How to: Display a Detail View Directly in Edit Mode in ASP.NET Applications

• Jan 14, 2021
• 2 minutes to read

In ASP.NET applications, when clicking a record in a List View, a Detail View is displayed in view mode. However, the SwitchToEditMode Action is available, and you can use it to reload the Detail View in edit mode. This is the default behavior. In individual scenarios, you may need to invoke a Detail View directly in edit mode. This topic demonstrates how to omit the display in view mode for a particular object type.

To set a Detail View’s display mode, use the DetailView.ViewEditMode property. To change this property value, implement a View Controller and override the OnActivated method.

C#

using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Editors;
//...
public class SwitchToEditModeModificationsController : ViewController<DetailView> {
    protected override void OnActivated() {
        base.OnActivated();
        if (View.ViewEditMode == ViewEditMode.View) {
            View.ViewEditMode = ViewEditMode.Edit;
            ObjectSpace.SetModified(null);
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.ExpressApp.Editors
'...
Public Class SwitchToEditModeModificationsController
    Inherits ViewController(Of DetailView)
    Protected Overrides Sub OnActivated()
        MyBase.OnActivated()
        If View.ViewEditMode = ViewEditMode.View Then
            View.ViewEditMode = ViewEditMode.Edit
            ObjectSpace.SetModified(Nothing)
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

To accomplish the implemented code when the current View represents an object of a particular type, set the ViewController.TargetObjectType property to this type in the View Controller’s constructor. As an example, assume that the Controller is intended for Person type objects.

C#

public SwitchToEditModeModificationsController() {
    TargetObjectType = typeof(Person);
}

VB.NET

Public Sub New()
    TargetObjectType = GetType(Person)
End Sub

If you now run the application, you will see that the Person Detail View is always displayed in edit mode.

Note

The View Controller demonstrated in this topic should be implemented in an ASP.NET module. In Windows Forms applications, Detail Views are always editable.