DropDownList ListItem Collection Editor doesn't save changes to aspx source file when DropDownList is inside a container

DropDownList ListItem Collection Editor doesn't save changes to aspx source file when DropDownList is inside a container by T H

Closed

as Fixed

Type:	Bug
ID:	362593
Opened:	8/20/2008 12:11:06 AM
Access Restriction:	Public

Workaround(s)

view

User(s) can reproduce this bug

At Design Time, adding a DropDownList inside a containing component and then trying to add items to that DropDownList via the ListItems Collection Editor is problematic: Clicking the "OK" button inside the editor closes the editor, but does not update the aspx source file--no items are added to the dropdownlist. It would appear that some update event isn't firing.

If the DropDownList is not inside of a container, adding items via the list editor works correctly as expected.

I have verified this (what appears to be a) bug on two systems, one with XP SP2 and one with Vista 32 bit. Both VS installations have the recently released VS2008 SP1 installed. I at first thought it was a third party component problem, as I encountered it when placing the DropDown list in an Infragistics UltraWebTab container. But then I also experienced it inside a Telerik RadMultiPage RadPageView component, which led me to try it inside of standard MS container components that come with VS2008 and I found that the problem existed there, too.

So, I now believe it is a problem with the DropDownList component itself or some base component it is derived from or how the ListItem Collection Editor interacts with it.

Details (expand)

English

Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1

Windows Vista

English

1. Create a web application with a aspx form
2. Add a MultiView component to the page and a View component to the MultiView (or alternatively add a Panel control).
3. Add a DropDownList component inside the MultiView component (or alternatively add the DropDownList component insde the Panel)
4. Select the DropDownList component to view the properties in the properties window.
5. Select the "items" property and click the ellipse button to open the ListItem Collection Editor.
6. Add several items and click "OK."
7. If not already there, go to the "Split" or "Source" view.

The items added in the ListItem Collection Editor are not added to the aspx source file. The markup will look something like this:

<asp:DropDownList ID="DD_RequestType" runat="server">
</asp:DropDownList>

The expected results would be what you get when a DropDownList component is dropped on the page outside of any containing component:

The items added via the ListItem Collection Editor are added to the source file once "OK" is clicked. An example of the markup for the component with the automatically added code might be something like this:

                                        <asp:DropDownList ID="DD_RequestType" runat="server">
                                            <asp:ListItem Value="1">One</asp:ListItem>
                                            <asp:ListItem Value="2">Two</asp:ListItem>
                                            <asp:ListItem Value="3">Three</asp:ListItem>
                                        </asp:DropDownList>

Posted by UteW on 11/6/2009 at 10:01 AM

So what are we supposed to do until we upgrade to 2010? I think it is really lame to introduce a bug in a service pack and then not offer a fix for it until the next version comes out. Unfortunately, it is another incident of the louse product support we have all come to expect and accept from Microsoft.

Posted by cichanlx on 9/24/2009 at 10:45 AM

So, Microsoft's solution to this bug in 2008 is that it's fixed in 2010? Problem: The brakes on my 2008 car don't work. Solution: It's safe to keep driving it, because the future model will work correctly. Give me a break!

Posted by Microsoft on 2/26/2009 at 9:28 AM

Hi,

just to let you know that this issue was fixed for Visual Studio 2010

Posted by JCroney on 9/24/2008 at 5:09 AM

This is a regression issue introduced in VS 2008 SP1. It impacts a variety of inbox and custom controls when they are inside of an INamingContainer such as a MultiView, Panel, UpdatePanel, etc. The larger issue here is the lackluster support for nofifying Visual Studio when a property changes from a designer.

Posted by BestCoder3 on 9/11/2008 at 11:44 AM

I see this same thing all the time, on both 32-bit and 64-bit Vista. It seems to occur with just about any control. It isn't just limited to the DropDownList.

Posted by Microsoft on 8/20/2008 at 11:43 PM

Thanks for your feedback. We are escalating this bug to the product unit who works on that specific feature area. The team will review this issue and make a decision on whether they will fix it or not for the next release.

Thank you,
Visual Studio Product Team

Posted by T H on 8/20/2008 at 9:56 AM

Of course the obvious workaround is to add the ListItem markup tags (nesting them inside the DropDownList markup) manually to the aspx file. So, it's not a total show stopper, but it certainly stops one from being able to work in the "Design" view and getting basic expected behavior.