[ZRonZ]

I have a working app in VB that I want to make as a web page for the company network that includes:

		If lbxSearchResults.Items.Count = 0 Then
			m_FileName = lbxFiles.SelectedItem
		Else
			m_FileName = lbxSearchResults.SelectedItem
		End If

I'm having trouble converting with the above segment of VB code to ASP. In ASP.NET it's giving me "Value of type 'System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItem' cannot be converted to 'String'.

If I change it to

		If lbxSearchResults.Items.Count = 0 Then
			m_FileName = lbxFiles.SelectedItem.text
		Else
			m_FileName = lbxSearchResults.SelectedItem.text
		End If

I get a "NullReferenceException was unhandled by user code Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

Can anyone guide me to figure out the ASP.Net equivalent to the VB code?

[eclipsed4utoo]

that should work fine.

This is an example from the MSDN:
http://msdn.microsof...y/z4d7ktzs.aspx

Sub SubmitBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
		If ListBox1.SelectedIndex > - 1 Then
			Label1.Text = "You chose: " & ListBox1.SelectedItem.Text
		End If
End Sub

[Jayman]

Are you certain that you have an item selected in either or both ListBoxes?

In order to access the SelectedItem property, an item must be selected in that ListBox. Otherwise you will get the NullReferenceException.

[ZRonZ]

Here's the code as it stands now. I threw in the two msgboxes to see what what happening with item selection (duh, should have done that long ago, sorry). While an item has been clicked and is highlighted, both msgboxes come back with a selectedindex of -1. Is there some code that is required to recognize the selected/highlighted item?

	Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
		lbxSearchResults.Items.Clear()
		lbxMSDSFiles.Items.Clear()
		GetDirectoryContents()
	End Sub

	Protected Sub GetDirectoryContents()
		Dim dDir As New DirectoryInfo(sDIR)
		Dim fFileSystemInfo As FileSystemInfo

		For Each fFileSystemInfo In dDir.GetFileSystemInfos
			lbxMSDSFiles.Items.Add(fFileSystemInfo.Name)
		Next
	End Sub

	Protected Sub btnSelectMSDS_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSelectMSDS.Click
		MsgBox(lbxMSDSFiles.SelectedIndex)
		MsgBox(lbxSearchResults.SelectedIndex)
		If lbxSearchResults.Items.Count = 0 Then
			MsgBox(lbxMSDSFiles.SelectedItem.Text)
			m_FileName = lbxMSDSFiles.SelectedItem.Text
		Else
			m_FileName = lbxSearchResults.SelectedItem.Text
		End If

		Dim myFile As String = sDIR & m_FileName

		Dim fi = New FileInfo(myFile)

		Response.Clear()
		Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
		Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=" & fi.Name)
		Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", fi.Length.ToString())
		Response.WriteFile(fi.FullName)
		Response.End()

	End Sub

Thanks

[Jayman]

The problem is in your Page_Load event. It is important to keep in mind that each time your page does a Postback, the code in the Page_Load event will run. And since you are clearing the selected item from each ListBox, nothing is selected when button click event is executed. The button event will run after the Page_Load event has executed.

To prevent it from resetting your values, check if the page is posting back, if it is then don't run the code in the Page_Load event.

Example:

	Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
		If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
			lbxSearchResults.Items.Clear()
			lbxMSDSFiles.Items.Clear()
			GetDirectoryContents()
		End If
	End Sub

[ZRonZ]

Jayman, on 6 Jan, 2010 - 12:16 PM, said:

The problem is in your Page_Load event. It is important to keep in mind that each time your page does a Postback, the code in the Page_Load event will run. And since you are clearing the selected item from each ListBox, nothing is selected when button click event is executed. The button event will run after the Page_Load event has executed.

To prevent it from resetting your values, check if the page is posting back, if it is then don't run the code in the Page_Load event.

Thanks Jayman. I redid the page_load event code and now it's working - sort of. The original reason I was clearing the data from the listbox was that it was adding the data again each time I pulled up the .pdf file and came back to the default page. That interesting feature has now returned. I'll play with that and see what I can figure out.

One "last" question: Is there any way to force the .pdf to open in a new window?

[Jayman]

You are going to need to use Javascript window.open to create a new window. Just pass the file name of the PDF via a session variable to the new page and then in the page load event put the code to write the file to the Response object.

[ZRonZ]

Jayman, on 7 Jan, 2010 - 07:19 AM, said:

You are going to need to use Javascript window.open to create a new window. Just pass the file name of the PDF via a session variable to the new page and then in the page load event put the code to write the file to the Response object.

Thanks again Jayman.

I'll have to check into using Javascript when I get some time. I've never tried it, and I don't know anything about it. I did find a way to write a workaround. It's a pretty absurd way of doing it but the user won't know the difference and, in the end, I guess that's the important thing.