How to make a custom version of AjaxControlToolkit.TabContainer

Question

I guess this is a lot of questions bundled into one post.

I want to build a wizard-like control which looks similar to the TabContainer

But I need certain customizations. These would be like I'd want to associate some help text with the TabPanel. So I imagine I'd want to write my markup like below for the tabpanel:

<cc1:MyTabPanel ID="mtp1" runat="server">
    <HelpTextTemplate>
        This is your step 1 which is about ...
    </HelpTextTemplate>
    <ContentTemplate>
        Content goes here...
    </ContentTemplate>
</cc1:MyTabPanel>

So what do you do to make markup like that...? And how would our control from code behind be able to access data between HelpTextTemplate - which may contain server controls and all?

Moreover, notice that there is a button called 'Save' in the above pic. The user simply drags and drops into the tab panel. And when the user double-clicks on it we have a method stub generated in the code behind (which belongs to the aspx page). How is all of this achieved?

And to cap the whole solution off, I realize we have to wire some javascript to simulate that tab functionality. There is css here too (Notice the images behind the tabs - the gradient, etc). The aspect that I am looking at is making this into a control that the users can use out-of-box just like the toolkit's tabcontainer control. Hence the css/javascript should kind of be bundled. How to achieve this?

Edit:

I am also interested in making the control designer (design-time interaction) part. I am looking for functionality the same way we have for the asp.net wizard control. I have found answers to some of the questions I had above will add it when I find time.

Answer 1

For embedding a script or image to the asp.net custom control I found a solution mentioned in the below site:

Embed js resource with custom asp.net control

Answer 2

What I suggest here it may sound too much, but I can not think other easy way for what you ask and the way you won it.

Grab the source code of the TabContainer, clone it, and make all your custom settings base on that source code. The first steps is to get the full source code of this asp.net toolkit and make a build that working. The second step is to add a clone of the TabControl, with new names. Then you work on this clone to make your changes as you wish for. The final step is to try to separate your custom control in a stand alone library if this is possible.

Download the latest version of the full asp.net ajax control toolkit

http://ajaxcontroltoolkit.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets

Here you can see online the source code for the TabContainer only

http://ajaxcontroltoolkit.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/2c482e5ad6c4#Server%2fAjaxControlToolkit%2fTabs%2fTabContainer.cs

Answer 3

The control you are trying to build is not incredibly complex, but it does involve a number of different techniques.

I would suggest creating your own control from scratch rather then inheritting an existing one. Probably using CompositeControl as the base would be best since it gives you a lot of flexibility.

For HelpTextTemplate/ContentTemplate you'll want to create some ITemplate containers, take a look at this article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa478964.aspx on how to set these up. Since you may want to access the contents/controls in HelpTextTemplate take a look at this article for how to access them: ASP.Net ITemplate - ways of declaring.

For the tabs, since this is custom, I would probably avoid AjaxControlToolkit. Instead I would include a reference to jQuery UI and use jQuery UI Tabs: http://jqueryui.com/demos/tabs/. Your CompositeControl just needs to output some divs, ul/li elements and you'll be good to go for making the tabs.

If you are fixated on using the AJAX Control Toolkit Tabs then you still can. You'll need to instantiate an instance in your custom control, add it to the control tree, and then use a technique like this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0e39s2ck.aspx to transfer the contents of your template to the tab pages.

Being able to drag and drop a control from the toolbox onto your page is simple; if your server control library is already part of the same solution as your website then it will just show up. Worst case scenario you can use the Add Items option and add the DLL by browsing for it. As for how the Click event is created when you double click a button, that is done through an attribute on the class, take a look at this tutorial on setting up default events: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/43sxkdeb.

As for embedding javascript into the library, these two questions cover how to do this specifically for jQuery UI, if you choose to go some other route it should still be pertinent: How to embed jquery library in asp.net custom server control?, http://forums.asp.net/t/1599621.aspx/1.

As for design time support, try reviwing Microsofts article on this (includes a sample): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa478960.aspx or this CodeProject article on it: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/9227/ASP-NET-Server-Control-Design-Time-Support.