Styles missing in CalendarExtender

When you put an Ajax Calendar Extender inside of a GridView you will see the calendar without any styling on it meaning the calendar will show only the dates overlapping with other items on your form. Sometimes some dates might even be missing. See the sample appearances below.

This happens because the style sheets are not loaded at the correct time due to a bug in toolkit, there are several ways to fix this.

One is to add another calendar extender outside of the update panel and keep it hidden.

Another is to disable partial rendering in the script manager. But this will slow down your site reducing the benefits gained from AJAX.

1. <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" EnablePartialRendering="false" runat="server">
2. </asp:ScriptManager>

My chosen method is to add the styles manually to the style sheet. To move forward this way simply copy the following styles which are used by the calendar extender to your style sheet.

1. .ajax__calendar_container {padding:4px;cursor:default;width:170px;font-size:11px;text-align:center;font-family:tahoma,verdana,helvetica;}
2. .ajax__calendar_body {height:139px;width:170px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;margin:auto;}
3. .ajax__calendar_days, .ajax__calendar_months, .ajax__calendar_years {top:0px;left:0px;height:139px;width:170px;position:absolute;text-align:center;margin:auto;}
4. .ajax__calendar_container TABLE {padding:0px;margin:0px;font-size:11px;}
5. .ajax__calendar_container TD {padding:0px;margin:0px;font-size:11px;}
6. .ajax__calendar_header {height:20px;width:100%;}
7. .ajax__calendar_prev {cursor:pointer;width:15px;height:15px;float:left;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:50% 50%;background-image:url(../images/arrow-left.gif);}
8. .ajax__calendar_next {cursor:pointer;width:15px;height:15px;float:right;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:50% 50%;background-image:url(../images/arrow-right.gif);}
9. .ajax__calendar_title {cursor:pointer;font-weight:bold; margin-left:15px; margin-right:15px;}
10. .ajax__calendar_footer {height:15px;}
11. .ajax__calendar_today {cursor:pointer;padding-top:3px;}
12. .ajax__calendar_dayname {height:17px;width:17px;text-align:right;padding:0 2px;}
13. .ajax__calendar_day {height:17px;width:18px;text-align:right;padding:0 2px;cursor:pointer;}
14. .ajax__calendar_month {height:44px;width:40px;text-align:center;cursor:pointer;overflow:hidden;}
15. .ajax__calendar_year {height:44px;width:40px;text-align:center;cursor:pointer;overflow:hidden;}
16.  
17. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_container {border:1px solid #646464;background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;}
18. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_footer {border-top:1px solid #f5f5f5;}
19. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_dayname {border-bottom:1px solid #f5f5f5;}
20. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_day {border:1px solid #ffffff;}
21. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_month {border:1px solid #ffffff;}
22. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_year {border:1px solid #ffffff;}
23.  
24. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_active .ajax__calendar_day {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#0066cc;color:#0066cc;}
25. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_active .ajax__calendar_month {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#0066cc;color:#0066cc;}
26. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_active .ajax__calendar_year {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#0066cc;color:#0066cc;}
27.  
28. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_today .ajax__calendar_day {border-color:#0066cc;}
29. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_today .ajax__calendar_month {border-color:#0066cc;}
30. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_today .ajax__calendar_year {border-color:#0066cc;}
31.  
32. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_other .ajax__calendar_day {background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff;color:#646464;}
33. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_other .ajax__calendar_year {background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff;color:#646464;}
34.  
35. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_hover .ajax__calendar_day {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#daf2fc;color:#0066cc;}
36. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_hover .ajax__calendar_month {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#daf2fc;color:#0066cc;}
37. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_hover .ajax__calendar_year {background-color:#edf9ff;border-color:#daf2fc;color:#0066cc;}
38.  
39. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_hover .ajax__calendar_title {color:#0066cc;}
40. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_hover .ajax__calendar_today {color:#0066cc;}
41.  
42. /* styles for invalid dates as defined by startDate and endDate*/
43. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_invalid .ajax__calendar_day {background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff; color:#646464; text-decoration:line-through; cursor:default;}
44. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_invalid .ajax__calendar_month {background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff; color:#646464; text-decoration:line-through; cursor:default;}
45. .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_invalid .ajax__calendar_year {background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff; color:#646464; text-decoration:line-through; cursor:default;}
46.   .ajax__calendar .ajax__calendar_invalid .ajax__calendar_today{visibility:hidden; cursor:default;}

Note that the above CSS uses the “arrow-left.gif” and “arrow-right.gif” for the previous and next buttons. If you want, you can use any other image which suits you. In case you need the originals they are below. To correctly show the previous and next buttons you need to place these images on to the “Images” folder under your project. If the folder is different in your project please change the image paths in the above CSS.

