User and custom controls in .Net

Question

Hi, Ques What is the user and custom controls ? Give the differences between user and custom controls ?

Sam Hobbs · Answer

What type of UI? Windows Forms, WPF or ASP.Net? The short answer is that user controls can be as easy or as complex as you need. You can easily create a simple user conrol. Unless you are sure you need to create a custom control or anything other than a user control, make a user control. A custom control is very likely to be too advanced for you. Since you do not know what a custom control is, do not try to develop one. See Introduction to Web Custom Controls for an overview of ASP.Net Custom Controls. See Composite Control vs. User Control for a comparison of ASP.Net user controls and comparable ASP.Net custom controls. See Varieties of Custom Controls for a description of Windows Forms controls. A user control derives from UserControl or from a class derived UserControl. A user control is also called a composite control since user controls contain other controls. A cusom control derives from the Control class. If a Windows Forms control derives from any other class that derives from the Control class, then it is called an Extended control. To develop a Windows Forms custom control, you must be familiar with the "Microsoft Win32® API". So I assume that last point is a deal-breaker for you. See Control Authoring Overview for an overview of WPF controls. WPF also has a UserControl class. WPF also has controls derived from its Control class or a class derived from it. You can also derive a WPF control from the WPF FrameworkElement class. In WPF, a custom control does not have XAML for the controls in the custom control. A user control is not a type of custom control. User controls are automatically added to the toolbox.

Senthilkumar · Answer

Hi Arun, The user control is simple to create in .NET. It commonly used to create the common portion of page or same activity can be used in multiple pages across the applications. It has to be registered on every page or master page using the Register directives. Register The user control has to be registered using the src attribute. It has to be used like the above mentioned form. The difference between these two controls as per msdn. Web user controls Web custom controls Easier to create Harder to create Limited support for consumers who use a visual design tool Full visual design tool support for consumers A separate copy of the control is required in each application Only a single copy of the control is required, in the global assembly cache Cannot be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio Can be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio Good for static layout Good for dynamic layout If it is useful then mark it as "Accepted Answer"

Vulpes · Answer

A user control is basically a control which contains other controls. It's sometimes called a composite control. A user control is a type of custom control. Perhaps, the commonest type of custom control is one which inherits from an existing control and adds to or changes its functionality in certain respects. It's also possible to create a custom control more or less from scratch by inheriting directly from the control base class though this is much more difficult.