Modal popup dialog window with multiple parameters

Introduction

This article shows a modal popup dialog window which passes and returns multiple parameters. This sample creates parent and child webforms. The child webform is called modally by the parent passing multiple values to the child form. The child form displays the passed values allowing them to be edited and then returns the altered values back to the parent when finished. The child form is modal to only the parent form. To make the child modal to the entire desktop, see the below final note.

Scope

ASP, ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET, Visual Basic, Java

Steps

Open a New Web project in Visual Studio
Create two New WebForm pages named ParentWebFormand ChildWebForm
Open the HTML surface for the ParentWebForm
Locate the yellow line
Delete all code EXCEPT the yellow line

Insert the following HTML below the existing yellow line

Collapse

Copy Code

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
    <title>Parent Webform</title>
    <script language="javascript">
    function OpenChild()
    {
    var ParmA = retvalA.value;
    var ParmB = retvalB.value;
    var ParmC = retvalC.value;
    var MyArgs = new Array(ParmA, ParmB, ParmC);
    var WinSettings = "center:yes;resizable:no;dialogHeight:300px"
    //ALTER BELOW LINE - supply correct URL for Child Form
        var MyArgs = window.showModalDialog(
    "http://localhost/ModalWin/ChildWebForm.aspx", MyArgs, WinSettings);
    if (MyArgs == null)
    {
    window.alert(
    "Nothing returned from child. No changes made to input boxes")
    }
    else
    {
    retvalA.value=MyArgs[0].toString();
    retvalB.value=MyArgs[1].toString();
    retvalC.value=MyArgs[2].toString();
    }
    }
    </script>
    </HEAD>
    <body>
    <P><INPUT id="retvalA" type="text" value="AAA"></P>
    <P><INPUT id="retvalB" type="text" value="BBB"></P>
    <P><INPUT id="retvalC" type="text" value="CCC"></P>
    <P><BUTTON onclick="OpenChild()" type="button">
    Open Child Window</BUTTON>
    </P>
    </body>
    </HTML>

In the above code, locate the line saying //ALTER BELOW LINE
Supply the correct URL for your ChildWebform
Open the HTML surface for the ChildWebForm
Locate the yellow line
Delete all code EXCEPT the yellow line

Insert the following HTML below the existing yellow line

Collapse

Copy Code

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
    <TITLE>Child Webform</TITLE>
    <script language="javascript">
    function Done() {
    var ParmA = tbParamA.value;
    var ParmB = tbParamB.value;
    var ParmC = tbParamC.value;
    var MyArgs = new Array(ParmA, ParmB, ParmC);
    window.returnValue = MyArgs;
    window.close();
    }
    function doInit() {
    var ParmA = "Aparm";
    var ParmB = "Bparm";
    var ParmC = "Cparm";
    var MyArgs = new Array(ParmA, ParmB, ParmC);
    MyArgs =  window.dialogArguments;
    tbParamA.value = MyArgs[0].toString();
    tbParamB.value = MyArgs[1].toString();
    tbParamC.value = MyArgs[2].toString();
    }
    </script>
    </HEAD>
    <BODY onload="doInit()">
    <P>Param A:<INPUT id="tbParamA" TYPE="text"></P>
    <P>Param B:<INPUT ID="tbParamB" TYPE="text"></P>
    <P>Param C:<INPUT ID="tbParamC" TYPE="text"></P>
    <BUTTON onclick="Done()" type="button">OK</BUTTON>
    </BODY>
    </HTML>

Set the project StartUp page to be the Parent Webform
Run the project.

Final Note

To make the child modal to the entire desktop, you'll need add code to the child which uses <body onblur="this.focus">.