• arrow-left.gif -
• arrow-right.gif -

After doing all this remember to link the style sheet to your web page.

1. <link href="Styles/Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

If you have done everything correctly your calendar will be shown properly while residing inside of the grid.

Expandable Regions using HTML

You can create nice looking expandable regions using just HTML and some Java scripting. This is specially useful if you are to create a site without any major programming languages. Today I thought to share an expandable region that I created to give you an idea to get it done.

When the code works it will look like the following.

You should be excited by now, to get it working you need the following code inserted into a body section of a HTML file. Please note I have added the CSS also in to the page body, but if you have a separate CSS file please separate the CSS .

1. <style type="text/css">
2.     a.headingStyle
3.     {
4.         text-decoration: none;
5.         margin-left: 0.5em;            
6.     }
7.     a.headingStyle:hover
8.     {
9.         text-decoration: underline;
10.     }
11.     a.headingStyle span.charStyle
12.     {
13.         font-family: monospace;
14.         font-weight: normal;
15.     }
16.     .contentStyle
17.     {
18.         display: none;
19.         margin-left: 1.5em;
20.         margin-right: 0.5em;
21.         margin-bottom: 0.5em;
22.         border-width: thin;
23.         border-style: outset;
24.         background-color:#D2E3FF;
25.     }
26.     .upArrowStyle
27.     {
28.         height:32px;
29.         background-image: url('Up_Arrow_32x32.png');
30.         background-repeat:no-repeat;
31.     }
32.     .downArrowStyle
33.     {
34.         height:32px;
35.         background-image: url('Down_Arrow_32x32.png');
36.         background-repeat:no-repeat;
37.     }
38. </style>
39.  
40. <script type="text/javascript">
41.     function display(item) {
42.         if (document.getElementById) {
43.             // Retrieving the first child item.
44.             var firstChildItem = item.firstChild;
45.             // Getting the correct child item with inner HTML text.
46.             firstChildItem = item.firstChild.innerHTML ? item.firstChild : item.firstChild.nextSibling;
47.             // Toggling the + or - according to the state after click.
48.             firstChildItem.innerHTML = firstChildItem.innerHTML == '+' ? '-' : '+';
49.             // Toggling the display image after click.
50.             item.className = item.className == "downArrowStyle" ? "upArrowStyle" : "downArrowStyle";
51.             // Get the sub item to toggle visibility.
52.            var nextSubItem = item.parentNode.nextSibling.style ? item.parentNode.nextSibling : item.parentNode.nextSibling.nextSibling;
53.             // Toggle visibility of the sub item.
54.             nextSubItem.style.display = nextSubItem.style.display == 'block' ? 'none' : 'block';
55.         }
56.     }
57.  
58.     // Displaying everything if item could not be found.
59.     if (!document.getElementById)
60.         document.write('<style type="text/css"><!--\n .dspcont{display:block;}\n //--></style>');
61. </script>
62.  
63. <!-- If Java scripts are blocked, display everything expanded. -->
64. <noscript>
65.     <style type="text/css">
66.         .dspcont
67.         {
68.             display: block;
69.         }
70.     </style>
71. </noscript>
72. <div>
73.     <!-- If + or - is required to be displayed besides the image simply change display:none; to display:block; in following sections. -->
74.     <h1>
75.         <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="downArrowStyle" onclick="display(this)">
76.             <span style="display:none;">+</span><span style="margin-left:34px;">Main Title 1</span>
77.         </a>
78.     </h1>
79.     <div class="contentStyle">Title 1 content goes here.</div>
80.     <h1>
81.         <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="downArrowStyle" onclick="display(this)">
82.             <span style="display:none;">+</span><span style="margin-left:34px;">Main Title 2</span>
83.         </a>
84.     </h1>
85.     <div class="contentStyle">
86.         <h2>
87.             <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="downArrowStyle" onclick="display(this)">
88.             <span style="display:none;">+</span><span style="margin-left:34px;">Sub Title 1</span></a></h2>
89.         <div class="contentStyle">
90.             Sub title 1 content goes here.</div>
91.         <h2>
92.             <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="downArrowStyle" onclick="display(this)">
93.             <span style="display:none;">+</span><span style="margin-left:34px;">Sub Title 2</span></a></h2>
94.         <div class="contentStyle">
95.             Sub title 2 content goes here.</div>
96.     </div>
97.     <h1>
98.         <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="downArrowStyle" onclick="display(this)">
99.         <span style="display:none;">+</span><span style="margin-left:34px;">Main Title 3</span></a></h1>
100.     <div class="contentStyle">Title 3 content goes here.</div>
101. </div>

 

Remember to correct the image URLs, otherwise they will go missing.

