen to.

Source code checked in, #68f9ebf0a2a8

GrahamMendick — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:44:09 GMT

Added current data keys to both NavigationData markup and NavigationHyperLink so a subset of StateContext Data can be passed during a navigation. Useful for SPA/Refresh navigation scenarios where only specific items of current data should be retained

Source code checked in, #83c6d82662c6

GrahamMendick — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:10:43 GMT

Added derived unit tests

Updated Wiki: Getting Started

GrahamMendick — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:09:56 GMT

Getting Started

The most straightforward way to add the Navigation framewok to a new or existing ASP.NET Web Site or Application is to install it using NuGet by running the command Install-Package Navigation from within the Package Manager Console.

If NuGet is unavailable (prior to VS 2010) the set up can be performed manually. The first stage of this manual set up is to add reference to the Navigation.dll, which can be downloaded from http://navigation.codeplex.com/. After (unblocking and) unzipping the download the Navigation.dll should be obtained from the folder (beneath the bin folder) that corresponds to the version of .NET in use.

The next state requires the registration of the StateAdapter class as an adapter for the Page control*. The steps to follow are:

Add an App_Browsers folder – right click the Web Project and select Add ASP.NET Folder -> App_Browsers
Add a .browser file to the App_Browsers folder – right click the App_Browsers folder and select Add New Item, select Browser File and give it a name
Configure the StateAdapter class as the Page’s control adapter – paste the configuration below into the .browser file

<browsers>
	<browser refID="Default">
		<controlAdapters>
			<adapter controlType="System.Web.UI.Page" adapterType="Navigation.StateAdapter, Navigation" />
		</controlAdapters>
	</browser>
</browsers>

The final stage of the manual is to create a StateInfo.config file, which will be used in the next section to hold the details of the pages and navigation between these pages:

Add a new Text File called StateInfo.config file to the Web Project
Point the Navigation framework as this file by adding the configuration below into the Web.config file

<configuration>
	<configSections>
		<sectionGroup name="Navigation">
			<section name="StateInfo" type="Navigation.StateInfoSectionHandler, Navigation"/>
	</configSections>
	<!-- other config elided -->
	<Navigation>
		<StateInfo configSource="StateInfo.config"/>
	</Navigation>
</configuration>

There is a small difference between the NuGet and manual installations which will be covered in the Navigation Hyperlink and Data Expression section.

*In VS 2005 adding an adapter for a Page causes the XhtmlConformance setting to be ignored, for more information see http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/179365/using-a-page-adapter-causes-the-xhtmlconformance-mode-setting-to-be-ignored

Sample Web Site

Create a new Web Application project called NavigationSample, by selecting File -> New -> Project and the ASP.NET Empty Web Application option. Set it up to start using the Navigation framework by running the command Install-Package Navigation from within the Package Manager Console.

Source code checked in, #22eb6aa290ed

GrahamMendick — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:12:42 GMT

Added unit tests for NavigationDataValueProvider. No need to use HttpContextBase on ModelBindingExecutionContext for mocking because StateContext Data is automatically mocked

Source code checked in, #c3a64d3c4969

GrahamMendick — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:30:37 GMT

Added method to State to help determine if data has default value or is derived

Source code checked in, #22fecdf20112

GrahamMendick — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:51:40 GMT

Added derived State NavigationData. Derived data is not passed when navigating because it's calculated from other data. Follows the same removal process as default data. The Pager's removal of totalRowCount happened too late for it to work with the new NavigationLink markup specification, so derived data can be used instead. StateKeys on HistoryNavigator usurped by derived data

Source code checked in, #279c45e441fe

GrahamMendick — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:36:52 GMT

Validate presence of NavigationData key and NavigationLink action in markup

New Post: Validations and Feedback user

grahammendick — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:37:58 GMT

Hi Pablo,

It's always great to be asked a question, but it's especially nice when it's as complimentary as yours.

