HtmlEditor : Phorum 5
This is the discussion forum for the HtmlEditor. See also the HtmlEditor home page, where you can download the control, and the Documentation Wiki, a collaborative project for documenting the control.
HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (152.1.87.---)
Date: Monday, 14-Nov-2005, 16:17:04
Hi there,
I'm doing some research on how to add functionality to this HtmlEditor as a designer for Webcontrols and HtmlControls -- just like the WebMatrix ASP .Net Designer, which is able to render WebControls such as DataGrid, DataList, Repeater, and others. Has anyone ever toyed of this idea before? Using the Spy++ control, I can tell that WebMatrix's designer is an Internet Explorer_Server, mshtml-based, very much like Tim's HtmlEditor.
Visual Studio 2005's web forms designer is based on Visual_Web_Design_Server, a totally different monster. I have the feeling that they have completely abandoned mshtml, and now touting that Visual Studio 2005's new html/web forms editor does not mess up with the users' html source (unlike mshtml-based editors).
Time to get a hand on this Visual_Web_Design_Server (?)
regards, ramida
I'm doing some research on how to add functionality to this HtmlEditor as a designer for Webcontrols and HtmlControls -- just like the WebMatrix ASP .Net Designer, which is able to render WebControls such as DataGrid, DataList, Repeater, and others. Has anyone ever toyed of this idea before? Using the Spy++ control, I can tell that WebMatrix's designer is an Internet Explorer_Server, mshtml-based, very much like Tim's HtmlEditor.
Visual Studio 2005's web forms designer is based on Visual_Web_Design_Server, a totally different monster. I have the feeling that they have completely abandoned mshtml, and now touting that Visual Studio 2005's new html/web forms editor does not mess up with the users' html source (unlike mshtml-based editors).
Time to get a hand on this Visual_Web_Design_Server (?)
regards, ramida
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (152.1.87.---)
Date: Monday, 14-Nov-2005, 16:20:27
Ooopsss...toyed with? :-)
Sorry, ramida
Sorry, ramida
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: Tim (---.gotadsl.co.uk)
Date: Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005, 07:49:44
If Visual_Web_Design_server is a redistributable component, then yes - very interesting. Otherwise it is not much use to us.
Tim
Tim
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (152.1.87.---)
Date: Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005, 16:09:16
Hi Tim,
After communicating with a Microsoft "insider" working on Visual Web Developer, I found out that the new Visual Web Developer component of Visual Studio 2005 still depends on mshtml for its html editing! Here's a portion of a response I got:
"Actually Visual Web Developer's design surface is still loosely based on
the rendering engine in IE (fondly known as Trident). _Expression Web
Designer (http://www.microsoft.com/_expression/) and Visual Studio
"Orcas" are going to be based on a completely custom design surface.
I'm not aware of any plans to release that rendering engine as of now.
I'm sure it is something we will consider once it is done though."
The near future is clear -- they're going to dump mshtml for good!
[blogs.msdn.com]
ramida
After communicating with a Microsoft "insider" working on Visual Web Developer, I found out that the new Visual Web Developer component of Visual Studio 2005 still depends on mshtml for its html editing! Here's a portion of a response I got:
"Actually Visual Web Developer's design surface is still loosely based on
the rendering engine in IE (fondly known as Trident). _Expression Web
Designer (http://www.microsoft.com/_expression/) and Visual Studio
"Orcas" are going to be based on a completely custom design surface.
I'm not aware of any plans to release that rendering engine as of now.
I'm sure it is something we will consider once it is done though."
The near future is clear -- they're going to dump mshtml for good!
[blogs.msdn.com]
ramida
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (152.1.87.---)
Date: Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005, 16:59:15
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (---.ipt.aol.com)
Date: Thursday, 17-Nov-2005, 02:53:19
Well, today, my research was over. Two prominent Microsoft insiders have kindly pointed me towards the answer to my original question (that is, how to render ASP.NET server controls).
Their answer is binary behaviors/viewlinks.
Looking at the ASP .NET server controls rendered under VS 2005, with those nice action lists/smart tags for enhanced editing, their rendering is obviously not based on binary behaviors/viewlinks.
If you take a look at Mark Harsh' DesignModeDialog sample for hosting windows forms controls (see link below),
[blogs.msdn.com]
rendering of ASP .NET controls on web forms should involve the same principle, the only difference would be the referenced designers that reside in the same assembly (System.Design.dll).
I'm more interested in this solution rather than the binary behavior/viewlink path suggested by our Microsoft friends. :-)
ramida
Their answer is binary behaviors/viewlinks.
Looking at the ASP .NET server controls rendered under VS 2005, with those nice action lists/smart tags for enhanced editing, their rendering is obviously not based on binary behaviors/viewlinks.
If you take a look at Mark Harsh' DesignModeDialog sample for hosting windows forms controls (see link below),
[blogs.msdn.com]
rendering of ASP .NET controls on web forms should involve the same principle, the only difference would be the referenced designers that reside in the same assembly (System.Design.dll).
I'm more interested in this solution rather than the binary behavior/viewlink path suggested by our Microsoft friends. :-)
ramida
Re: HtmlEditor as WebControls Designer
Posted by: ramida (---.ipt.aol.com)
Date: Thursday, 17-Nov-2005, 03:07:06
I just saw this Q&A part from the link I mentioned earlier:
Q: Does ASP.NET support a similar designer reuse architecture?
A: No, it does not. The ASP.NET designer is also built on top of the Component Model's designer infrastructure, but the classes are all internal to VS.
So my hunch was wrong -- we can't apply the same principle used in Mark Harsh's DesignModeDialog sample to the rendering of ASP .NET server controls.
This points me back to binary behaviors/viewlinks? I'm not excited. :-)
ramida
Q: Does ASP.NET support a similar designer reuse architecture?
A: No, it does not. The ASP.NET designer is also built on top of the Component Model's designer infrastructure, but the classes are all internal to VS.
So my hunch was wrong -- we can't apply the same principle used in Mark Harsh's DesignModeDialog sample to the rendering of ASP .NET server controls.
This points me back to binary behaviors/viewlinks? I'm not excited. :-)
ramida