ASP.NET Views
Generator
The following table of contents provides an outline of the documentation for this generator.
1. Overview
Generates search or details views for ASP.NET WebForms based on the type of their associated data object.
For list objects it generates a search view with a paged data grid, and a collapsible criteria panel,
which can have flexible search criteria with operators, if there is a corresponding criteria data object defined.
For regular non-list objects it generates a details view with controls and panels for child objects arranged
using the specified layout, as well as the standard Save/Delete actions as per the data object's operations.
The generated views extend base classes from the Xomega.Framework.Web package, and are bound to their correspondng View
Models that are generated using View Models Generator. You can add your customizations to
a subclass of the generated code-behind class for the view, where you can programmatically update any generated server controls,
and implement any additional ASP.NET-specific view logic. If you cannot make your customizations programmatically in the
custom code-behind subclass, and need to change the generated ASP.NET markup, then you can mark the layout on such a view
as custom in the model, and the view won't be updated when rerunning the generator to preserve your custom changes.
The generator uses view definitions in the Xomega model in order to generate the corresponding ASP.NET views. The view definitions
consist of a view model with its associated data object that is also defined in the model, and optionally a layout specification,
which can reference an existing layout configuration, and/or provide custom layout settings.
Views. The generator will create search or details views based on whether or not the data object is a list
object, as specified by its list attribute. In addition to a unique view name, you can specify a title for the
view, and a child attribute, which determines if the view should be added to the main menu. To add custom logic to the generated
view you need to set the customize attribute to "true" on the ui:view element, which will create and
use a subclass of the generated code-behind class with a Customized postfix. The following snippet shows an example of a
search view definition in the Xomega model.
If you need to change the ASP.NET markup, you can set a custom attribute to "true" on the nested ui:layout element
for the view after generating the view initially, and it won't be updated during subsequent runs of the generator to preserve your changes.
Controls. The ASP.NET controls that are used on the generated views are determined based on the configuration
of the types for the properties of the data objects that the view is based on. The types usually inherit such configurations
from their base types, but can override the controls to use as needed. Read-only fields will use a standard label control,
but you can set up different editors for single-value and multi-value properties using either standard ASP.NET controls,
or custom controls, as illustrated below.
Fields. To customize display of the data object's fields on the view, you can provide additional configurations
in the model under the data object's ui:display element. For each field you can specify whether it is hidden or
editable/readonly, the label or column header to use instead of deriving it from the property's name, and also whether
a change in that field triggers updates in other fields, which sets the AutoPostBack attribute on the generated control.
The following snippet demonstrates such a setup.
Links. The named links to other views, which are defined on the view's data objects in the model, will
be generated either as standalone links using their name as text, or, if the link is supposed to be on each row of a list
object, it will be displayed on the field specified in the link's ui:display element, as shown below.
When a link has a child attribute set to "true", the target view will be opened in a popup dialog, or in a separate
details split-panel, if the link is on a search view with a master-details layout.
Otherwise, the view will be opened as a new page.
Note, that most of this setup for standard details and search views in the Xomega model can be easily added automatically
by a special model enhancement CRUD generator.
1.2 Generator outputs
This generator creates user controls for the views with ASCX markup and a C# code-behind class, so that you could easily
embed the view into another view. It also generates an ASPX page for the view to allow for showing the view as a
standalone page. If the view is not marked with a child attribute, it will also be added to the specified
Web.sitemap file, so that it could be displayed in the main menu. The generator also adds all the generated files to the specified
web project as needed.
For views that are decorated with a customize attribute set to “true”, it also creates a subclass of the
generated code-behind class with a postfix Customized appended to the class name, if one does not exist yet. It will use this
subclass in the ASCX markup, and can also nest the customized class under the generated view in the project, if so configured.
2. Configuration
The following sections describe configuration parameters used by the generator.
