FormFields for ASP.net

forms in ASP.net made simple!


Just take a look at this form:

Nothing too special there, but it was done with this little amount of markup: 
<formField:textBox ID="fftbName" runat="server" Title="Name" Required="true" />
<formField:textBox ID="fftbDOB" runat="server" Title="Date of Birth" Type="Date" />
<formField:textBox  ID="fftbPhone" runat="server" Title="Phone Number" Type="PhoneNumber" />
<formField:dropDownList ID="ffddlgroup" runat="server" Title="Group" Required="true" />

You may not notice it right away, but there is a ton going on in there with minimal markup:
  • Name
    • required
  • Date of Birth
    • date picker popup
    • date validation
    • date mask applied
  • Phone Number
    • validated against a regular expression
  • Group
    • required
    • bound to Linq-to-SQL
Not to mention they are all formatted nicely with all titles integrated neatly into one simple control; and this just scratches the surface of the power of FormFields, look around so you can see how easy they are to use and how much time they can save you!
Don't get me wrong, ASP.net forms are already simple, there are many tools such as DetailsView, ListView, etc. that can make our lives easier, but sometimes they just won't do. In those cases, we have to resort to writing repititous code for forms, that is what FormFields was developed for.
FormFields is open source and always looking for new contributors/ideas - please check out the CodePlex site for source code, discussions, etc.
© 2010 Stan Naspinski