The Navigation framework doesn't provide any validation framework, but I'll try and explain the ASP.NET data binding way to do EF validation in an N-tier project. Let's assume you've got a FormView that's data bound to an Update method in your EmployeeController class. How do you communicate EF data validation failures on your Employee class back to the UI?

Before VS 2012 the only way was to have your Update method throw an Exception if the validation fails. Then your code behind could listen to the FormView's ItemUpdated event, check for the exception and set the KeepInEditMode on the FormViewUpdatedEventArgs passed in. This is messy. But the good news is that data binding has been overhauled in VS 2012. Now there's no need to throw Exceptions or add code behind because it can all be handled using the new ModelState parameter passed into your Update method.

Are you able to use VS 2012? If you can then there's no need to use ObjectDataSources for data binding any more. But I'll assume you can't use VS 2012 when answering your second question.

The first stage when using the Navigation framework is to create your StateInfo configuration because this contains the details of your pages. So, we'll create an Employee Details State:

<StateInfo>
    <dialog key="Employee" initial="Details" path="~/Details.aspx">
        <state key="Details" page="~/Details.aspx"/>
    </dialog> 
</StateInfo>

Then in your Details.aspx you need to add a FormView with it's DataSourceID property set to the ID of your ObjectDataSource control:

<asp:FormView runat="server" DataSourceID="DisplaySource">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <%#: Eval("Name") %>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:FormView>
<asp:ObjectDataSource ID="DisplaySource" runat="server" TypeName="Employee.Controllers.EmployeeController" SelectMethod="GetEmployee">
    <SelectParameters>
        <nav:NavigationDataParameter Name="Id" />
    </SelectParameters>
</asp:ObjectDataSource>

Then your GetEmployee method would look something like this:

public Employee GetEmployee(string Id)
{
    return new Employee() { Name = "Pablo" };
}

The Id passed into the GetEmployee method is currently empty but that's because we haven't passed any Navigation Data. This would probably be passed in from a previous page when an Employee is selected from a list. Would you like me to show how this is done?

There's more documentation on the Navigation framework than you might think. I've written quite a lot of articles and built various samples about it. Would you like me to provide links to some of them?

I really hope my answer has helped you.

Thanks,
Graham

New Post: Validations and Feedback user

pabloxenn — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:23:06 GMT

Congratulations. I really like "Navigation for ASP.NET Web Forms", I think it's a natural evolution of web applications and would like to learn and use it. I worry that there is little documentation and little information on the web but I will try. :)

I'd like to incorporate it into a project N-Tier with EF, where data validations like them at the server level, the question then is: How I can do this?, The other question, assuming I have ObjectDataSource and use NavigationDataParameter, this being a ref parameter, as follows:

<asp:ObjectDataSource ID="DisplaySource" runat="server" TypeName="Employee.Controllers.EmployeeController" SelectMethod="GetEmployee">
<SelectParameters>
<nav:NavigationDataParameter Name="errorMessage" />
</SelectParameters>
</asp:ObjectDataSource>

public Employee GetEmployee (ref string errorMessage), how I can implement it?

Thanks in advance, Pablo

Source code checked in, #9f35112f6536

GrahamMendick — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:35:47 GMT

Added ability to specify # fragment as part of Navigation Link markup, e.g., {NavigationBack 1#id}

Source code checked in, #ee9e8d4f795f

GrahamMendick — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:16:27 GMT

Added NavigationData markup for Links, e.g., {NavigationLink Select}, {NavigationBackLink 1} and {RefreshLink}

Source code checked in, #cabe459b7a16

GrahamMendick — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 09:20:17 GMT

NavigationData markup supports being set in SaveStateComplete rather than PreRendercomplete to save on ViewState, e.g., {NavigationData* key}

Source code checked in, #509bb19f862f

GrahamMendick — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:20:33 GMT

Added interception so that NavigationData can be built in markup, e.g., ToData={NavigationData key1=value1,key2=value2}. Better than NavigationDataExpression because type determination done using NextState's DefaultTypes