Entity Templates - ASP.NET Dynamic Data - page 134

If the Mode property is set to Insert , Dynamic Data will also try Insert mode templates in
the order shown in Table 4.1.

Notice that in Insert mode, the lookup algorithm breaks the pattern used in Read-only
and Edit modes. Instead of trying different template names for Insert mode first, such as
Contact_Insert.ascx , Customers_Insert.ascx , and Default_Insert.ascx and then
repeating the process with Edit mode, it tries Insert and Edit modes for each template
name. This is unfortunate because it makes the lookup algorithm much more confusing
and difficult to understand. On the other hand, this twist allows you to reuse Edit mode
templates in Insert mode. If it were not in place, the Default_Insert.ascx field template
would always be used in Insert mode unless you defined Contact_Insert.ascx or
Customers_Insert.ascx .

TABLE 4.1 Example of Entity Template Lookup
Mode=“Insert” Mode=“Edit” Mode=“ReadOnly”

Contact_Insert.ascx Contact_Edit.ascx Contact.ascx

Contact_Edit.ascx Customers_Edit.ascx Customers.ascx

Customers_Insert.ascx Default_Edit.ascx Default.ascx

Customers_Edit.ascx Contact.ascx

Default_Insert.ascx Customers.ascx

Default_Edit.ascx Default.ascx

Contact.ascx
Customers.ascx
Default.ascx

Built-in Entity Templates

Out of the box, Dynamic Data projects offer three dynamic entity templates, one for each
mode:

. Default.ascx

. Default_Edit.ascx

. Default_Insert.ascx

All three dynamic entity templates generate a table with two columns, where the left
column contains Label controls and the right column contains DynamicControl instances.
One table row is generated for each scaffolded column in the entity MetaTable . Aside from
the Mode property of the DynamicControl , which they set to ReadOnly , Edit , and Insert ,
respectively, these three entity templates are nearly identical and designed to present a
consistent view of the entity in all three different modes.