ASP.NET: adding controls client-side

Question

If I have a page with a form (imagine a simple one with just TextBoxes and a submit button) and I want to allow the user to dynamiccally add more TextBoxes to the form via javascript, what is the best way to handle the request server side?

Example: I have a page rendered like the following :

<input type = "text" id = "control1" name = "control1" />
<input type = "text" id = "control2" name = "control2" />
<input type = "text" id = "control3" name = "control3" />
<input type = "submit" />

The user trigger some Javascript and the page turns out like:

<input type = "text" id = "control1" name = "control1" />
<input type = "text" id = "control2" name = "control2" />
<input type = "text" id = "control3" name = "control3" />
<input type = "text" id = "control4" name = "control4" />
<input type = "text" id = "control5" name = "control5" />
<input type = "submit" />

What is the best way to handle this kind of situation, or, more generally, working with dynamically generated input both client and server side (eg, how to generate them server side starting from, say, some data taken from a database)?

Answer 1

If you want to be able to access them in the code behind using the FindControl method, the AJAX UpdatePanel is probably your best bet. Just remember that every time you update the UpdatePanel, your going through the entire page life cycle but only getting the pieces that render in the update panel back from the server, so be weary of the overhead.

If you create them dynamically with Javascript you will not be able to use FindControl to get access to them in the code behind because they won't be re-created during the page event life cycle. Also, be careful because if you're creating a lot of them at the same time with some kind of loop it can slow things down, especially in Internet Explorer.

You may also consider using AJAX and WebServices with WebMethods for submitting the data instead of a post-back if you're creating the controls dynamically with Javascript.