Set the ccTest Project as the Startup Project.
8.6.1. Solution Explorer
In the Solution Explorer, Right Click on the ccTest Project and Select Set as Startup Project.
8.7. Execute Web Form
Run the Web Form from Visual Studio and marvel at your ingenuity.
Click the IDE menu item: Debug=>Start or Click the Play VCR Button to the left of the Solution Configurations DropDownList (usually says Debug or Release)
This is a very simple application that is intended to serve as a testing platform for the Web Control. To test that it is performing properly, simply change the selection of the DropDownList and click the Submit Button. The Label will change to reflect your choice. I leave it as an exercize for the reader to trap the SelectedIndexChanged Event of the DropDownList and modify the Label in that method.
8.8. Browse
Please spend an hour or so, poking around all the code that Microsoft gratuitously generated for you. There is a lot of cruft and if you are intermediate-advanced, you should be able to recognize it as such. Questions to ask yourself, are; Why is it there? Can I leverage the fact that it's there? Should I remove it?
9. Next Steps
Some other things that you may want to do with your Web Control, that you either did not cover or covered minimally are:
Extend Property Grid Support
Specify a Default XML Tag for the Web Control
Specify a TagPrefix
Add Intellisense Support
Package the Web Control for Deployment
More information on many of these topics is included with the MSDN Library. Just open up help in Visual Studio and navigate to the topic: MSDN Library/.NET Development/Visual Studio .NET/Product Documentation/Visual Basic and Visual C#/Programming with Components
If you think tree walking the MSDN Library is painful, searching is just as bad. I highly recommend that you become proficient with Google, or better yet, Copernic.
10. Conclusion
The Design Time environment of Visual Studio .NET is powerful yet mysterious, poorly documented yet accessible, attractive yet aggravating - a true study in contrasts. If you start down the road of extending the Design View further, be prepared for headaches galore, but it will be worth it if you can master it. Very few developers tap into these features and if you resell your components or even work in a large company where other developers will consume your work, you will stand out from the crowd.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this article and if you have worked through the recipe, I hope your Web Control turned out well. Let me know if there are errors or omissions and I will try to update the Recipe.
11. Resources
F1 and Shift-F1 should be your first line of defense
Copernic Agent Basic (free) is the most powerful search engine I have ever used
Google is the place on the web where you will have the most luck
GotDotNet remains a decent place to visit
CodeProject is a great resource
Microsoft MSDN .NET Framework Home Page Too often, this is a last resort
Download the source
Email the author Will Senn
12. Acknowledgements
Thanks to my Wife for putting up with my 40+ hour focus on writing this.
Thanks to Randy Geyer for assisting me with some of the trickier bits of the IDE.
Kudos to Susan Warren of Microsoft ASP.NET Team fame for her work with Custom Controls.
GotDotNet for the Microsoft ASP.NET QuickStarts Tutorial
If you would like to see your thoughts or experiences with technology published, please consider writing an article for OSNews.
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Technology White Papers
"What is interesting is that you can use the new system to play around and notice that Microsoft doesn't always seem to take down from its search engine, Bing, the same links that it orders Google to takedown." Funny, but since Microsoft outsources their takedown requests to a different company, most likely just a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
0 The Verge is reporting that some important members of the WebOS developer team are going to Google. According to a reply from HP, Open webOS project is on schedule, but a number of people are indeed transferring to Google. Fun times - let's see some of that webOS in Android.
James Hague: "But all the little bits of complexity, all those cases where indecision caused one option that probably wasn't even needed in the first place to be replaced by two options, all those bad choices that were never remedied for fear of someone somewhere having to change a line of code... They slowly accreted until it all got out of control, and we got comfortable with systems that were impossible to understand." Counterpoint by John Cook: "Some of the growth in complexity is understandable. It's a lot easier to maintain an orthogonal design when your software isn't being used. Software that gets used becomes less orthogonal and develops diagonal shortcuts." If there's ever been a system in dire need of a complete redesign, it's UNIX and its derivatives. A mess doesn't even begin to describe it (for those already frantically reaching for the comment button, note that this applies to other systems as well).
"Dozens of teachers specialising in computer science are to work in English schools thanks to a partnership between Google and the charity Teach First. Google's chairman Eric Schmidt said money would also be provided to buy 'teaching aids, such as Raspberry Pi's or Arduino starter kits'. He said that without investment in the subject, the UK risked 'losing a generation' of scientists." My Raspberry Pi should arrive via UPS today, assuming they don't mess up. I'll try and get a few photos and first impressions up if it does arrive.
Dish' DVR has an 'auto-hop' feature, which automatically skips commercials on recorded TV. Fox is now suing Dish over this feature, because they claim it will destroy the business model of ad-driven television. "We were given no choice but to file suit against one of our largest distributors, Dish Network, because of their surprising move to market a product with the clear goal of violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem," said Fox. This is the photographic film industry suing digital camera makers. It's so utterly absurd I can hardly believe it's for real.
"Today, we've been informed that Apple has removed Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store. We first heard from Apple about this decision two days ago, and we've been discussing the pending removal with them since then. However, we still do not yet have a clear answer on why Apple has chosen to remove Airfoil Speakers Touch. Needless to say, we're quite disappointed with their decision, and we're working hard to once again make the application available for you, our users. As far as we can tell, Airfoil Speakers Touch is in full compliance with Apple's posted rules and developer agreements. We've already filed an appeal with Apple's App Review Board, and we're awaiting further information. Unfortunately, Apple has full control of application distribution on iOS, leaving us with no other recourse here." Alternative headline: 'iOS 6 to greatly expand AirPlay functionality'.
"Touchscreens, zoomable maps, page swiping, and more, all integrated into one Eames-chair-equipped media room." MIT, late '70s, and noted by Andy Hertzfeld as a direct influence for the original Macintosh. Fantastic story by The Verge. Favourite part: even back then, there was concern among the scientists that the touch screen page flipping animation was frivolous.Hewlett Packard announced the company would lay off nearly nine percent of its 300,000 person workforce over the next two years, or about 27,000 people. The move is expected to save HP $3 billion to $3.5 billion annually. HP stock went up 5% in response to the news Thursday morning. Research firm Ovum asks "...the key missing piece is [Whitman's] long-term company vision and strategy, which hopefully will be revealed to an anxious customer base soon... the question still remains: Just what kind of company does HP want to be next year, three years, five years from now?"
"Intel has released the long awaited x86 system image of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Android SDK and emulator. This will allow the Android emulator (long plagued with slow and buggy performance) to run at native speed on computers using the Intel x86 architecture.""For their part, most Apple employees seem more than satisfied with Cook. He often sits down randomly with employees in the cafeteria at lunchtime, whereas Jobs typically dined with design chief Jonathan Ive. It is a small difference that speaks volumes about how employees can expect to interact with their CEO. At Apple, Jobs was simultaneously revered, loved, and feared. Cook clearly is a demanding boss, but he's not scary. He's well-respected, but not worshiped. As Apple enters a complex new phase of its corporate history, perhaps it doesn't need a god as CEO but a mere mortal who understands how to get the job done." A must-read. Quite fascinating.