2.1 Generator parameters
The following table lists configuration parameters that are set as the generator’s properties.
| Parameter |
Value Example |
Description |
| Generator Name |
ASP.NET Views
|
The name of the current configuration of the generator that will appear in the model project and the build output. |
| Folder Name |
Presentation Layer\ASP.NET
|
Folder path to the generator inside the Model project. The folders are separated by a backslash (\). |
| Include In Build |
True
|
A flag indicating whether or not running this generator should be included in building of the model project. |
| Output |
| Output Path |
../MySolution.Client.Web /Views/{Module/}{File} |
Relative path where to output files with generated Views. The path must contain a {File} placeholder to output files by view,
and may contain a {Module/} placeholder to also group the views by module.
|
| Custom Path |
|
Relative path where to output override classes for the generated code-behind. If not set, then the OutputPath
will be used. The path must contain a {File} placeholder to output files by view.
|
| Nest Custom File |
True |
Whether or not to nest custom code-behind file under the auto-generated base file in the project. Applies only if both
files are output to the same directory. |
| Add To Project |
../MySolution.Client.Web /MySolution.Client.Web.csproj |
Relative path to the project file to add the generated files to. The project will be reloaded every time you run the generator.
Leave it blank if you don't want generated files to be added to your project automatically.
|
| Menu File |
../MySolution.Client.Web /Web.sitemap |
Relative path to the sitemap file to add views to for the main menu.
|
| Parameters |
| Namespace |
MySolution.Client.Web |
Namespace for the generated pages and views. |
| Selector |
| View |
|
The name of the view from the model to generate a view for. Can be used to set up a separate generator configuration for
a single view. |
2.2 Model configuration
Addtional configuration used by the generator is specified in the Xomega model under the top level config element,
which is conventionally placed in the global_config.xom file.
The paths to the master page and the user controls that are used by the generator, or configured for the types that are
used by properties of the view's data objects, are specified under the ui:controls-config/ui:user-controls element
of the global configuration, as follows.
The global configuration contains named layout configurations that are referenced in the individual views, which are specified
under the ui:layout-config element, as shown below.
2.3 Common configurations
Normally, there expected to be just one configuration of this generator in the model, with the parameter values as illustrated above.
When you are working on a specific view though, you can also copy the default configuration, and set that view as the selector,
so that you could easily regenerate just that view instead of all the views.
3. How to use the generator
The sections below provide some details on how to work with the generator.
3.1 Running the generator
You can run this generator for all the views in the model, or for a specific view that is specified in the generator's parameter.
You can rerun the generator when you change the data objects for the views, or UI configuration of their properties,
and also when you change any other configurations that the views depend upon, such as links, layout, fields' settings, etc.
This generator should be included in the build of the model project in the configuration, in order to allow to easily
regenerate all views along with other artifacts.
3.2 Customizing the output
You should not edit generated markup or code behind for the views directly, if you would like to re-run the generator later
without losing your changes.
To add your customizations, you need to edit a subclass of the generated code behind class for the view that was added when
you specified the customize attribute on the view. In that subclass you will have access to most of the server-side
controls for the view, and can programmatically change them or add custom behaviors.
If you do need to change the markup for the view, you can set the custom attribute on the view's ui:layout
element to "true" after generating that view initially, and it won't be updated during subsequent runs of the generator.
In this case you may as well delete the view from the model after initial generation, unless you need it there for link
references from other objects.
3.3 Cleaning generator’s output
This generator supports cleaning all generated views using the Clean context menu for that generator. Normally, cleaning
the generated files makes sense if you are planning to change the output path for the generator. Also, it can be used as
part of Regenerate action, which runs the Clean and then Generate actions, when you have removed some of the views
from the model, and want the generated classes and files deleted and removed from the target project.
Note, that the customization subclasses that were generated for views with a customize attribute set to
“true” will not be cleaned during these operations to prevent any loss of custom code during accidental run of such actions.
Therefore, you may get compilation errors for those classes if you clean your views, and will need to delete them
manually as needed.