Question

I know that it is possible to define custom tags in ASP.NET with User Controls. But as far as I know you can only add attributes to these controls. I would like to be able to embed more complex data, a bit lite this:

<myControls:MyGraph id='myGraph1' runat='server'>    <colors>      <color>#abcdef</color>      <color>#123456</color>    </colors> </myControls:MyGraph> 

It this possible in ASP.NET? Should I try to extend a ListView? Or it there a better and more correct solution?

Answer 1

It is certainly possible. For your example the classes would look like:

[ParseChildren(true)] class MyGraph : WebControl {     List<Color> _colors = new List<Color>();     [PersistenceMode(PersistenceMode.InnerProperty)]     public List<Color> Colors {         get { return _colors; }     } }  class Color {     public string Value { get; set; } } 

And the actual markup would be:

<myControls:MyGraph id='myGraph1' runat='server'>    <Colors>      <myControls:Color Value='#abcdef' />      <myControls:Color Value='#123456' />    </Colors> </myControls:MyGraph>