How to classify and Target “class of controls” as a set

Question

the scenario is like so :

say i have a table , html table , the table has few <td> Controls each has a set of controls,

that is related to that specific <td> , but not necessarily enclosed within the <td> scope.

for example :

<asp:Label ID="Lbl_TlTp1" runat="server">

<table>
    <tr>
        <td ID="TD_1" runat="server">
            <asp:Label ID="LBL_1" runat="server" />
        </td>
        <td>
            <asp:TextBox ID="TBX_1" runat="server" /> 
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

now i want to be able to address tips Label Lbl_TlTp1, DataLabel LBL_1 And the TextBox TBX_1

as A set or a collection, to be very flexible (allowing Enumeration etc'..)

is it by making it(that "set" ) as a class or object that encapsulates those control items... each as a member ?

i would like to later be able to manipulate the "set" as one entity

setOfControls Sct1 = new setOfControls()

public void ActAppon(setOfControls section)
{
    execProcedure1(section);

    foreach(control ctr in section)
    {
        doTheThing(ctr);
    }
}
    ...etc'

what is the approach to achieve this solution ?

Answer 1

Make a UserControl (.ascx) for the markup, and expose the properties for your web-controls, and work on that..

Make a UserControl (.ascx) named as ControlGroup.ascx

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="ControlGroup.ascx.cs" Inherits="NameSpaceName.ProjectName.ControlGroup" %>
<asp:Label ID="Lbl_TlTp1" runat="server">

<table>
    <tr>
        <td ID="TD_1" runat="server">
            <asp:Label ID="LBL_1" runat="server" />
        </td>
        <td>
            <asp:TextBox ID="TBX_1" runat="server" /> 
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

In its code behind (ControlGroup.ascx.cs) make Properties. like

namespace NameSpaceName.ProjectName
{
    public partial class ControlGroup: System.Web.UI.UserControl
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        { }

        public Label T1Tp1 { get { return Lbl_TlTp1; }}
        public Label LBL { get { return Lbl_TlTp1; }}
        public TextBox TBX{ get { return Lbl_TlTp1; }}
    }
}

And Now you can use this UserControl In any ASPX Page. For it register your usercontrol on a page like

<%@ Page ....... %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="uc1" TagName="CG" Src="ControlGroup.ascx" %>

And Use this Control in markup like

<uc1:CG runat="server" id="cg1" />

And In Page load of the page you can access this control and its property. like

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    cg1.T1Tp1.Text = "Some Text";
    cg1.LBL.Text = "Some Lable Text";
    cg1.TBX.Text = "Some TextBox Text";
}

Or you can load your usercontrol programatic. like

List<ControlGroup> setOfControls = new List<ControlGroup>();

for(int i=0; i<10 ;i++)
{
   ControlGroup cg1 = Page.LoadControl("~/ControlGroup.ascx") as ControlGroup;
   if(cg1 != null)
   {
     cg1.T1Tp1.Text = "";
     cg1.LBL.Text = "";
     cg1.TBX.Text = "";

     setOfControls.Add(cg1);
   }
}

and can add it in another control, on even populate a list for these controls.

I hope It will help you.