<postings@alexshirley.com> wrote in message
news:1143111274.223498.174640@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi
>
> I'm more or less desperate here, I've posted this in a few forums now
> over the months and got absolutely no response. It would be very much
> appreciate that you could help in any way here... So take pity :)
>
> I have a control derived from a drop down list written in VB.NET
> (ASP.NET 2.0) that dynamically displays listitems retrieved from an SQL
> server database. My code works fine but when I go to designer view in
> Visual Studio 2005 it renders a gray box displaying: "Error Creating
> Control - MyDropDownList, object reference not set to an instance of an
> object". Note the drop down list works perfectly when being displayed
> in IE.
>
> If I remove my code retrieving the values from SQL server and put in
> static values like this:
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Select a Value", "0"))
> Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Test", "1"))
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ...the drop down list will render in both the designer and IE. So I am
> assuming that the VS2005 designer view will not render dynamic
> listitems, but will render static listitems from dropdownlists.
>
> In order to solve this problem I've looked at using:
> Protected Overrides Sub Render(ByVal writer As
> System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter)
>
> ...to see if I can force rendering in the design view but no joy at
> all, so my approach isn't working here.
>
> I don't really care if the designer renders the exact values from the
> database, a couple of dummy values will do if necessary. I just want to
> see the control is designer view.
>
> So please - any words of wisdom!
>
> Many thanks indeed...
>
> Alex
>

Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD] wrote:
> IF Me.DesignMode = True THEN
> 'Use Static Values
> Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Select a Value", "0"))
> Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Test", "1"))
> ELSE
> 'get from SQL Server
> END IF
>
> --
> I hope this helps,
> Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
> http://SteveOrr.net
>
>
> <postings@alexshirley.com> wrote in message
> news:1143111274.223498.174640@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> > Hi
> >
> > I'm more or less desperate here, I've posted this in a few forums now
> > over the months and got absolutely no response. It would be very much
> > appreciate that you could help in any way here... So take pity :)
> >
> > I have a control derived from a drop down list written in VB.NET
> > (ASP.NET 2.0) that dynamically displays listitems retrieved from an SQL
> > server database. My code works fine but when I go to designer view in
> > Visual Studio 2005 it renders a gray box displaying: "Error Creating
> > Control - MyDropDownList, object reference not set to an instance of an
> > object". Note the drop down list works perfectly when being displayed
> > in IE.
> >
> > If I remove my code retrieving the values from SQL server and put in
> > static values like this:
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Select a Value", "0"))
> > Me.Items.Add(New ListItem("Test", "1"))
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > ...the drop down list will render in both the designer and IE. So I am
> > assuming that the VS2005 designer view will not render dynamic
> > listitems, but will render static listitems from dropdownlists.
> >
> > In order to solve this problem I've looked at using:
> > Protected Overrides Sub Render(ByVal writer As
> > System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter)
> >
> > ...to see if I can force rendering in the design view but no joy at
> > all, so my approach isn't working here.
> >
> > I don't really care if the designer renders the exact values from the
> > database, a couple of dummy values will do if necessary. I just want to
> > see the control is designer view.
> >
> > So please - any words of wisdom!
> >
> > Many thanks indeed...
> >
> > Alex
> >