Page refresh - Alternative to using frames

  • Thread starter Thread starter RJN
  • Start date Start date
R

RJN

Hi

I've a SharePoint web site, with left navigation, top menu and footer
links. All these come from a master page. The contentplace holder for
the main content area(PlaceHolderMain) gets filled by the page content
defined using page layouts.

Currently when I click on the left navigation, the whole page gets
posted back and causes a refresh of the complete page. Is there a way to
refresh only the content area? One way is to use frames and replace the
frame in the content area with the page url. Since frames are not
supported on all browsers, this option is ruled out.

Is there any alternative to using frames?

Thanks
 
Hi

I've a SharePoint web site, with left navigation, top menu and footer
links. All these come from a master page. The contentplace holder for
the main content area(PlaceHolderMain) gets filled by the page content
defined using page layouts.

Currently when I click on the left navigation, the whole page gets
posted back and causes a refresh of the complete page. Is there a way to
refresh only the content area? One way is to use frames and replace the
frame in the content area with the page url. Since frames are not
supported on all browsers, this option is ruled out.

Is there any alternative to using frames?

Thanks

*** Sent via Developersdexhttp://www.developersdex.com***
Click to expand...

1) What browser which may work with SharePoint does not support
frames?
2) Only IE (v. 6-8) is fully supported by SharePoint
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx
 
RJN said:
Hi

I've a SharePoint web site, with left navigation, top menu and footer
links. All these come from a master page. The contentplace holder for
the main content area(PlaceHolderMain) gets filled by the page content
defined using page layouts.

Currently when I click on the left navigation, the whole page gets
posted back and causes a refresh of the complete page.
Click to expand...

A master page is, underneath the hood, a user control. It does not
appear this way, necessarily, as you attach a master rather than drag
and drop it on the page. It is a container control that contains page
content when rendered.

As such, you will see the entire page refreshed.
Is there a way to
refresh only the content area?
Click to expand...

Outside of frames, including an iFrame, you end up with an asynchronous
transport, like AJAX.With AJAX, you can refresh part of a page and not
the whole thing.

The problem is you do not want your entire application to refresh using
AJAX, as it would make the application overly complex. In addition, you
have mentioned using SharePoint, which adds another layer of complexity
to the problem.
One way is to use frames and replace the
frame in the content area with the page url. Since frames are not
supported on all browsers, this option is ruled out.
Click to expand...

What browser does not support frames? Perhaps some mobile browser, but
frames have been around for a long time and all of the current browsers
(and most of their ancestors) support frames. \

Personally, I prefer an iFrame to a full frameset, or AJAX on a page by
page basis. The first will probably solve your problem, the second ends
up too complex for the main nav menu.


--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************
 
Thanks for the replies. Suppose I use a iframe, how do I replace the
page in that iframe? Is it through javascript? I need to pass
querystring as parameters to the page.

One drawback I see with iframe is that the scrollbar will appear inisde
the iframe instead of the browser scrollbar, when the page content is
long.
 
RJN said:
Thanks for the replies. Suppose I use a iframe, how do I replace the
page in that iframe? Is it through javascript? I need to pass
querystring as parameters to the page.

One drawback I see with iframe is that the scrollbar will appear inisde
the iframe instead of the browser scrollbar, when the page content is
long.
Click to expand...

Every approach will have some drawbacks. The iFrame avoids the annoyance of
the frameset (esp. when you crunch the browser size down), but it has some
drawbacks of its own, like you mention.

As for filling the iFrame, JavaScript does make things easier.


--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************
 
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