I've written a sub that i want to use on more than one page. How can I write it to use multiple times on different page? Here is the code:

Sub BindHomeAudioGrid()
        Dim strConn As String = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("cab1esdb")
        Dim objConn As New OleDbConnection(strConn)
        Dim strSQL As String = "SELECT * FROM home_audio ORDER BY id ASC"

        Dim objAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConn)
        Dim objDataSet As New DataSet
        objAdapter.Fill(objDataSet, "HomeAudio")

        Dim r As DataRow

        Dim objTable As New HtmlTable
        Dim objRow As New HtmlTableRow
        Dim objCell As New HtmlTableCell

        objTable.Border = 1
        objTable.Width = "185"
        objTable.CellPadding = 0
        objTable.CellSpacing = 0
        objTable.BorderColor = "#000000"

        objRow.ID = "homeaudio"
        objCell.InnerHtml = "&nbsp;<strong>Home Audio</strong>"
        objCell.Width = 130
        objRow.Cells.Add(objCell)

        objTable.Rows.Add(objRow)

        For Each r In objDataSet.Tables(0).Rows
            objRow = New HtmlTableRow
            objTable.Rows.Add(objRow)

            objCell = New HtmlTableCell
            objRow.ID = "audproducts"
            objCell.InnerHtml = "<a class=category href=category.aspx?loc=1&h=" & r("id") & ">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" & r("prod_name") & "</a>"
            objRow.Cells.Add(objCell)
            objTable.Rows.Add(objRow)

            objTable.Rows.Add(objRow)
        Next
        display1.Controls.Add(objTable)
    End Sub

display1 is: Protected WithEvents display1 As System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlGenericControl

Probably your best bet is to modify your sub to accept "display1" as an argument and set the sub to be shared so it's visible from outside of an instance of the page. Do everything you are doing as-is, but change the last line to reference the argument. Also you should make sure to make the argument ByRef instead of the default ByVal.

Public Shared Sub BindHomeAudioGrid(ByRef objHtmlControl As HtmlGenericControl)
    ...
    objHtmlControl.Controls.Add(objTable)
End Sub

An even better idea would be to do this as a function that just returns the html table.

Public Shared Function BindHomeAudioGrid() As HtmlTable
    ...
    Return objTable
End Sub

This would be a better technique I think. Then you can call this function from wherever you need...

somePageControl.Controls.Add(otherPageClass.BindHo meAudioGrid())

And you might want to then change the function to something more applicable, like BuildHomeAudioTable().

Peter
------------------------------------------------------
Work smarter, not harder.

Thanks for your help, Peter.

I tried both of them... but I couldn't figure out how to call the Public Shared Sub on my page.

If this is the page class with the sub on it (in myFirstPage.aspx.vb)...

Public Class myFirstPage : Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
    ...
    Public Shared Function BindHomeAudioGrid() As HtmlTable
        ...
        Return objTable
    End Sub
End Class


Then in your other page class (mySecondPage.aspx.vb) you call it like this:

myFirstPage.BindHomeAudioGrid()


Of course, this will only work if you are using code-behind. If you are doing this all with in-line code in the ASPX you are out of luck. You need to build this kind of stuff using codebehind so all the classes are compiled together. I don't know if there is any kind of workaround for the scenario of inline code.

Peter
------------------------------------------------------
Work smarter, not harder.

Peter is right. This will only work with Code Behind as it is all compiled to the CLR. Inline code in not compiled and as a result is not aware of any other classes or methods located elsewhere in yur app.

This is not entirely true. When the framework loads an ASPX, it actually generates a temp vb file with a class named like this: "<pagename>_aspx". It then compiles that to a temp DLL. The class from the DDL the resides in the CLR for future use.

If you are writing ASPX with inline code, and you get an error, you should see two links:

- Show Detailed Compiler Output:
- Show Complete Compilation Source:

The first will show you the call to the compiler to build the temp VB file, and the second is actually the complete temp VB source. It's pretty neat to look through and see all the things it does.

Peter
------------------------------------------------------
Work smarter, not harder.

Is that where to JIT compliation comes into play? I have heard about JIT but dont really know to much about it.

Precisely. Here's the way it happens (basically):

Inline code method
Source(s):
    - ASPX with objects
    - inline code (in same ASPX)

Design-time:
    Steps:
        - Write the ASPX file
Run-time:
    Steps:
        - Create temp vb file from inline code
        - Compile temp vb file to temp DLL containing generic .net MSIL code
        - JIT compile the ASPX into a temporary class (<pagename>_aspx) into CLR
        - JIT compile the MSIL code (from DLL) into platform specific machine code into the CLR
        - Run the code from the CLR

Code-behind method
Source(s):
    - ASPX with objects
    - Code-behind in *.vb files

Design-time:
    Steps:
        - Write the files (*.AS?X, *.vb)
        - Compiled all *.vb into MSIL DLL
Run-time:
    Steps:
        - JIT compile the ASPX into a temporary class (<pagename>_aspx) into CLR
        - JIT compile the MSIL code (from DLL) into platform specific machine code into the CLR
        - Run the code from the CLR

MSIL - MicroSoft Intermediate Language (the .Net generic code)
CLR - Common Language Runtime
JIT - Just In Time (basically, on request compiling)

I'm not sure what goes on with the ASPX. Whether it also gets compiled into a temp MSIL DLL, then JIT-ed into the CLR. I assume that's the case. Using either method, a temp class is created from the ASPX file, where it lives in the mystery of the .net black box.

Peter
------------------------------------------------------
Work smarter, not harder.