ASP.Net directives are instructions to specify optional settings, such as registering a custom control and page language. These settings describe how the web forms (.aspx) or user controls (.ascx) pages are processed by the .Net framework.
The syntax for declaring a directive is:
<%@ directive_name attribute=value [attribute=value] %>
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In this section, we will just introduce the ASP.Net directives and we will use most of these directives throughout the tutorials.
The Application Directive
The Application directive defines application-specific attributes. It is provided at the top of the global.aspx file.
The basic syntax for a sample Application directive is:
<%@ Application Language="C#" %>
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The attributes of the Application directive are:
| Attributes | Description |
|---|
| Inherits | the name of the class from which to inherit |
| Description | text description of the application. Parsers and compilers ignore this |
| Language | language used in code blocks |
The Assembly Directive
The Assembly directive links an assembly to the page or the application at parse time. This could appear either in the global.asax file for application-wide linking or in the page file or a user control file for linking to a page or user control.
The basic syntax for a sample Assembly directive is:
<%@ Assembly Name ="myassembly" %>
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The attributes of the Assembly directive are:
| Attributes | Description |
|---|
| Name | the name of the assembly to be linked |
| Src | the path to the source file to be linked and compiled dynamically |
The Control Directive
The Control directive is used with the user controls and appears in the user control (.ascx) files.
The basic syntax for a sample Control directive is:
<%@ Control Language="C#" EnableViewState="false" %>
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The attributes of the Control directive are:
| Attributes | Description |
|---|
| AutoEventWireup | the Boolean value that enables or disables automatic association of events to handlers |
| ClassName | file name for the control |
| Debug | the Boolean value that enables or disables compiling with debug symbols |
| Description | text description of the control page, ignored by compiler |
| EnableViewState | the Boolean value that indicates whether view state is maintained across page requests |
| Explicit | for VB language, tells the compiler to use Option Explicit mode |
| Inherits | the class from which the control page inherits |
| Language | language for code and script |
| Src | the filename for the code-behind class |
| Strict | for VB language, tells the compiler to use the Option Strict mode |
The Implements Directive
The Implement directive indicates that the web page, master page or user control page must implement the specified .Net framework interface.
The basic syntax for an Implements directive is:
<%@ Implements Interface="interface_name" %>
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The Import Directive
The Import directive imports a namespace into a web page, user control pate of application. If the Import directive is specified in the global.asax, then it will apply to the entire application. If it is in a page of user control page, then it would apply to that page or control.
The basic syntax for an Import directive is:
<%@ namespace="System.Drawing" %>
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The Master Directive
The Master directive specifies a page file as being the mater page.
The basic syntax for a sample MasterPage directive is:
<%@ MasterPage Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true"
CodeFile="SiteMater.master.cs" Inherits="SiteMaster" %>
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The MasterType Directive
The MasterType directive assigns a class name to the Master property of a page, to make it strongly typed.
The basic syntax for a MasterType directive is:
<%@ MasterType attribute="value"[attribute="value" ...] %>
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The OutputCache Directive
The OutputCache directive controls the output caching policies of a web page or a user control. We will discuss this directive in details, in data caching.
The basic syntax for a OutputCache directive is:
<%@ OutputCache Duration="15" VaryByParam="None" %>
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The Page Directive
The Page directive defines the attributes specific to the page file for the page parser and the compiler.
The basic syntax for a Page directive is:
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true"
CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" Trace="true" %>
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The attributes of the Page directive are:
| Attributes | Description |
|---|
| AutoEventWireup | the Boolean value that enables or disables Page events that are being automatically bound to methods; for example, Page_Load |
| Buffer | the Boolean value that enables or disables HTTP response buffering |
| ClassName | class name for the page |
| ClientTarget | the browser for which server controls should render content |
| CodeFile | name of the code behind file |
| Debug | the Boolean value that enables or disables compilation with debug symbols |
| Description | text description of the page, ignored by the parser |
| EnableSessionState | enables, disables or makes session state read-only |
| EnableViewState | the Boolean value that enables or disables view state across page requests |
| ErrorPage | URL for redirection if an unhandled page exception occurs |
| Inherits | the name of the code behind or other class |
| Language | programming language for code |
| Src | file name of the code behind class |
| Trace | enables or disables tracing |
| TraceMode | indicates how trace messages are to be displayed - sorted by time or category |
| Transaction | indicates if transactions are supported |
| ValidateRequest | the Boolean value that indicates whether all input data is validated against a hardcoded list of values |
The PreviousPageType Directive
The PreviousPageType directive assigns a class to a page, so that the page is strongly typed.
The basic syntax for a sample PreviousPagetype directive is:
<%@ PreviousPageType attribute="value"[attribute="value" ...] %>
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The Reference Directive
The Reference directive indicates that another page or user control should be compiled and linked to the current page.
The basic syntax for a sample Reference directive is:
<%@ Reference Page ="somepage.aspx" %>
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The Register Directive
The Register derivative is used for registering the custom server controls and user controls.
The basic syntax for a sample Register directive is:
<%@ Register Src="~/footer.ascx" TagName="footer"
TagPrefix="Tfooter" %>
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