Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
You might have noticed that the
DateTime_Edit
template uses the
FieldValueEditString
property of the
FieldTemplateUserControl
base class. This property is similar to the
FieldValueString
property discussed earlier in that it respects the
FormattingOptions
when converting the raw column value to a display string. However, it was specifically
designed for use in the Edit mode templates, and an additional property is used to control
its behavior.
.
ApplyFormatInEditMode
is a Boolean value that determines whether the
DataFormatString
,
NullDisplayText
,
ConvertEmptyStringToNull
, and
HtmlEncode
display format properties will be used in Edit mode. This property is
false
by
default.
Similar to using the
FieldValueString
property when implementing Read-only field
templates, it is also important to rely on the
FieldValueEditString
property as much as
possible when implementing the Edit and Insert mode templates. This helps the field
templates to behave consistently and allow the application developers to change presenta-
tion aspects of column values using metadata attributes as well as explicit configuration in
page markup.
Dynamic Data uses the same field template for all matching columns in the model. The
DateTime_Edit
field template is automatically used for all columns of type
DateTime
in the
Northwind data model, including OrderDate, RequiredDate, and ShippedDate columns of
the Order table as well as BirthDate and HireDate columns of the Employee table. By
changing definition of the field template, you affect all web pages where it is used. Figure
3.2 shows how the experience of entering date values can be improved by allowing the
users to select a date from a calendar drop-down.
