Using Panel or PlaceHolder

Question

What is the difference between  lt asp Panel  gt  and  lt asp PlaceHolder  gt  in ASP NET   When should you use one over the other

User · Accepted Answer

A panel expands to a span  or a div   with it s content within it   A placeholder is just that  a placeholder that s replaced by whatever you put in it

User · Answer

The Placeholder does not render any tags for itself  so it is great for grouping content without the overhead of outer HTML tags   The Panel does have outer HTML tags but does have some cool extra properties    BackImageUrl  Gets Sets the background image s URL for the panel HorizontalAlign  Gets Sets the horizontal alignment of the parent s  contents Wrap  Gets Sets whether the panel s content wraps   There is a good article at startvbnet here

User · Answer

The Placeholder does not render any tags for itself  so it is great for grouping content without the overhead of outer HTML tags   The Panel does have outer HTML tags but does have some cool extra properties    BackImageUrl  Gets Sets the background image s URL for the panel HorizontalAlign  Gets Sets the horizontal alignment of the parent s  contents Wrap  Gets Sets whether the panel s content wraps   There is a good article at startvbnet here

User · Answer

PlaceHolder control Use the PlaceHolder control as a container to store server controls that are dynamically added to the Web page  The PlaceHolder control does not produce any visible output and is used only as a container for other controls on the Web page  You can use the Control Controls collection to add  insert  or remove a control in the PlaceHolder control  Panel control The Panel control is a container for other controls  It is especially useful when you want to generate controls programmatically  hide show a group of controls  or localize a group of controls  The Direction property is useful for localizing a Panel control s content to display text for languages that are written from right to left  such as Arabic or Hebrew  The Panel control provides several properties that allow you to customize the behavior and display of its contents  Use the BackImageUrl property to display a custom image for the Panel control  Use the ScrollBars property to specify scroll bars for the control  Small differences when rendering HTML  a PlaceHolder control will render nothing  but Panel control will render as a  lt div gt   More information at ASP NET Forums

User · Answer

PlaceHolder control Use the PlaceHolder control as a container to store server controls that are dynamically added to the Web page  The PlaceHolder control does not produce any visible output and is used only as a container for other controls on the Web page  You can use the Control Controls collection to add  insert  or remove a control in the PlaceHolder control  Panel control The Panel control is a container for other controls  It is especially useful when you want to generate controls programmatically  hide show a group of controls  or localize a group of controls  The Direction property is useful for localizing a Panel control s content to display text for languages that are written from right to left  such as Arabic or Hebrew  The Panel control provides several properties that allow you to customize the behavior and display of its contents  Use the BackImageUrl property to display a custom image for the Panel control  Use the ScrollBars property to specify scroll bars for the control  Small differences when rendering HTML  a PlaceHolder control will render nothing  but Panel control will render as a  lt div gt   More information at ASP NET Forums

User · Answer

The Placeholder does not render any tags for itself  so it is great for grouping content without the overhead of outer HTML tags   The Panel does have outer HTML tags but does have some cool extra properties    BackImageUrl  Gets Sets the background image s URL for the panel HorizontalAlign  Gets Sets the horizontal alignment of the parent s  contents Wrap  Gets Sets whether the panel s content wraps   There is a good article at startvbnet here

User · Answer

The Placeholder does not render any tags for itself  so it is great for grouping content without the overhead of outer HTML tags   The Panel does have outer HTML tags but does have some cool extra properties    BackImageUrl  Gets Sets the background image s URL for the panel HorizontalAlign  Gets Sets the horizontal alignment of the parent s  contents Wrap  Gets Sets whether the panel s content wraps   There is a good article at startvbnet here

User · Answer

As mentioned in other answers  the Panel generates a  lt div gt  in HTML  while the PlaceHolder does not  But there are a lot more reasons why you could choose either one    Why a PlaceHolder   Since it generates no tag of it s own you can use it safely inside other element that cannot contain a  lt div gt   for example    lt table gt       lt tr gt           lt td gt Row 1 lt  td gt       lt  tr gt       lt asp PlaceHolder ID  PlaceHolder1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp PlaceHolder gt   lt  table gt    You can also use a PlaceHolder to control the Visibility of a group of Controls without wrapping it in a  lt div gt    lt asp PlaceHolder ID  PlaceHolder1  runat  server  Visible  false  gt       lt asp Label ID  Label1  runat  server  Text  Label  gt  lt  asp Label gt       lt br   gt       lt asp TextBox ID  TextBox1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp TextBox gt   lt  asp PlaceHolder gt    Why a Panel  It generates it s own  lt div gt  and can also be used to wrap a group of Contols  But a Panel has a lot more properties that can be useful to format it s content     lt asp Panel ID  Panel1  runat  server  Font-Bold  true      BackColor  Green  ForeColor  Red  Width  200      Height  200  BorderColor  Black  BorderStyle  Dotted  gt      Red text on a green background with a black dotted border   lt  asp Panel gt    But the most useful feature is the DefaultButton property  When the ID matches a Button in the Panel it will trigger a Form Post with Validation when enter is pressed inside a TextBox  Now a user can submit the Form without pressing the Button    lt asp Panel ID  Panel1  runat  server  DefaultButton  Button1  gt       lt asp TextBox ID  TextBox1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp TextBox gt       lt br   gt       lt asp RequiredFieldValidator ID  RequiredFieldValidator1  runat  server          ErrorMessage  Input is required  ValidationGroup  myValGroup          Display  Dynamic  ControlToValidate  TextBox1  gt  lt  asp RequiredFieldValidator gt       lt br   gt       lt asp Button ID  Button1  runat  server  Text  Button  ValidationGroup  myValGroup    gt   lt  asp Panel gt    Try the above snippet by pressing enter inside TextBox1

