Working with Ext.net Controls.
Today i want to introduce a new third party control
i.e. none other than Ext.net controls.what are the special features that exists in this Controls that i want to discuss in this Article.After reading this Article you will be a big favorite of these controls.
Why we go for third party controls ?
The above question churns in every programmer's mind.There are so many factors that may lead or to choose third party controls.The Factors that include
1)Better performance (By reducing the Number of hits to database with demand and load concept).
2)Look and feel (eye catching and easy for User to interact the website with your controls)
3)Avail wide variety controls makes easier to choose for our requirement.
4)Compact in Coding(less lines of code).
5)Eliminate Html type of design, Style sheets,themes if those all are provided by Control Vendor.So that we(programmers) can not bothered much on Design issues and browser compatibility issues.
Yes the above Answers will erase that question in your mind .Ext.net will address all these points.What are the Main Features that exists in ext.net Controls ?:
They Come with two different Frameworks one is mvc framework and Normal WebForm
ext.net controls are very easy to Use and those who are very familiar with asp.net controls it is very easy to ADAPT these controls.They are mainly Build on component framework Asp.net and ext.js.
Ext.net has a free open source code and controls available.
Ext.net has wide variety of Controls available.
You can even alter design at run time.
No need to handle events and write code for that
For example when you are working with asp.net grid control you will have extensive event handling like for editing,sorting,Grouping,paging ,hierarchical grid and even filtering the grid.They all are built in functionality in ext.net.The programmer just need to set the attribute in ext.net Grid in your aspx page to work out this functionality i.e.(editing,sorting,Grouping,paging)
A small sample code how the ext.net Grid looks like and the ext.net grid control image you can see below.
ext:Viewport runat="server" Margins="0 0 10 0>
LayoutConfig>
ext:VBoxLayoutConfig Align="Center" Pack="Center"
LayoutConfi>
Item>
ext:GridPanel
runat="server"
Title="Restaurants"
Frame="true"
Width="400"
Height="295>
Stor>
ext:Store
runat="server"
Data="<%#Ext.Net.Examples.KitchenSink.Restaurants.GetAllRestaurants() %>">
Model
ext:Model runat="server>
Field>
ext:ModelField Name="name"
ext:ModelField Name="cuisine"
ext:ModelField Name="description"
ext:ModelField Name="rating" Type="Int"
Fields
ext:Mode
Model
Sorters
ext:DataSorter Property="cuisine" Direction="DESC"
ext:DataSorter Property="name"
Sorters
ext:Store
Store
ColumnModel runat="server"
Columns
ext:Column runat="server" Text="Name" Flex="1" DataIndex="name"
ext:Column runat="server" Text="Cuisine" Flex="1" DataIndex="cuisine"
Columns
ColumnModel
ext:GridPanel
Items
ext:ViewportSimilarities in ext.net grid vs asp.net grid :
Now the above code is very much similar to the asp.net grid Control.But the tags are different to asp.net grid control the first one we need to work with store tag.The name store is here act as a data-source that will store the dataset results.In this above example GetAllResturants will return a dataset and that dataset will bind to the store.Now the Model Field Columns tells us which columns we need to be visualize in the datagrid that is same as TemplateColumn in Gridview of Asp.net Control.
Note:
ext:ModelField attribute Name is same as Database Column Name similar to DataBinder.Eval in asp.net Gridview.If you wish to set Datatype property you can specify that in this Tag.
Now this store can be called to your c# code page.In Design page you just add store id ="store1"
store1.Datasource =dst
store1.databind();
Now the Sorters tags are similar to the asp.net Grid Sorting.But you do n't need to handle any extra code or events in your source code page other than these two start and end tags in the designer page.Sorting will internally handled by the data sorter tags.Simplify your Design with ext.net Controls:
You can not make any big effort to design the ext.net controls because all the controls ,stylesheets and themes all are built in and thus provides rich look for your website.you carefully observe the the first lines of Code i.e. the viewport tag is exactly acts like a panel in your asp.net control.And with layoutconfig tells the layout of the viewport look like(Boxlayout,FrameLayout e.t.c.).All i can say a single html tag is not needed to design ext.net Control.
The Flex attribute is used to Flex your datagrid at runtime
Now lets see the real image of the Ext.net grid.
just use the sort FUNCTIONALITY in your application without writing any code in your code page i.e.(aspx.cs).And two columns will hide or visible by just unchecking the checkbox and you need not write any extra code for this.
See the below image how it looks like
If you do not want this requirement you can remove it by removing the column model tag.
Ext.net have got extensive controls.Even they have MessageBoxes for alerts as Just like windowsApplication Message boxes.You will have prompt controls and Progress bar controls and all the controls available in the Ext.net.
Different chart types available in ext.net for example (pie,bar,stacked column...e.t.c....)and with 3d animation ,different types of Editable datagrids available,Tab panels, Menus and many more controls available in ext.net.
All i can say you will have a very rich User Interface in your website when you use Ext.net Controls.So download the ext.net controls and start Using it.Enjoy the Awesome and rich User Interface screens in your Website.Author's Advice:
When you are working with any third party Control you draw a comparison with asp.net Controls.So that you can easily adapt the newer Technology.
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