LivePanel ASP.NET Server Control Information

This page includes information about the LivePanel Server Control, which is included in PowerWEB LiveControls for ASP.NET: 

[View LiveControl Demo]

The LivePanel server control is essential for creating complex remote-scripted applications using LiveControls for ASP.NET. Since LiveControl applications are designed to operate without refreshing the entire page, this adds a bit of complexity to creating large scale web applications (such as web email applications, web contact management applications, web bug tracking applications, etc). LivePanel can be used to easily section your applications into different pages for use.

For example, if the application is a web based application, this could conceivably be made up of several "forms"...for example there could be a "login page", a "display mailbox contents page", a "compose page", a "configure account page", a "read email page", etc. One way you could design this application is to place the user interface of each "page" on a seperate LivePanel on the same aspx page. Control which interface the user sees by changing the LivePanel.Display property to show the current interface and hiding the rest. Since these changes will be made using remote-scripting technology, the result will be an application with lightning quick response and no user interface disruption as the browser is not refreshed.

Browser Compatibility

LiveControls has been tested and is fully "callback-compatible" in the following browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+ for Windows
• Microsoft Interner Explorer 5.0+ for Macintosh
• Netscape 7.1+ for Windows
• Netscape 7.1+ for Macintosh OS X
• Mozilla 1.3+ for Windows
• Mozilla 1.3+ for Macintosh OS X
• Firefox for Windows
• Firefox for Macintosh OS X
• Camino for Macintosh OS X
• Konqueror based engines
• Galeon
• Opera 5.0+

If a browser which is not compatible accesses a page containing LiveControls, the controls will fall back to the standard ASP.NET functionality. For example, a LiveButton issues a transparent callback when clicked. If on a non-compatible page, the button will still be displayed, but will cause a standard postback when clicked.

Server Tag Example

The following tags demonstrate server tag settings to two LivePanel controls containing child controls.

<cc1:LivePanel id="LivePanel1" runat="server">
   <cc1:LiveLabel id="LiveLabel1" runat="server">Panel 1 Displayed</cc1:LiveLabel>
   <cc1:LiveTextBox id="LiveTextBox1" runat="server"></cc1:LiveTextBox>
   <cc1:LiveButton id="LiveButton1" runat="server"></cc1:LiveButton>
</cc1:LivePanel>
<cc1:LivePanel id="LivePanel2" runat="server">
   <cc1:LiveLabel id="LiveLabel2" runat="server">Panel 2 Displayed</cc1:LiveLabel>
   <cc1:LiveTextBox id="LiveTextbox2" runat="server"></cc1:LiveTextBox>
   <cc1:LiveButton id="LiveButton2" runat="server"></cc1:LiveButton>
</cc1:LivePanel>

Code-Behind Example

The following code demonstrates hiding and showing panels to display different interfaces to the user.

private void LiveButton1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   // Hide Panel1 and show Panel2
   LivePanel1.Display = false;
   LivePanel2.Display = true;
}

private void LiveButton2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   // Hide Panel2 and show Panel1
   LivePanel1.Display = true;
   LivePanel2.Display = false;
}