How to: Bind ASPxScheduler Resources to ObjectDataSource

• Dec 17, 2020
• 6 minutes to read

This document demonstrates how to add Resources to the ASPxScheduler control. There are two methods to achieve this. The simplest one is to create a Resource object instance and add it directly to the ASPxResourceStorage. This method, however, has a disadvantage - you will need to use the DataBind method of the ASPxScheduler to create a new resource collection from the resource data source after the application is initialized. Thus, the performance of your application will suffer from additional data requests. The preferred method is to implement another ObjectDataSource component for resources in the same manner as it was done for appointments in the previous How to: Bind ASPxScheduler Appointment to ObjectDataSource topic.

The steps to implement this component are as follows.

Step 1. Create a Class to Store Resource Data

1. Open the project containing the ASPxScheduler and the Appointments object data source, which was created in the previous How to: Bind ASPxScheduler Appointment to ObjectDataSource topic.
2. In the App_Code folder, create a new Class template, and name it CustomResource.
3. Define the class that will contain the necessary properties for the resources in the ASPxSchedulerStorage.Resources. The minimum requirement is to provide a unique identifier and a caption value (the name of the resource).

4. Create a list of CustomResource elements, and implement a method for the Select operation.

   CustomResource.cs

   using System.Collections;
   [Serializable]
   public class CustomResource
   {
       object resourceID;
       string name;
   
       public CustomResource() {
       }
   
       public CustomResource(object ID, string nameValue) {
           this.resourceID = ID;
           this.name = nameValue;
       }
   
   
       public string Name { get { return name; } set { name = value; } }
       public object ResourceID { get { return resourceID; } set { resourceID = value; } }
   }
   
   [Serializable]
   public class CustomResourceList : List<CustomResource>
   {
   }
   
   public class CustomResourceDataSource
   {
       CustomResourceList events;
       public CustomResourceDataSource(CustomResourceList events) {
           if (events == null)
               DevExpress.XtraScheduler.Native.Exceptions.ThrowArgumentNullException("resources");
           this.events = events;
       }
       public CustomResourceDataSource()
           : this(new CustomResourceList()) {
       }
       public CustomResourceList Resources { get { return events; } set { events = value; } }
       public int Count { get { return Resources.Count; } }
   
       public IEnumerable SelectMethodHandler() {
           CustomResourceList result = new CustomResourceList();
           result.AddRange(Resources);
           return result;
       }
   }
   

   CustomResource.vb

   Imports System.Collections
   <Serializable> _
   Public Class CustomResource
       Private resourceID_Renamed As Object
       Private name_Renamed As String
   
       Public Sub New()
       End Sub
   
       Public Sub New(ByVal ID As Object, ByVal nameValue As String)
           Me.resourceID_Renamed = ID
           Me.name_Renamed = nameValue
       End Sub
   
   
       Public Property Name() As String
           Get
               Return name_Renamed
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As String)
               name_Renamed = value
           End Set
       End Property
       Public Property ResourceID() As Object
           Get
               Return resourceID_Renamed
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As Object)
               resourceID_Renamed = value
           End Set
       End Property
   End Class
   
   <Serializable> _
   Public Class CustomResourceList
       Inherits List(Of CustomResource)
   End Class
   
   Public Class CustomResourceDataSource
       Private events As CustomResourceList
       Public Sub New(ByVal events As CustomResourceList)
           If events Is Nothing Then
               DevExpress.XtraScheduler.Native.Exceptions.ThrowArgumentNullException("resources")
           End If
           Me.events = events
       End Sub
       Public Sub New()
           Me.New(New CustomResourceList())
       End Sub
       Public Property Resources() As CustomResourceList
           Get
               Return events
           End Get
           Set(ByVal value As CustomResourceList)
               events = value
           End Set
       End Property
       Public ReadOnly Property Count() As Integer
           Get
               Return Resources.Count
           End Get
       End Property
   
       Public Function SelectMethodHandler() As IEnumerable
           Dim result As New CustomResourceList()
           result.AddRange(Resources)
           Return result
       End Function
   End Class
   

5. To associate an appointment with a resource, modify the CustomEvent class in the following way. Create a resourceID field of the Object type and implement the ResourceID property.

Step 2. Create a Resources Object Data Source

1. Switch to the Design View of the Default.aspx page, and drag the ObjectDataSource control from the Data Toolbox window to the page. Change the ID property of the control to resourceDataSource.

2. Click the control’s smart tag, and click the Configure Data Source item.

   

3. In the Configure Data Source window, select CustomResourceDataSource as the business object. Click Next.

   

4. In the next panel, select the SelectMethodHandler method from the Choose a method drop-down list. Leave the methods in the other tabs empty, since they are not required, and not implemented in the CustomResourceDataSource class.

