Adding Web resources to custom control in .net 2.0

• Download CustomCtrlWithWebResource - 41 KB

• Download StepsToAddWebResourceToCustomCtrl.zip - 45 KB

Introduction

In .net 2.0 it’s very simple to add web resource to the custom control. Following code will describe the method to add web resource to custom control.

Using the code

We have to follow the following steps to add web resource to custom control.

1. Add web resources like JavaScript, Style sheet, image file to your custom control project.
3. Set “Build Action” property to “Embedded Resource”. [Default value is set to “Content”]
4. Add reference to “System.Web” in your project.
5. Add the following to your custom control:

   using System.Web.UI;

6. Add assembly reference of “Web Resources” to your project: [assembly: WebResource("ProjectName.ResourceFileName", "FileType")] For example:

   
    [assembly: WebResource 
    ("CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyCssFile.css", "text/css")]
    [assembly: WebResource
    ("CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyJsFile.js", "text/javascript")] 

7. Add following lines to add *.js file

    //To add the JS file to the custom control
    string jsResource = "CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyJsFile.js";
    this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(this.GetType(), jsResource);

8. For other resources following code can be used:

   //To add the CSS file to the custom control
   string cssResource = "CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyCssFile.css";
   string cssResourceURL = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), cssResource);
   HtmlLink cssLink = new HtmlLink();
   cssLink.Href = cssResourceURL;
   cssLink.Attributes.Add("rel", "stylesheet");
   this.Page.Header.Controls.Add(cssLink);

After adding above mentioned code, our “MyCustomCtrl.cs” file will have following content:

using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;


[assembly: WebResource("CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyCssFile.css", "text/css")]
[assembly: WebResource("CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyJsFile.js", "text/javascript")]

namespace CustomCtrlWithWebResource
{
    class MyCustomCtrl: Control
    {
        protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnPreRender(e);
            //To add the JS file to the custom control
            string jsResource = "CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyJsFile.js";
            this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(this.GetType(), jsResource);

            //To add the CSS file to the custom control
            string cssResource = "CustomCtrlWithWebResource.MyCssFile.css";
            string cssResourceURL = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), cssResource);
            HtmlLink cssLink = new HtmlLink();
            cssLink.Href = cssResourceURL;
            cssLink.Attributes.Add("rel", "stylesheet");
            this.Page.Header.Controls.Add(cssLink);
        }
    }
}

You can add required functionalities to your custom control now and use the embedded resources like “javascript functions”,“cssClass” etc.