Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 235 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages Start by reviewing the code for the master page. The first line is the directive: < %@ Master Language="VB" % > Instead of using the Page directive, as you would with a typical .aspx page, you use the Master directive for a master page. This master page uses only a single attribute, Language .The Language attribute’s value here is VB , but of course, you can also use C# if you are building a C# master page. You code the rest of the master page just as you would any other .aspx page. You can use server controls, raw HTML and text, images, events, or anything else you normally would use for any .aspx page. This means that your master page can have a Page_Load event as well or any other event that you deem appropriate. In the code shown in Listing 5-1, notice the use of a new server control — the < asp:ContentPlaceHolder > control. This control defines the areas of the template where the content page can place its content: < tr > < td > < asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server" > < /asp:ContentPlaceHolder > < /td > < td > < asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder2" runat="server" > < /asp:ContentPlaceHolder > < /td > < /tr > In the case of this master page, two defined areas exist where the content page can place content. Our master page contains a header and a footer area. It also defines two areas in the page where any inheriting content page can place its own content. Look at how a content page uses this master page. Coding a Content Page Now that you have a master page in place in your application, you can use this new template for any content pages in your application. Right-click the application in the Solution Explorer and choose Add New Item to create a new content page within your application. To create a content page or a page that uses this master page as its template, you select a typical Web Form from the list of options in the Add New Item dialog (see Figure 5-5). Instead of creating a typical Web Form, however, you check the Select Master Page check box. This gives you the option of associating this Web Form later to some master page. After you name your content page and click the Add button in the Add New Item dialog, you are pre- sented with the Select a Master Page dialog, as shown in Figure 5-6. This dialog allows you to choose the master page from which you want to build your content page. You choose from the available master pages that are contained within your application. For this example, select the new master page that you created in Listing 5-1 and click OK. This creates the content page. The created page is a simple .aspx page with only a couple of lines of code contained in the file, as shown in Listing 5-2. 235 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 236 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages Figure 5-5 Figure 5-6 Listing 5-2: The created content page < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" Title="Untitled Page" % > < script runat="server" > < /script > 236 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 237 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages < asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" Runat="Server" > < /asp:Content > < asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1" Runat="Server" > < /asp:Content > This content page is not much different from the typical .aspx page you coded in the past. The big difference is the inclusion of the MasterPageFile attribute within the Page directive. The use of this attribute indicates that this particular .aspx page constructs its control’s based on another page. The location of the master page within the application is specified as the value of the MasterPageFile attribute. The other big difference is that it contains neither the < form id="form1" runat="server" > tag nor any opening or closing HTML tags that would normally be included in a typical .aspx page. This content page may seem simple, but if you switch to the design view within Visual Studio 2008, you see the power of using content pages. What you get with visual inheritance is shown in Figure 5-7. Figure 5-7 237 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 238 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages In this screenshot, you can see that just by using the MasterPageFile attribute in the Page directive, you are able to visually inherit everything that the Wrox.master file exposes. From the design view within Visual Studio, you can also see what master page you are working with as the name of the referenced master page is presented in the upper-right corner of the Design view page. If you try and click into the gray area that represents what is inherited from the master page, you will see that your cursor changes to show you are not allowed. This is illustrated in Figure 5-8 (the cursor is on the word Page in the title). Figure 5-8 All the common areas defined in the master page are shown in gray, whereas the content areas that you specified in the master page using the < asp:ContentPlaceHolder > server control are shown clearly and available for additional content in the content page. You can add any content to these defined content areas as if you were working with a regular .aspx page. An example of using this .master page for a content page is shown in Listing 5-3. Listing 5-3: The content page that uses Wrox.master VB < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" % > < script runat="server" > Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Label1.Text = "Hello " & TextBox1.Text & "!" End Sub < /script > < asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server" > < b > Enter your name: < /b >< br / > < asp:Textbox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" / > < br / > < br / > < asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Submit" OnClick="Button1_Click" / >< br / > < br / > < asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Font-Bold="True" / > < /asp:Content > < asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder2" runat="server" > < asp:Image ID="Image1" runat="server" ImageUrl="wrox.gif" / > < /asp:Content > C# < %@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" % > 238 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 239 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages < script runat="server" > protected void Button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { Label1.Text = "Hello " + TextBox1.Text + "!"; } < /script > Right away you see some differences. As stated before, this page has no < form id="form1" runat="server" > tag nor any opening or closing < html > tags. These tags are not included because they are located in the master page. Also notice a new server control — the < asp:Content > server control. < asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server" > < /asp:Content > The < asp:Content > server control is a defined content area that maps to a specific < asp:ContentPlace Holder > server control on the master page. In this example, you can see that the < asp:Content > server control maps itself to the < asp:ContentPlaceHolder > server control in the master page that has the ID of ContentPlaceHolder1 . Within the content page, you don’t have to worry about specifying the location of the content because this is already defined within the master page. Therefore, your only concern is to place the appropriate content within the provided content sections, allowing the master page to do most of the work for you. Just as when you work with any typical .aspx page, you can create any event handlers for your content page. In this case, you are using just a single event handler — the button click when the end user submits the form. The created .aspx page that includes the master page and content page material is shown in Figure 5-9. Figure 5-9 Mixing Page Types and Languages One interesting point: When you use master pages, you are not tying yourself to a specific coding model (inline or code-behind), nor are you tying yourself to the use of a specific language. You can feel free to mix these elements within your application because they all work well. 239 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 240 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages You could use the master page created earlier, knowing that it was created using the inline-coding model, and then build your content pages using the code-behind model. Listing 5-4 shows a content page created using a Web Form that uses the code-behind option. Listing 5-4: A content page that uses the code-behind model .aspx (VB) < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="MyContentPage.aspx.vb" Inherits="MyContentPage" % > < asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" Runat="Server" > < /asp:Content > < asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server" > < b > Enter your name: < /b >< br / > < asp:Textbox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" / > < br / > < br / > < asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Submit" / >< br / > < br / > < asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Font-Bold="True" / > < /asp:Content > < asp:Content ID="Content3" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder2" runat="server" > < asp:Image ID="Image1" runat="server" ImageUrl="ineta.JPG" / > < /asp:Content > VB Code-Behind Partial Class MyContentPage Inherits System.Web.UI.Page Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label1.Text = "Hello " & TextBox1.Text & "!" End Sub End Class C# Code-Behind public partial class MyContentPage : System.Web.UI.Page { protected void Button1_Click (object sender, System.EventArgs e) { Label1.Text = "Hello " + TextBox1.Text + "!"; } } Even though the master page is using the inline-coding model, you can easily create content pages (such as the page shown in Listing 5-4) that use the code-behind model. The pages will still work perfectly. 240 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 241 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages Not only can you mix the coding models when using master pages, you can also mix the program- ming languages you use for the master or content pages. Just because you build a master page in C# doesn’t mean that you are required to use C# for all the content pages that use this master page. Y ou can also build content pages in Visual Basic. For a good example, create a master page in C# that uses the Page_Load event handler and then create a content page in Visual Basic. Once it is complete, run the page. It works pe rfectly well. This means that even though you might have a master page in one of the available .NET languages, the programming teams that build applications from the master page can use whatever .NET language they want. You have to love the openness that the .NET Framework˜offers! Specifying Which Master Page to Use You just observed that it is pretty easy to specify at page level which master page to use. In the Page directive of the content page, you simply use the MasterPageFile attribute: < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" % > Besides specifying the master page that you want to use at the page level, you have a second way to specify which master page you want to use in the web.config file of the application. This is shown in Listing 5-5. Listing 5-5: Specifying the master page in the web.config file < configuration > < system.web > < pages masterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" / > < /system.web > < /configuration > Specifying the master page in the web.config file causes every single content page you create in the application to inherit from the specified master page. If you declare your master page in the web.config file, you can create any number of content pages that use this master page. Once specified in this manner, the content page’s Page directive can then be constructed in the following manner: < %@ Page Language="VB" % > You can easily override the application-wide master page specification by simply declaring a different master page within your content page: < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/MyOtherCompany.master" % > By specifying the master p age in the web.config , you are really not saying that you want all the .aspx pages to use this master page. If you create a normal Web Form and run it, ASP.NET will know that the page is not a content page and will run the page as a normal .aspx page. If you want to apply the master page template to only a specific subset of pages (such as pages contained within a specific folder of your application), you can use the < location > element within the web.config file, as illustrated in Listing 5-6. 