Beginning ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB

4.3. Types of Controls

Out of the box, ASP.NET 3.5 comes with a large number of server controls, supporting most of your web development needs. To make it easy for you to find the right controls, they have been placed in separate control categories in the Visual Web Developer Toolbox (accessible by pressing Ctrl+Alt+X). Figure 4-4 shows the Toolbox with all the available categories.

Figure 4-4. Figure 4-4

In the following sections, you'll see the controls each category contains, the tasks they are designed for, and how you can use them in your ASP.NET pages.

With the discussion of the various controls, you see a mention of the properties of a control. For example, a TextBox has a Text property (among many others), while a ListBox has a SelectedItem property. Some properties can only be set programmatically and not with the Properties Grid. Programmatically reading and changing control properties is discussed in detail in the next chapter.

4.3.1. Standard Controls

The Standard category contains many of the basic controls that almost any web page needs. You've already seen some of them, like the TextBox, Button, and Label controls earlier in this chapter. Figure 4-5 shows all the controls in the Standard category.

Figure 4-5. Figure 4-5

Many of the controls probably speak for ...