I need to thank M. C. Matti for his great article which gave me this idea. Also you can use this method to create expandable regions in other sites which use different technologies. For example if you need to add this to a SharePoint site, just use a Content Editor web part and paste the code using Source Editor in web part properties.

Hope this helps.

HTML Menu

Today I thought to share with you, how to create menus using HTML only. These menus will be very useful if you need to create web sites using only HTML.

Above menu is created using basic unordered list (UL), list items (LI), links and some CSS.

Below is the HTML code for the menu. In the code I have created the full menu using HTML lists and used CSS to format the list to work as a menu.

1. <ul class="mainMenu">
2.     <li class="mainMenuItem"><a href="Home.html" class="mainMenuLink">Home</a>
3.         <ul class="subMenu">
4.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Page1.html" class="subMenuItemLink">e</a></li>
5.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Page2.html" class="subMenuItemLink">ee</a></li>
6.         </ul>
7.     </li>
8.     <li class="mainMenuItem"><a href="Module1.html" class="mainMenuLink">Module 1</a>
9.         <ul class="subMenu">
10.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module1_Page1.html" class="subMenuItemLink">dd</a></li>
11.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module1_Page2.html" class="subMenuItemLink">ddd</a></li>
12.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module1_Page3.html" class="subMenuItemLink">dddd</a></li>
13.         </ul>
14.     </li>
15.     <li class="mainMenuItem"><a href="Module2.html" class="mainMenuLink">Module 2</a>
16.         <ul class="subMenu">
17.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module2_Page1.html" class="subMenuItemLink">c</a></li>
18.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module2_Page2.html" class="subMenuItemLink">cc</a></li>
19.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module2_Page3.html" class="subMenuItemLink">ccc</a></li>
20.         </ul>
21.     </li>
22.     <li class="mainMenuItem"><a href="Module3.html" class="mainMenuLink">Module 3</a>
23.         <ul class="subMenu">
24.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module3_Page1.html" class="subMenuItemLink">bb</a></li>
25.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module3_Page2.html" class="subMenuItemLink">bbb</a></li>
26.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module3_Page3.html" class="subMenuItemLink">bbbb</a></li>
27.         </ul>
28.     </li>
29.     <li class="mainMenuItem"><a href="Module4.html" class="mainMenuLink">Module 4</a>
30.         <ul class="subMenu">
31.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module4_Page1.html" class="subMenuItemLink">aa</a></li>
32.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module4_Page2.html" class="subMenuItemLink">aaa</a></li>
33.             <li class="subMenuItem"><a href="Module4_Page3.html" class="subMenuItemLink">aaaa</a></li>
34.         </ul>
35.     </li>
36. </ul>

 

Below is the CSS that you need to make the above HTML work as a menu.

1. .subMenu
2. {
3.     padding: 1px;
4.     position: absolute;
5.     visibility: hidden;
6. }
7. .subMenuItem
8. {
9.     list-style: none;
10.     float: left;
11.     position: relative;
12.     margin: 0px;
13.     display: block;
14.     width: 92px;
15. }
16. .subMenuItemLink
17. {
18.     color: White;
19.     text-align: left;
20.     text-decoration: none;
21.     padding-left: 5px;
22.     display: block;
23.     height: 32px;
24.     width: 92px;
25.     background-image: url('./Images/menuButtonSelected.jpg');
26. }
27. <!-- Changing the menu when mouse is over the menu. -->
28. .mainMenuItem:hover .mainMenuLink
29. {
30.     color: White;
31.     background-color: Blue;
32.     background-image: url('./Images/menuButtonSelected.jpg');
33. }
34. <!-- Changing the menu when it is selected. -->
35. .mainMenuItem:active .mainMenuLink
36. {
37.     background-image: url('./Images/menuButtonSelected.jpg');
38. }
39. <!-- Showing the sub menu items when mouse is over the main menu. -->
40. .mainMenuItem:hover .subMenu
41. {
42.     visibility: visible;
43.     z-index: 100;
44. }

 

Do not forget to import the CSS into the HTML page by using a link as shown below.