241 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 242 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages Listing 5-6: Specifying the master page for a specific folder in the web.config file < configuration > < location path="AdministrationArea" > < system.web > < pages masterPageFile="~/WroxAdmin.master" / > < /system.web > < /location > < /configuration > With the addition of this < location > section in the web.config file, you have now specified that a specific folder ( AdministrationArea ) will use a different master file template. This is done using the path attribute of the < location > element. The value of the path attribute can be a folder name as shown, or it can even be a specific page — such as AdminPage.aspx . Working with the Page Title When you create content pages in your application, by default all the content pages automatically use the title that is declared in the master page. For instance, you have primarily been using a master page with the title My Company Master Page . Every content page that is created using this particular master page also uses the same My Company Master Page title. You can avoid this by specifying the page’s title using the Title attribute in the @Page directive in the content page. You can also work with the page title programmatically in your content pages. To accomplish this, in the code of the content page, you use the Master object. The Master object conveniently has a property called Title . The value of this property is the page title that is used for t he content page. You code it as shown in Listing 5-7. Listing 5-7: Coding a custom page title for the content page VB < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" % > < script runat="server" > Protected Sub Page_LoadComplete(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Master.Page.Title = "This page was generated on: " & _ DateTime.Now.ToString() End Sub < /script > C# < %@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/wrox.master" % > < script runat="server" > protected void Page_LoadComplete(object sender, EventArgs e) { Master.Page.Title = "This page was generated on: " + 242 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 243 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages DateTime.Now.ToString(); } < /script > Working with Controls and Properties from the Master Page When working with master pages from a content page, you actually have good access to the controls and the properties that the master page exposes. The master page, when referenced by the content page, exposes a property called Master . You use this property to get at control values or custom properties that are contained in the master page itself. To see an e xample of this, create a GUID (unique identifier) in the master page that you can retrieve on the content page that is using the master. For this example, use the master page that was created in Listing 5-1, but add a Label server control and the Page_Load event (see Listing 5-8). Listing 5-8: A master page that creates a GUID on the first request VB < %@ Master Language="VB" % > < script runat="server" > Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) If Not Page.IsPostBack Then Label1.Text = System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString() End If End Sub < /script > < html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > < head runat="server" > < title > My Company Master Page < /title > < asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="head" runat="server" > < /asp:ContentPlaceHolder > < /head > < body > < form id="form1" runat="server" > < table cellpadding="3" border="1" > < tr bgcolor="silver" > < td colspan="2" > < h1 > My Company Home Page < /h1 > < b > User’s GUID: < asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" / >< /b > < /td > < /tr > < tr > < td > < asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server" > < /asp:ContentPlaceHolder > 243 Evjen c05.tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 244 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages < /td > < td > < asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder2" runat="server" > < /asp:ContentPlaceHolder > < /td > < /tr > < tr > < td colspan="2" > Copyright 2008 - My Company < /td > < /tr > < /table > < /form > < /body > < /html > C# protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (!Page.IsPostBack) { Label1.Text = System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); } } Now you have a Label control on the master page that you can access from the content page. You have a couple of ways to accomplish this task. The first is to use the FindControl() method that the master page exposes. This approach is shown in Listing 5-9. Listing 5-9: Getting at the Label’s Text value in the content page VB < %@ Page Language="VB" MasterPageFile="~/Wrox.master" % > < script runat="server" language="vb" > Protected Sub Page_LoadComplete(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Label1.Text = CType(Master.FindControl("Label1"), Label).Text End Sub Protected Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Label2.Text = "Hello " & TextBox1.Text & "!" End Sub < /script > < asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" Runat="Server" > < /asp:Content > < asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderId="ContentPlaceHolder1" 244 . couple of lines of code contained in the file, as shown in Listing 5- 2. 2 35 Evjen c 05. tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 236 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages Figure 5- 5 Figure 5- 6 Listing 5- 2: The. shown in Figure 5- 9. Figure 5- 9 Mixing Page Types and Languages One interesting point: When you use master pages, you are not tying yourself to a specific coding model (inline or code-behind),. power of using content pages. What you get with visual inheritance is shown in Figure 5- 7. Figure 5- 7 237 Evjen c 05. tex V2 - 01/28/2008 12:47pm Page 238 Chapter 5: Working with Master Pages In this