I remember in 2006 we were working on a portal for our client Venetian, Las Vegas and
the portal is full
of AJAX features. One
of my friend facing a challange to retain browser history with all AJAX operation. In terms
of user experience it is an important aspect which could not be avoided in that scenario. Well that time we have made some workarounds to achieve
the same but that may not be
the perfect solution.
Ok.. Now with Microsoft AJAX there are a lot
of such features can be achieved with optimum efficiency. Microsoft AJAX has grown its features over
the past few years. Microsoft.
Web.Preview.dll is an addon in conjunction with ASP.Net AJAX. It contains a control named "History" for that purpose.
Source code:-
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/3/1/831ffcd7-c571-4075-b8fa-6ff678794f60/CS-ASP-ASPBrowserHistoryinAJAX_cs.zip
Below is a small sample to demonstrate
the control.
1/ Get dll from
the above source code bin, and add reference to your
web application.
2/ Rightclick on toolbox panel and Choose Item, browse assembly. now you will be able to see History control.
3/ Add below section group in
web.config under <configSections>
<sectionGroup name="microsoft.
web.preview" type="Microsoft.
Web.Preview.Configuration.PreviewSectionGroup, Microsoft.
Web.Preview">
<section name="search" type="Microsoft.
Web.Preview.Configuration.SearchSection, Microsoft.
Web.Preview" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>
<section name="searchSiteMap" type="Microsoft.
Web.Preview.Configuration.SearchSiteMapSection, Microsoft.
Web.Preview" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>
<section name="diagnostics" type="Microsoft.
Web.Preview.Configuration.DiagnosticsSection, Microsoft.
Web.Preview" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>
</sectionGroup>
4/ Now create a simple webpage a textbox (txt1), button (btn1) in an updatePanel with History control (History1). We will fill in text box and post
the fom by clicking button a few times then verify if
the browse history is retained. Remember button and textbox must be inside UpdatePanel and History control outside
the UpdatePanel.
<%@Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="History.aspx.cs" Inherits="History" %>
<%@ Register Assembly="Microsoft.
Web.Preview" Namespace="Microsoft.
Web.Preview.UI.Controls" TagPrefix="cc1" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
<title>Untitled Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePartialRendering="true"></asp:ScriptManager>
<div>
<cc1:History ID="History1" runat="server" OnNavigate="History1_Navigate">
</cc1:History>
<asp:UpdatePanel ID="up1" runat="server">
<ContentTemplate>
<asp:TextBox ID="txt1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox><br />
<asp:Button ID="btn1" runat="server" Text="Test" OnClick="btn1_Click" />
</ContentTemplate>
<Triggers>
<asp:AsyncPostBackTrigger ControlID="History1" />
</Triggers>
</asp:UpdatePanel>
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>
5/ Below code to add
the textbox value in history everytime we post back using btn1 click.
protected void btn1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
History1.AddHistoryPoint("txtState",txt1.Text);
}
6/ and finally Navigate event
of History control
protected void History1_Navigate(object sender, Microsoft.
Web.Preview.UI.Controls.HistoryEventArgs args)
{
string strState = string.Empty;
if (args.State.ContainsKey("txtState"))
{
strState = (string)args.State["txtState"];
}
txt1.Text = strState;
}
Now all set to go :)
Reference:
http://www.dotnetglobe.com/2008/08/using-asp.html
