Application and Page Frameworks

page. In this case, the value assigned is Default.aspx.vb or Default.aspx.cs. The second attribute needed is the ClassName attribute. This attribute was available in previous versions of ASP.NET, but was little used. This attribute specifies the name of the class that is bound to the page when the page is compiled. The directives are simple enough in ASP.NET 2.0. Take a look at the code-behind page from Listing 3-5.

The code-behind page is rather simple in appearance now using the partial class capabilities that .NET 2.0 provides. You can see that the class created in the code-behind file uses partial classes, employing the new Partial keyword in Visual Basic 8.0 and the partial keyword from C#. This enables you to simply place the methods that you need in your page class. In this case, you have a button-click event and nothing else.

New Page Directives

ASP.NET directives are something that is a part of every ASP.NET page. You can control the behavior of your ASP.NET pages by using these directives. Here’s an example of the Page directive:

<%@ Page Language=”VB” AutoEventWireup=”false” CompileWith=”Default.aspx.vb” ClassName=”Default_aspx” %>

New attributes

These page directives are commands for the compiler to use as the page is compiled. A large number of attributes have always been available to the Page directive itself, but with the introduction of ASP.NET 2.0, some additional attributes are available. These six important new attributes are explained in the following table.

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Chapter 3

New directives

In addition to the new attributes used with the Page directive, two new directives can be also be used for the pages you create. These new directives include the following:

Master: This directive is used in the creation of master pages — the main templates used by any subpages within your applications. Master pages are explained in Chapter 6.

PreviousPage: This directive is used to specify the page from which any cross-postings originate. Cross-posting ASP.NET pages are explained later in this chapter.

The Master page directive is similar to the Page directive, but you specify properties of the templated page that you will be using in conjunction with any number of content pages in your site. Any content pages (built using the Page directive) you might have can then inherit from the master page all the master content (defined in the master page using the Master directive). Although they are similar, the Master directive has fewer attributes available to it than the Page directive. The available attributes for the Master directive include:

EnableViewState

These attributes need not be defined because they are the same as those for the Page directive, except that they apply to the master page that is used in templating your pages.

The PreviousPage directive is a new directive that works with the new cross-page posting capability that ASP.NET 2.0 provides. This simple directive contains only two possible attributes: TypeName and VirtualPath. The following table describes these two new attributes.

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