Another Spin on using Popup Windows with ASP.NET

[StillLearning]

Hello,
I am a newbie and have been struggling with using popup windows with ASP.NET. I have read several of the posts here and have even searched the internet with no luck. Hopefully, someone can provide an example.

Problem: I have a parent form with a dropdownlist and linkbutton on it. If a user does not see an item in the dropdownlist, they will click the linkbutton to popup a window to enter a new item in the system. After closing the window, the newly entered value should show up in the dropdownlist. Can anyone provide me a sample of how this can be accomplished. I know how to open the child window, but how do I add the new item to the dropdownlist in the parent window. Is it possible without having the user to navigate to another page and refill the parent form?

He/she who does not take note, often forgets. Anderson Phillips III (10/22/01)

 

[klaz2002]

I hate pop-ups! I have my browser kill them. IE has just introduced a pop-up killer, so you may want rethink your appdesign.
That said, you must keep in mind that all asp.net does is write the web controls to a page. (Of course there is so much more that can be done, but thats the basic idea.) So what you need to do is execute a javascript function that will add the "options" (thats the html term for the dropdownlist) to that control.
Say you never had that pop-up and you wanted to add to that dropdown list the old way (before DOT.NET). You would do the following.
function AddToDDList(obj)
{

obj.options[1]=new Option("Text","value")
}
I think that with [-1] you just add to the end of the option array.

So in short in your POP-UP window have a javascript function that will add to that dropdown box.
(I haven't messed with javascript in a while so check to see if this works)
parent.opener.yourform.your_dd_list.options[index]=new Options("text","value");

I may have missed some syntax, but I hope that you get the idea. The big problem is how to update the system so that next time you will get that menu selection. You could write to a hidden field and when the user posts you use that fields and update the DB.

I hope that I gave you some ideas.
Klaz

 

[Isadore]

Still -

Interestingly, that is the next problem I am faced with, to return a value to a dropdown list from a pop up window -indeed I was going to work on that problem tomorrow.

If I get it solved I'll post back with a solution. My intial starting point was to use something like the following javascrip which sends back a value to a textbox on the form, I figured it might work too for a drop down.

function ReturnDate()
{
window.opener.document.forms["<%= strFormName %>"].elements["<%= strCtrlName %>"].value = "<%= strSelectedDate %>";
window.close();
}

 

[Isadore]

..and thanks Klaz...there just might be enough info here to find a nice solution to this problem.