   

5. Next, bind the ASPxScheduler to the ObjectDataSource control by setting its ResourceDataSourceID property to resourceDataSource in the Property window.

Step 3. Set Up the Resource Mappings

Next, set up the mapping for the Resource field in the ASPxSchedulerStorage. To do this, locate the < dx: ASPxScheduler > opening and closing tags in the Default.aspx file. Correct your code so that it resembles the following.

Default.aspx

<dx:ASPxScheduler ID="ASPxScheduler1" runat="server" AppointmentDataSourceID="appointmentDataSource"  ClientIDMode="AutoID" 
    OnAppointmentRowInserted="ASPxScheduler1_AppointmentRowInserted" ResourceDataSourceID="resourceDataSource" GroupType="Resource">     
                                             <Storage>
        <Appointments>
            <Mappings AppointmentId="Id" Start="StartTime" End="EndTime" Subject="Subject" AllDay="AllDay"
                Description="Description" Label="Label" Location="Location" RecurrenceInfo="RecurrenceInfo"
                ReminderInfo="ReminderInfo" Status="Status" Type="EventType" ResourceId ="ResourceID" />
        </Appointments>
        <Resources>
            <Mappings ResourceId="ResourceID" Caption ="Name"/>
            </Resources>
         </Storage>
</dx:ASPxScheduler>

Step 4. Create a class to fill the Resources Data Source

1. In the App_Code folder, create a new Class template, and name it ResourceHelper. The FillObjectDataSourceWithResources method demonstrates how to use an array of strings to populate the Resources data source.

   ResourceHelper.cs

   using DevExpress.Web.ASPxScheduler;
   using DevExpress.XtraScheduler;
   public class ResourceHelper
   {
       public static string[] Users = new string[] { "Sarah Brighton", "Ryan Fischer", "Andrew Miller" };
       public static string[] Usernames = new string[] { "sbrighton", "rfischer", "amiller" };
   
       public static void FillObjectDataSourceWithResources(CustomResourceList list, int count) {
               for (int i = 1; i <= count; i++)
               {
                   list.Add(new CustomResource(Usernames[i-1], Users[i - 1]));
               }
       }
   }
   

   ResourceHelper.vb

   Imports DevExpress.Web.ASPxScheduler
   Imports DevExpress.XtraScheduler
   Public Class ResourceHelper
       Public Shared Users() As String = { "Sarah Brighton", "Ryan Fischer", "Andrew Miller" }
       Public Shared Usernames() As String = { "sbrighton", "rfischer", "amiller" }
   
       Public Shared Sub FillObjectDataSourceWithResources(ByVal list As CustomResourceList, ByVal count As Integer)
               For i As Integer = 1 To count
                   list.Add(New CustomResource(Usernames(i-1), Users(i - 1)))
               Next i
       End Sub
   End Class
   

2. To group your appointments in the scheduler by resource, set the ASPxScheduler.GroupType property to Resource in the Property window.

Step 5. Implement methods for data binding

In the Default.aspx code file, add the ObjectDataSource’s ObjectCreated event handler, which will create an instance of the custom data source (CustomResourceDataSource), and initialize it with the CustomResourceList object.

Default.aspx.cs

CustomResourceDataSource objectResourceInstance;
protected void resourceDataSource_ObjectCreated(object sender, ObjectDataSourceEventArgs e)
{
    this.objectResourceInstance = new CustomResourceDataSource(GetCustomResources());
    e.ObjectInstance = this.objectResourceInstance;

}

CustomResourceList GetCustomResources()
{
    CustomResourceList resources = Session["CustomResourceListData"] as CustomResourceList;
    if (resources == null) {
        resources = new CustomResourceList();
        ResourceHelper.FillObjectDataSourceWithResources(resources, 3);
        Session["CustomResourceListData"] = resources;
    }
    return resources;
}

Default.aspx.vb

Private objectResourceInstance As CustomResourceDataSource
Protected Sub resourceDataSource_ObjectCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ObjectDataSourceEventArgs)
    Me.objectResourceInstance = New CustomResourceDataSource(GetCustomResources())
    e.ObjectInstance = Me.objectResourceInstance

End Sub

Private Function GetCustomResources() As CustomResourceList
    Dim resources As CustomResourceList = TryCast(Session("CustomResourceListData"), CustomResourceList)
    If resources Is Nothing Then
        resources = New CustomResourceList()
        ResourceHelper.FillObjectDataSourceWithResources(resources, 3)
        Session("CustomResourceListData") = resources
    End If
    Return resources
End Function

Result.

Run the project. The image below shows the scheduler at runtime.