ASP.NET parent page partial refresh after closing popup window

Introduction

This article depicts how to refresh a portion of a parent ASP.NET page while closing a child/pop-up window. This won't affect any sessions, cookies, and other public/static variables in the parent page.

Using the code

This sample uses two ASPX pages: Parent.aspx and popup.aspx. Place whatever code you want in the Parent.aspx page with one DataGrid bound with a DataTable. Pass a DataTable as a Session variable to the popup window. Do something in the popup window, e.g., add or remove some data from the DataTable.

Parent.aspx

Place two similar DataGrids in this page, bind same data with both the grids, and place a hidden button (the Click event of this button is called while closing the popup window). Add a Show button to show the popup window.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" 
   CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head id="Head1"  runat="server">
<title>Parent-Child</title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="frmParent"  runat="server">
<table id="tableGrid2" cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0" 
          width="100%" align="center" border="0">
     <tr>
    <td>
          <asp:DataGrid id="GridOne" runat="server" 
             Font-Names="Tahoma" Font-Size="8pt" 
             HorizontalAlign="Center" Width="100%" 
             GridLines="Both" AllowSorting="True" 
             AutoGenerateColumns="False" AllowPaging="True" 
             CellPadding="1" BackColor="Beige">
               <HeaderStyle Font-Size="8pt" Font-Names="Tahoma" 
                  Font-Bold="True" Height="20px" 
                  ForeColor="White" BackColor="#669999" 
                  HorizontalAlign="Left"></HeaderStyle>    
        <Columns>
              <asp:BoundColumn DataField="MagazineName" 
                      HeaderText="Magazine Name"/>
              <asp:BoundColumn DataField="Price" HeaderText="Price"/>
        </Columns>
        <PagerStyle HorizontalAlign="Right" BackColor="#669999" 
                  Mode="NumericPages" ForeColor="White" />
          </asp:DataGrid>
    </td>
     </tr>
</table>

<table id="tableGrid2" cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0" 
            width="100%" align="center" border="0">
     <tr>
    <td>
          <asp:DataGrid id="GridTwo" runat="server" 
             Font-Names="Tahoma" Font-Size="8pt" 
             HorizontalAlign="Center" Width="100%" 
             GridLines="Both" AllowSorting="True" 
             AutoGenerateColumns="False" 
             AllowPaging="True" CellPadding="1" BackColor="Beige">
               <HeaderStyle Font-Size="8pt" Font-Names="Tahoma" 
                 Font-Bold="True" Height="20px" ForeColor="White"
                 BackColor="#669999" HorizontalAlign="Left"></HeaderStyle> 
        <Columns>
              <asp:BoundColumn DataField="MagazineName" HeaderText="Magazine Name"/>
              <asp:BoundColumn DataField="Price" HeaderText="Price"/>
        </Columns>
        <PagerStyle HorizontalAlign="Right" BackColor="#669999" 
               Mode="NumericPages" ForeColor="White" />
          </asp:DataGrid>
    </td>
     </tr>
</table>

<asp:Button ID="btnHidden" runat="Server" 
     style="display:none" OnClick="btnHidden_Click" />
<asp:Button ID="btnShowPopup" runat="Server" 
     Text="Open Window" OnClick="btnShowPopup_Click" />

</form>
</body>
</html>

Parent.aspx.cs

Create a DataTable (here, I query a SQL table Books having columns BookName, Price, and BookCode. Create functions to bind the grids. Call the function BindGridTwo() to bind GridTwo on the hidden button's Click event (the event will be fired from the pop-up window's JavaScript).

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

public partial class Parent : System.Web.UI.Page 
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (!IsPostBack)
        {
            BindGridOne();
            BindGridTwo();
        }
    }
    private DataTable CreateDataTable()
    {
        DataSet bookSet = new DataSet();

        string Stmt = "Select BookName,Price,BookCode from Books";
        SqlConnection Conn = new SqlConnection(
          ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["TmpConString"].ConnectionString);
        Conn.Open();
        SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter(Stmt, Conn);
        adapter.Fill(bookSet);
        Conn.Close();

        return bookSet.Tables[0];
    }
    private void BindGridOne()
    {
        DataTable bookTable_one = CreateDataTable();

        GridOne.DataSource = bookTable_one;
        GridOne.DataBind();
    }
    private void BindGridTwo()
    {
        DataTable bookTable_one = CreateDataTable();

        GridTwo.DataSource = bookTable_one;
        GridTwo.DataBind();
    }    
    protected void btnHidden_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Bind GridTwo only(after the modification of table in pop-up window
        // This button click event is performed by Javascript function in pop-up window
        BindGridTwo();
    }
    protected void btnShowPopup_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string popupScript = "<script language="'javascript'">" +
                        "window.open('popup.aspx', 'ThisPopUp', " +
                        "'left = 300, top=150, width=400, height=300, " + 
                        "menubar=no, scrollbars=no, resizable=no')" +
                        "</script>";
        Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(GetType(), "PopupScript", popupScript);
    }
}

popup.aspx

Just add two buttons in this page; first to update the table, and second to close the window as well as calls the parent page's btnHidden_Click event (this is defined in the client-side script RefreshParent).

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" 
    CodeFile="popup.aspx.cs" Inherits="popup" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head  runat="server">
    <title>Popup window</title>
<script language="Javascript">
function RefreshParent()
{
    window.opener.document.getElementById('btnHidden').click();
    window.close();
}
</script>    
</head>
<body>
<form id="frmpopup"  runat="server">
    <asp:Button ID="btnUpdate" runat="Server" 
      Text="Update Record" OnClick="btnUpdate_Click" />
    <asp:Button ID="btnClose" runat="Server" 
      Text="Close Window" OnClientClick="RefreshParent();" />

    <asp:Label ID="lblMsg" runat="Server" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

popup.aspx.cs

Do something with the Books table. Here, I'm updating a record.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Collections;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

public partial class popup : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // your code, if any
    }
    protected void btnUpdate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Do something with the Books Table
        string Stmt = "Update Books Set Price = 1500 Where BookCode = 'CF'";
        SqlConnection Conn = new SqlConnection(
          ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["TmpConString"].ConnectionString);
        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(Stmt, Conn);
        Conn.Open();
        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
        Conn.Close();

        lblMsg.Text = "Record updated";
    }    
}

web.config

You have to define the connection string in the web.config file as shown below:

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="TmpConString" 
      connectionString="Data Source=localhost;
           Initial Catalog=Shopping;User ID=xxxxx;Password=yyyyy" 
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>