Rendering repeated data is an important feature in any form builder. So DotNetMushroom RAD (which is not just a form builder but an application builder) offers two ways to program this.  The main scope behind form rendering is to offer the designer control over the rendering of HTML and avoid unnecessary tags, especially table tags.  Obviously sometimes a developer will want table tags because he is developing something simple or because the designer will later update the templates with the look and feel which was agreed with the client.

DotNetMushroom RAD offers four templates per form:

• Header
• Body
• Alternate Body
• Footer

For repeated data the Body is required while all the others are always optional.

Using a DataList

DotNetMushroom RAD gives the user the possibility to use an in-built DataList to display repeated data. It gives the option to render data using (Repetition Layout) table or flow. When using table data is rendered in a table structure, when using flow data is rendered without the table structure.  DataLists allow the flexibility also of allowing a number of columns in the display, say 2 or 3 columns.

View as Textbox Property

When using this property DotNetMushroom RAD will concatenate the HTML in all the four templates. Of course the Body and Alternate Body will be repeated for the amount of records that will be shown in the form.

This means that one can:

If there are ten records html rendered will be:

• This means that one can start a table in the Header Template : <table>
• Set the Body template as: <tr class=”Odd”><td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>
• Create an Alternate Body Template: <tr class=”Even”><td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td></tr>
• And finally close the table in the Footer Template: </table>

If there are ten records html rendered will be

<table>

   <td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>

   <td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td>

   <td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>

   <td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td>

   <td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>

   <td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td>

   <td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>

   <td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td>

   <td>[DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName] [DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage]</td></tr>

   <td>[DNMIMAGE::ID=lblImage][DNMLABEL::ID=lblEmployeeName]</td>

</table>

 

No Data?

Finally if there is no data to display, DotNetMushroom RAD can display a No Data Form.  This is convenient so that you can display a nice message, instead of just a blank page.