Introducing .NET 4.0: with Visual Studio 2010

10.7. ClientIDMode

A long-term irritation in ASP.NET is the lack of control you have over the ID property of rendered controls. For example, take the following HTML that is rendered from a few simple controls that are nested inside a master page:

<span id="MainContent_label1"></span>
<div id="MainContent_panel1">
  <span id="MainContent_label2"></span>
</div>

Most of the time, ASP.NET's automatic ID generation features work pretty well, but in some situations, say, when working with master pages or writing client script, you need a finer level of control. ASP.NET 4.0 gives you this control with the new ClientIDMode.

ClientIDMode has four settings:

• AutoID: Works as per previous ASP.NET releases.

• Static: Allows you to specify the ID that is used. ...