User · Answer

I weird bug  in visual studio 2010  if you put controls inside a Placeholder it does not render them in design view mode   This is especially true for Hidenfields and Empty labels   I would love to use placeholders instead of panels but I hate the fact I cant put other controls inside placeholders at design time in the GUI

User · Answer

PlaceHolder control Use the PlaceHolder control as a container to store server controls that are dynamically added to the Web page  The PlaceHolder control does not produce any visible output and is used only as a container for other controls on the Web page  You can use the Control Controls collection to add  insert  or remove a control in the PlaceHolder control  Panel control The Panel control is a container for other controls  It is especially useful when you want to generate controls programmatically  hide show a group of controls  or localize a group of controls  The Direction property is useful for localizing a Panel control s content to display text for languages that are written from right to left  such as Arabic or Hebrew  The Panel control provides several properties that allow you to customize the behavior and display of its contents  Use the BackImageUrl property to display a custom image for the Panel control  Use the ScrollBars property to specify scroll bars for the control  Small differences when rendering HTML  a PlaceHolder control will render nothing  but Panel control will render as a  lt div gt   More information at ASP NET Forums

User · Answer

PlaceHolder control Use the PlaceHolder control as a container to store server controls that are dynamically added to the Web page  The PlaceHolder control does not produce any visible output and is used only as a container for other controls on the Web page  You can use the Control Controls collection to add  insert  or remove a control in the PlaceHolder control  Panel control The Panel control is a container for other controls  It is especially useful when you want to generate controls programmatically  hide show a group of controls  or localize a group of controls  The Direction property is useful for localizing a Panel control s content to display text for languages that are written from right to left  such as Arabic or Hebrew  The Panel control provides several properties that allow you to customize the behavior and display of its contents  Use the BackImageUrl property to display a custom image for the Panel control  Use the ScrollBars property to specify scroll bars for the control  Small differences when rendering HTML  a PlaceHolder control will render nothing  but Panel control will render as a  lt div gt   More information at ASP NET Forums

User · Answer

As mentioned in other answers  the Panel generates a  lt div gt  in HTML  while the PlaceHolder does not  But there are a lot more reasons why you could choose either one    Why a PlaceHolder   Since it generates no tag of it s own you can use it safely inside other element that cannot contain a  lt div gt   for example    lt table gt       lt tr gt           lt td gt Row 1 lt  td gt       lt  tr gt       lt asp PlaceHolder ID  PlaceHolder1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp PlaceHolder gt   lt  table gt    You can also use a PlaceHolder to control the Visibility of a group of Controls without wrapping it in a  lt div gt    lt asp PlaceHolder ID  PlaceHolder1  runat  server  Visible  false  gt       lt asp Label ID  Label1  runat  server  Text  Label  gt  lt  asp Label gt       lt br   gt       lt asp TextBox ID  TextBox1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp TextBox gt   lt  asp PlaceHolder gt    Why a Panel  It generates it s own  lt div gt  and can also be used to wrap a group of Contols  But a Panel has a lot more properties that can be useful to format it s content     lt asp Panel ID  Panel1  runat  server  Font-Bold  true      BackColor  Green  ForeColor  Red  Width  200      Height  200  BorderColor  Black  BorderStyle  Dotted  gt      Red text on a green background with a black dotted border   lt  asp Panel gt    But the most useful feature is the DefaultButton property  When the ID matches a Button in the Panel it will trigger a Form Post with Validation when enter is pressed inside a TextBox  Now a user can submit the Form without pressing the Button    lt asp Panel ID  Panel1  runat  server  DefaultButton  Button1  gt       lt asp TextBox ID  TextBox1  runat  server  gt  lt  asp TextBox gt       lt br   gt       lt asp RequiredFieldValidator ID  RequiredFieldValidator1  runat  server          ErrorMessage  Input is required  ValidationGroup  myValGroup          Display  Dynamic  ControlToValidate  TextBox1  gt  lt  asp RequiredFieldValidator gt       lt br   gt       lt asp Button ID  Button1  runat  server  Text  Button  ValidationGroup  myValGroup    gt   lt  asp Panel gt    Try the above snippet by pressing enter inside TextBox1

User · Answer

I weird bug  in visual studio 2010  if you put controls inside a Placeholder it does not render them in design view mode   This is especially true for Hidenfields and Empty labels   I would love to use placeholders instead of panels but I hate the fact I cant put other controls inside placeholders at design time in the GUI

[asp.net] Using Panel or PlaceHolder

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