Disappearing controls in web forms designer

[Yair Alan Griver [MS]]

We've recently received a few reports of an issue in the Visual Studio .NET
Web Forms Designer that I wanted to make everyone aware of. While this
issue occurs infrequently, it can sometimes result in data loss on a Web
Form, so it'll be important to take steps to avoid the issue in the
near-term. In addition, our product team is currently working to provide a
hotfix for this issue. We'll be making the hotfix available for download
from our Web site within the next few days. As soon it's ready, I'll post
another message to this NG. In the meantime, I was able to recreate the
issue and identify a series of steps that people can take to avoid the
problem. I've included a description of the issue and the steps to avoid it
below:



Scenario and Symptoms:

This issue occurs when building ASP.NET Web applications using the Web Forms
designer. In particular, you will run across this case when switching from
WYSIWYG (Web Forms designer) view to the code-behind view *before* the
WYSIWYG designer view finishes loading. This scenario typically happens
when your Web Form contains numerous controls, causing a slight delay for
the form to finish loading. The result of this scenario is that form data,
including controls, will disappear.



Resolution:

While there is no way to reverse the process once it has occurred, the best
way to resolve this issue is to avoid it in the first place. There are 3
visual cues that indicate the loading of the form is actually complete:

- The Visual Studio .NET Status Bar updates to say "Ready"

- The Visual Studio .NET Property Grid updates with information on
the form

- The HTML document outline tree updates with current form
information (Note: While this is the most reliable method for ensuring that
the form has completely loaded, this tool window is not open by default.
You can open this window by selecting View..Other Windows..Document Outline)



So, anytime you are switching to Web Forms designer view in an ASP.NET
application, you should use these 3 visual cues in order to ensure that the
form has completed loading. Once you have verified that the form has
loaded, you can switch back to the code-behind view, run the application,
etc., without running into this data loss problem.



Again, as soon as the hotfix is ready for download, I'll post another
message to this NG. Thanks in advance for your understanding.



yag


--

Yair Alan Griver
Lead PM/Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Yair Alan Griver [MS]]

Just to let y'all know, the fix is online and available from:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/do...atalossifx.asp

yag
--

Yair Alan Griver
Lead PM/Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Yair Alan Griver [MS]" <yag@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3d7515cc$1@10.1.10.29...
> We've recently received a few reports of an issue in the Visual Studio
..NET
> Web Forms Designer that I wanted to make everyone aware of. While this
> issue occurs infrequently, it can sometimes result in data loss on a Web
> Form, so it'll be important to take steps to avoid the issue in the
> near-term. In addition, our product team is currently working to provide
a
> hotfix for this issue. We'll be making the hotfix available for download
> from our Web site within the next few days. As soon it's ready, I'll post
> another message to this NG. In the meantime, I was able to recreate the
> issue and identify a series of steps that people can take to avoid the
> problem. I've included a description of the issue and the steps to avoid
it
> below:
>
>
>
> Scenario and Symptoms:
>
> This issue occurs when building ASP.NET Web applications using the Web
Forms
> designer. In particular, you will run across this case when switching
from
> WYSIWYG (Web Forms designer) view to the code-behind view *before* the
> WYSIWYG designer view finishes loading. This scenario typically happens
> when your Web Form contains numerous controls, causing a slight delay for
> the form to finish loading. The result of this scenario is that form
data,
> including controls, will disappear.
>
>
>
> Resolution:
>
> While there is no way to reverse the process once it has occurred, the
best
> way to resolve this issue is to avoid it in the first place. There are 3
> visual cues that indicate the loading of the form is actually complete:
>
> - The Visual Studio .NET Status Bar updates to say "Ready"
>
> - The Visual Studio .NET Property Grid updates with information
on
> the form
>
> - The HTML document outline tree updates with current form
> information (Note: While this is the most reliable method for ensuring
that
> the form has completely loaded, this tool window is not open by default.
> You can open this window by selecting View..Other Windows..Document
Outline)
>
>
>
> So, anytime you are switching to Web Forms designer view in an ASP.NET
> application, you should use these 3 visual cues in order to ensure that
the
> form has completed loading. Once you have verified that the form has
> loaded, you can switch back to the code-behind view, run the application,
> etc., without running into this data loss problem.
>
>
>
> Again, as soon as the hotfix is ready for download, I'll post another
> message to this NG. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
>
>
>
> yag
>
>
> --
>
> Yair Alan Griver
> Lead PM/Evangelist
> Microsoft Corporation
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
>
>