Creating a drag and drop application in ASP.Net 3.5

Question

I need to make a client able to drag and drop images into category-folders in an ASP.NET 3.5 web-app.

I was hoping that an option existed, that was almost as easy to use as the Reorderlist from Ajax Control Toolkit, and where I did not have to look into JQuery or similar handcoding.

What are your recommendations?

Similar questions have been asked before, like this 6 months ago...: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13589/asp-net-ajax-drag-drop where MooTools is recommended, but 6 months is a long time in the ASP.NET/Ajax world, so maybe a better and even simpler option exists now?

Commercial components are also an option - well up to 200$ anyway.

Answer 1

i have been very very happy with telerik's treeview control and use it for almost any asp.net application which needs a treeview drag and drop.

they allow free development licenses (not production though) so i guess you should give it a try. go to www.telerik.com and have a look

Answer 2

Jquery has drag and drop controls. http://geekswithblogs.net/AzamSharp/archive/2008/02/21/119882.aspx Maybe that will help...

Answer 3

This is another Mootools suggestion, but you might find the Mif.Tree plugin useful. It's an MIT license. There are also code examples for each of the demos and API docs.

Answer 4

My experience with the Reorder List in the Ajax Control Toolkit, as with many other 3rd party providers, is that most of them don't seem to be worth the effort. Definitely try them before you buy.

Unfortunately a lot of the samples/components out there are all too client-based and always seem to fall short on real-world uses and the sorts of interaction you need with ASP.Net applications (e.g. handling postback). Dragging a div around isn't that complicated, but that's all a lot of examples do. If your needs don't exactly mirror their offering try something else.

The Manning book ASP.NET AJAX in Action is a good reference on code for performing drag and drop. It uses Microsoft.Web.Preview, but this hasn't been updated in quite some time which is a worry. I have created a pretty good drag and drop UI with MS's PreviewDragDrop, it does work cross-browser, and it's pretty easy to code. Preview DLL's aside, the Manning book is great for understanding Microsofts AJAX API.

However, since jQuery is going to be shipped and supported with Visual Studio, I would recommend using it over anything else in a vain attempt to future-proof yourself.

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A final piece of advice is never outsource your core competency. If this page is a core part of your offering you're better off implementing it yourself using library code like jQuery or Microsoft.Ajax rather than relying on a 3rd party component. However, if it's just a minor part of your site, then go ahead and use 3rd party controls.

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Ref: My Version of Microsoft.Web.Preview.dll is 1.1.61025.0.

Answer 5

Robert>> After spending 4-5 painful days of hacks, double-hacks and hacks to get around other hacks, I have come to the same conclusion as you. Especially the reorderlist from the ajax control toolkit drove me to the very edge of insanity.

It seems to me there is no real way around learning JQuery and simply doing the stuff myself. I used to shy away from doing client-side code, but with AJAX so much code has moved away from being just serverside.

JQuery has just been moved to the top of my personal study program.

Answer 6

How can we make treeview control with dragdroup in web application?if u know help me?