[RESOLVED] General design question

[jtm235]

Im building my first web application and im confused about whether or not to use an iframe or panels to hold the main content of my page. It has a stagnant menu on top that should never change. Im also using update panels throughout each main content page, which don't seem to work predictively in iframes.

So should i put everything on one page? my only worry is that it would get pretty sloppy during design, and i might take too long to load...

[techgnome]

you can have it in one file, or a hundred files, but what gets sent to the client is the same data, so load time isn't much of an issue.

Typically the way I handle this (disclaimer, I use PHP, not ASP, but I think the principles are the same - and if I did ASP, this is still the way I'd handle it) is to slice up my pages into parts... usually 4 parts at least:

1. Header
2. Footer
3. Navigation
4. Content

the content pages, then include the HEader, footer and navigation in to hte proper areas, and then supplying the content as appropriate where it goes to. Does that make sense?

-tg

[gep13]

On top of this, you have the content of ASP.Net Master Pages, which can be used to house the common portions of each page, and then the Content Pages contain everything else.

Gary

[techgnome]

Even better actually. One of these days I need to learn how to do ASP.NET web development.

-tg

[gep13]

See, I would have had you down as a dab hand at ASP.Net, surprising to hear that you haven't really used it!

Gary

[techgnome]

no opportunity... currently all of my web development has been by hand HTML, CSS and PHP.... I've done some ASP Classic development in the past... but nothing in the last 5 years or so. I need to get my server at home rebuilt and get ASP.NET installed on it so I can do something at least. Problem is, unless I have something to actually work on... I have no motivation. eh.

-tg

[gep13]

I know exactly what you mean.

There are so many technologies on the go just now, ASP.Net MVC, jQuery, WCF, etc, that trying to stay on top of them is hard, unless you have a dedicated project to use them on.

You should definitely get that server rebuilt though, ASP.Net is where it's at

Gary

[techgnome]

Yeah, it makes me wish that I had the windows account with my host instead of the Linux one... then at least I could use my radio station as my pet project that I could tinker with... Hmmm... I suppose I could still do that... it would just only be available at home.... hmmmm..... hang on... a thought is forming... I might be onto something here.

-tg

[gep13]

One out there suggestion...

Does your linux host have Mono, specifically the Mod_Mono module for Apache? You could create your ASP.Net Application, and host it on there.

Gary

[techgnome]

Had to take a look at their site... sad to say, doesn't look like it. Bummer. Maybe I'll open a ticket tonight when I get home and see if it's something that can be added, or if they are even willing to... would be sweet if that became an option. And would be great for marketing too.

-tg

[gep13]

Yeah, absolutely.

I only know of a couple hosts that support Mono out of the box, but I would have thought that it would be a great selling point for them. Mono is certainly getting mature enough, that it is stable enough to use.

Gary

[Pradeep1210]

1. You can use MasterPage/ContentPage mechanism. The advantage is that you don't have to think too much. You can just start writing, as you are using the built-in feature asp.net provides.
2. Or you can just design one page that has the common elements. Then inherit all your pages from that page. The advantage is that it gives you a greater control over what you want to do.

[jtm235]

darn, when i saw 11 responses i got all excited thinking I had an aswome question. only to realize that the entire thread was basically 2 people chatting

Anyway, about the masterpages...I want to pass variables across all levels and ill probably us the url parameters. Is that something i can implement with the master/content page design. (IE send variables from master page to content page, from content page to content page, from content page to master page)

[Pradeep1210]

Not sure about master/content pages.
But give a thought to second option I suggested in post #12. You can make public properties/methods in your base page. So they will be available in the inherited pages also. (just if I got your requirements right).

[jtm235]

isn't "inheriting" the same as the master/content concept?

[Pradeep1210]

No. While the final output may be same, and one can be made to act like the other, they are totally different concepts.
In Master/Content concept, you define placeholders for embedding the content pages. So when rendering the final output, the asp.net engine first renders the master page and then inserts the content pages at appropriate places.
If you inherit page, the inherited page is executed and output rendered to client. It may be inheriting features/contents from its base page.

[gep13]

darn, when i saw 11 responses i got all excited thinking I had an aswome question. only to realize that the entire thread was basically 2 people chatting

Sorry about that, didn't mean to hijack your thread!!

Gary

[gep13]

I typically use a mixture of the two concepts.

I will use a Master Page to define the look and feel of the application to ensure consistency across all the pages, and I will use a BasePage to ensure common functionality across all the pages.

Can you provide a concrete example of what you are trying to do, that way we can suggest the best approach.

Gary