1. <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="DefaultStyles.css" />

 

I used the following images as the background images of the links.

 

I think the code is not that complex, so hope this helps, let me know if you need any help on this, I will try to help you out.

Menu Overlapping with Report

If you had lengthier menus in you ASP.Net application and had used report viewer control you may have faced the problem of report and menu overlapping when ever the report is loaded with data. For example in my sample application it appeared as below.

To correct this behavior you need to set the z-index for menu and report viewer using CSS class property. For this I have used the following CSS classes in the Style.CSS.

1. /* CSS Class for the Menu. */
2. div.menu
3. {
4.     padding: 4px 0px 4px 8px;
5. }
6.  
7. /* CSS Class for a Menu Item. */
8. div.menu ul
9. {
10.     list-style: none;
11.     margin: 0px;
12.     padding: 0px;
13.     width: auto;
14.     z-index: 1; /* Setting the control to appear on top of level 0 controls for e.g. report viewer. */
15. }
16.  
17. /* CSS Class for the Report Viewer. */
18. .report
19. {
20.     z-index: 0; /* Setting the control to appear below the level 1 controls for e.g. menu items. */
21. }

To apply the CSS use a code similar to following.

Appling CSS Class to menu in master page.

1. <asp:Menu ID="NavigationMenu" runat="server" CssClass="menu"
2. EnableViewState="false" IncludeStyleBlock="false" Orientation="Horizontal">
3.     <Items>
4.         <asp:MenuItem NavigateUrl="~/Default.aspx" Text="Home"/>
5.         <asp:MenuItem NavigateUrl="~/About.aspx" Text="About"/>
6.         <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item">
7.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
8.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
9.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
10.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
11.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
12.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
13.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
14.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
15.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
16.         </asp:MenuItem>
17.         <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item">
18.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
19.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
20.             <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
21.         </asp:MenuItem>
22.         <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
23.         <asp:MenuItem Text="New Item" Value="New Item"></asp:MenuItem>
24.     </Items>
25. </asp:Menu>

Appling CSS Class to report viewer.

1. <rsweb:ReportViewer ID="ReportViewer1" runat="server" Font-Names="Verdana" CssClass="report"
2.     Font-Size="8pt" InteractiveDeviceInfos="(Collection)" WaitMessageFont-Names="Verdana"
3.     WaitMessageFont-Size="14pt" Width="636px">
4.     <LocalReport ReportPath="Report1.rdlc">
5.         <DataSources>
6.             <rsweb:ReportDataSource DataSourceId="ObjectDataSource1" Name="DataSet1" />
7.         </DataSources>
8.     </LocalReport>
9. </rsweb:ReportViewer>

 

This will correct the overlapping issue as seen below.

Changing the Control Style at Runtime using the ASPX

Recently I changed the style of some controls in my ASPX page at runtime based on the values set on another control in my page. For example the color of the table is changed based on the radio button that was selected and the color of the button is changed according to the text that was typed in the textbox. Hope this is helpful.

1. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
2. <head runat="server">
3.     <title>Changing the Control Style</title>
4.      <style type="text/css">
5.         .Style1
6.         {
7.             background-color: Red;
8.         }
9.         .Style2
10.         {
11.             background-color: Blue;
12.         }
13.     </style>
14. </head>
15. <body>
16.     <form id="form1" runat="server">
17.         <asp:RadioButton ID="RadioButton1" runat="server" Text="Red" GroupName="1" Checked="True" AutoPostBack="True" />
18.         <asp:RadioButton ID="RadioButton2" runat="server" Text="Blue" GroupName="1" AutoPostBack="True" />
19.         <!-- Styling the table based on the radio button selection. -->
20.         <table class="<% if(RadioButton1.Checked) { %> Style1 <% } else { %> Style2 <% } %>">
21.             <tr>
22.                 <td> &nbsp; See the change... </td>
23.             </tr>
24.             <tr>
25.                 <td> &nbsp; </td>
26.             </tr>
27.         </table>
28.         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" MaxLength="3"></asp:TextBox>
29.         <!-- Styling the button based on the textbox value. -->
30.         <input id="Button1" type="submit" value="button"
31.                class="<% if(TextBox1.Text=="") { %> Style1 <% } else { %> Style2 <% } %>" />
32.     </form>
33. </body>
34. </html>
35. 
    

Output looks as below.