Flash Player Custom Control for ASP.NET 2.0

}

#End Region

Note that, in the attributes section, the code specifies an editor and further that the editor specified is defined as the URL Editor. Adding this attribute to the control specifies to the IDE how the property is to be edited; in this instance, when the control user sets the File Path property for the control, the property grid will display a button with an ellipsis in it at the right hand side of the text box. If the user clicks on the button, the IDE will open the URL editor and will permit the user to use that editor to navigate to the SWF file and set the File Path property through that editor's dialog. Properties set in this manner will be persisted within the control user's project.

[Editor(GetType(System.Web.UI.Design.UrlEditor), GetType(System.Drawing.Design.UITypeEditor)]

At this point, the only thing left to do is to define how the control will be rendered. To complete this step, create a "Rendering" region and, within this region, override the RenderContents sub with the following code:

#Region "Rendering"

protected override void RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter writer)

{

try

{

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("<object classid=clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000");

sb.Append("codebase=http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,2,0 Width = " & Width.Value.ToString() & " Height = " & Height.Value.ToString() & " > ");

sb.Append("<param name=movie value=" & FilePath.ToString() & "> ");

sb.Append("<param name=quality value=high> ");

sb.Append("<param name=BGCOLOR value=#000000>");

sb.Append("<param name=SCALE value=showall>");

sb.Append("<embed src=" & FilePath.ToString() & " = high ");

sb.Append("pluginspage=http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash type=application/x-shockwave-flash ");

sb.Append("Width = " & Width.Value.ToString() & " ");

sb.Append("Height = " & Height.Value.ToString() & " ");

sb.Append("bgcolor=#000000 ");

sb.Append("scale= showall></embed></object>");

writer.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.Div);

writer.Write(sb.ToString());

writer.RenderEndTag();

}

catch(Exception ex)

{

writer.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.Div);

writer.Write("Custom Flash Control");

writer.RenderEndTag();

}

}

#End Region

Within this code there are a few things worth looking at; first, you can see how the embedded object tag is created and it does not take too much imagination to figure out that you can embed any valid object using this same approach. The string builder collects three variables from the control, the File Path is passed to the object's source and the controls height and width are also collected and passed to the object tag. The rest of the parameters are canned in this demonstration but could be replaced with additional properties which could also be set at design time if so desired.

Having defined the contents of the object tag, the only detail remaining is to put the control on the rendered page. This is accomplished in the three lines following the definition of the string builder:

writer.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.Div);
writer.Write(sb.ToString());
writer.RenderEndTag();

In this example, the HTML writer is set up to place an opening Div tag, within the Div, the object defined in the string builder is written to the rendered page, and in the last line, the Div is closed.

The control is now complete. Prior to testing the control, rebuild the project. Once that has been completed and any errors encountered are repaired, it is time to test the control. To test the control, add a new web site project to the web control library project currently open. Once the test web site has been created, set the test project as the start up project by right clicking on the web site solution in the solution explorer and selecting the "Set as Start Up Project" menu option. Next, locate the Default.aspx page in the web site solution, right click on this page and select the "Set as Start Page" menu option.

In the download you will find two files that you will need to add to the root of the web site solution. These files are entitled, "cybertrick.swf" and "cybertrick.txt". You may add the files to the project by right clicking on the web site solution in the solution explorer and selecting "Add Existing Item".

Open the Default.aspx page for editing. Locate the newly created control in the toolbox (it should be at the top) and drag the "EmbeddedObject" control onto the page (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Custom Control in Toolbox

You may now click on the embedded object control and set its height, width, and file path properties. For this demo, the SWF file provided was designed to be 300 pixels tall and 600 pixels wide so set the height and width properties to hold 300 and 600. Next, click on the File Path property button to open the URL editor dialog. From here, select the "cybertrick.swf" to point the file path property to this file.

Build the application and run it; you should now be looking at a Flash presentation displayed within the custom control (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Flash in the Custom Control

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS CONVERTED FROM VB.NET TO C# USING A CONVERSION TOOL. ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND ON VB.NET Heaven (http://www.vbdotnetheaven.com/).