HTML Components in Business Desk
The Commerce Server Business Desk Framework includes a number of HTML Components (HTCs) that are used extensively by the modules that ship with Commerce Server 2000. (HTCs are one of the ways in which the DHTML behaviors supported in Internet Explorer 5 can be implemented. The HTCs supplied with Commerce Server are more complex than typical Internet Explorer 5 behaviors.) The Business Desk HTCs are also intended for use in new Business Desk modules developed by third parties. Not only does such use save third parties significant effort in developing new modules, it benefits the users of Business Desk by promoting a common look-and-feel throughout an extended Business Desk.
Each of the HTCs that ship with Business Desk defines a unique set of events, properties, and methods. Each HTC also has a particular format in which it expects to be passed its configuration data, including both the configuration data used to control the behavior and display of the control, as well as the actual Web site data itself. Also, each HTC is instantiated within script on an ASP page in a slightly different manner. These details are provided in the Business Desk Reference in the section entitled HTML Components.
Each HTC has a variable named m_bDebug, defined at the beginning of the HTC file containing the script code for the HTC. If this variable is set to True, error messages display in alerts to help in debugging while a module is being developed. If the variable m_bDebug is set to False, the same error is sent in an onError event instead of being displayed in an alert. The onError event can then be trapped and handled in script code.
The following table describes the HTCs supplied with the Business Desk Framework, and provides links to more detailed information in the Programmer’s Reference.
| HTML Component | Description |
| DynamicTable | Used for editing tabular data where editing is limited to the columns being displayed. |
| EditField | Used for editing individual items of data of various types. |
| EditSheet | Used to bundle together other controls that are used to edit data. |
| ExpressionBuilder | Describes the control used for creating named expressions that can be used for targeting. The ExpressionBuilder HTC makes use of an embedded version of the QueryBuilder HTC. |
| ListBox | Used for list-to-list copy and move operations. |
| ListEditor | Used for editing tabular data where the editing of individual records occurs in a separate table below the table containing the list. |
| ListSheet | Used to display a list of records and allows selection of one or more of those records for editing.
This HTC is read-only. |
| QueryBuilder | Used to build a simple query. |
| TreeView | Used to display an XML structure in a tree format. |
The ListSheet and TreeView HTCs are unique in that they both offer a mechanism for requesting additional XML data from the server without needing to reload the entire page containing the HTC in question.