Setting the Free Form dialog box options

The Free Form option (referred to as a template column in ASP.NET) lets you create combinations of HTML text and server controls to design a custom layout for a column. The controls within a free-form column can be data-bound. Free-form columns give you great flexibility in defining the layout and functionality of the grid contents, because you have complete control over how the data is displayed and what happens when users interact with rows in the grid.

To set the Free Form dialog box options:

1. The Title text box lets you insert a title into the grid’s header or footer rows. (Displaying a header or footer row for a DataGrid is controlled by the DataGrid Property inspector.)
2. Select a template to use with the Free Form DataGrid from the Template pop-up menu.
3. Select a DataSet column to populate the grid column by clicking the Add Data Field button.

   The Add Data Field dialog box appears. After selecting a DataSet column in this dialog box and clicking OK, Dreamweaver adds an appropriate data-binding expression to the Contents text box.

4. Format the Free Form column by enclosing the binding expression with HTML tags in the Contents text box.
5. Select a data type from the Submit As pop-up menu.
6. Click OK.

Related topics

• Adding an ASP.NET DataGrid to a page
• Modifying a DataGrid or DataList object
• Setting the ASP.NET DataGrid Property inspector options