AdRotator Component

AdRotator Component is a web control used to display an advertisement banner on a Web page.

AdRotator Class

Use the AdRotator control to display a randomly selected advertisement banner on the Web page. The displayed advertisement changes whenever the page refreshes.

Advertisement information is stored in a separate XML file. The XML file allows you to maintain a list of advertisements and their associated attributes. Attributes include the path to an image to display, the URL to link to when the control is clicked, the alternate text to display when the image is not available, a keyword, and the frequency of the advertisement. Information in this file is not validated by the AdRotator control. To prevent ads from executing malicious scripts, you should always check the data before releasing it, or accept ad information only from trusted sources.

To secure your advertisement file from unauthorized Internet access, do one or more of the following:

Store it in the App_Data directory, which is configured to deny Internet access for files of any type.
Rename the file with an extension that is not .xml, and map the extension to the HttpForbiddenHandler in Web.config. For more information, see the section in your Machine.config file.

As an alternative to an XML file as the source of data, it is possible to provide advertisement information through a callback event. This event can also be used in combination with the XML file to extend the behavior of the AdRotator control, such as redirecting to another page. See the AdvertisementFile property for additional information on the file format.

Note: When page caching is enabled, an AdRotator control is not cached. A new advertisement is selected whenever the Web page refreshes. A new advertisement is not selected, however, if you provide an event handler for the AdCreated event.

XML Advertisement File Format

The AdRotator control uses a separate XML advertisement file to store the advertisement information, such as the location of the image to display and the URL of the page to link to. The AdvertisementFile property of the AdRotator control specifies the path to this file.

When creating the advertisement file, opening and closing tags mark the beginning and the end of the file, respectively. Opening and closing tags delimit each advertisement. All advertisements are nested between the opening and closing tags. If the file contains multiple tags, only the first set of tags in the file will be parsed by the AdRotator control. All other tags will be ignored.

The data elements for each advertisement are nested between the opening and closing tags. Although certain data elements are predefined (such as ImageUrl and NavigateUrl), you can place custom elements between the tags. These elements will be read by the AdRotator control when it parses the file. The information is then passed to the AdCreated event in the AdProperties dictionary property.

The following table lists the data elements that are predefined for the XML advertisement file.

Element	Description
ImageUrl	The absolute or relative URL to an image file (optional).
NavigateUrl	The URL of a page to link to if the user clicks the ad (optional). Note: If this element is not set, the HRef property is not rendered on the anchor tag.
Height	The height of the image, in pixels (optional).
Width	The width of the image, in pixels (optional).
AlternateText	The text display in place of the image when the image specified by the ImageUrl property is not available (optional). In some browsers, this text also appears as a ToolTip for the advertisement.
Keyword	A category for the advertisement (for example, "computers") that you can filter by (optional).
Impressions	A number that indicates the importance of the ad in the schedule of rotation relative to the other ads in the file (optional). The larger the number, the more often the ad is displayed. The total of all values in the XML file cannot exceed 2,047,999,999. If it does, the AdRotator control throws a run-time exception.

XML advertisement file Syntax

<Advertisements>  
  <Ad>  
    <ImageUrl>  
      URL of image to display for Advertisement #1  
    </ImageUrl>  
    <NavigateUrl>  
      URL of page to link to for Advertisement #1  
    </NavigateUrl>  
    <AlternateText>  
      Text to show as a ToolTip for Advertisement #1  
    </AlternateText>  
    <Keyword>  
      Keyword used to filter for Advertisement #1  
    </Keyword>  
    <Impressions>  
       Relative importance of Advertisement #1  
    </Impressions>  
    <CustomInformation>  
      Custom Data about Advertisement #1  
    </CustomInformation>  
  </Ad>  
</Advertisements>

Declarative Syntax

<asp:AdRotator  
    AccessKey="string"  
    AdvertisementFile="uri"  
    AlternateTextField="string"  
    BackColor="color name|#dddddd"  
    BorderColor="color name|#dddddd"  
    BorderStyle="NotSet|None|Dotted|Dashed|Solid|Double|Groove|Ridge|Inset|Outset"  
    BorderWidth="size"  
    CssClass="string"  
    DataMember="string"  
    DataSource="string"  
    DataSourceID="string"  
    Enabled="True|False"  
    EnableTheming="True|False"  
    EnableViewState="True|False"  
    ForeColor="color name|#dddddd"  
    Height="size"  
    ID="string"  
    ImageUrlField="string"  
    KeywordFilter="string"  
    NavigateUrlField="string"  
    OnAdCreated="AdCreated event handler"  
    OnDataBinding="DataBinding event handler"  
    OnDataBound="DataBound event handler"  
    OnDisposed="Disposed event handler"  
    OnInit="Init event handler"  
    OnLoad="Load event handler"  
    OnPreRender="PreRender event handler"  
    OnUnload="Unload event handler"  
    runat="server"  
    SkinID="string"  
    Style="string"  
    TabIndex="integer"  
    Target="string|_blank|_parent|_search|_self|_top"  
    ToolTip="string"  
    Visible="True|False"  
    Width="size"  
/>

Constructors

Constructor	Description
AdRotator()	Initializes a new instance of the AdRotator class.

Properties

Property	Description
AccessKey	Gets or sets the access key that allows you to quickly navigate to the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
Adapter	Gets the browser-specific adapter for the control. (Inherited from Control)
AdvertisementFile	Gets or sets the path to an XML file that contains advertisement information.
AlternateTextField	Gets or sets a custom data field to use in place of the AlternateText attribute for an advertisement.
AppRelativeTemplateSourceDirectory	Gets or sets the application-relative virtual directory of the Page or UserControl object that contains this control. (Inherited from Control)
Attributes	Gets the collection of arbitrary attributes (for rendering only) that do not correspond to properties on the control. (Inherited from WebControl)
BackColor	Gets or sets the background color of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
BindingContainer	Gets the control that contains this control's data binding. (Inherited from Control)
BorderColor	Gets or sets the border color of the Web control. (Inherited from WebControl)
BorderStyle	Gets or sets the border style of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
BorderWidth	Gets or sets the border width of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
ChildControlsCreated	Gets a value that indicates whether the server control's child controls have been created. (Inherited from Control)
ClientID	Gets the control ID for HTML markup that is generated by ASP.NET. (Inherited from Control)
ClientIDSeparator	Gets a character value representing the separator character used in the ClientID property. (Inherited from Control)
Context	Gets the HttpContext object associated with the server control for the current Web request. (Inherited from Control)
Controls	Gets a ControlCollection object that represents the child controls for a specified server control in the UI hierarchy. (Inherited from Control)
ControlStyle	Gets the style of the Web server control. This property is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
ControlStyleCreated	Gets a value indicating whether a Style object has been created for the ControlStyle property. This property is primarily used by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
CssClass	Gets or sets the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) class rendered by the Web server control on the client. (Inherited from WebControl)
DesignMode	Gets a value indicating whether a control is being used on a design surface. (Inherited from Control)
Enabled	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the Web server control is enabled. (Inherited from WebControl)
EnableTheming	Gets or sets a value indicating whether themes apply to this control. (Inherited from WebControl)
EnableViewState	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the server control persists its view state, and the view state of any child controls it contains, to the requesting client. (Inherited from Control)
Events	Gets a list of event handler delegates for the control. This property is read-only. (Inherited from Control)
Font	Gets the font properties associated with the advertisement banner control.
ForeColor	Gets or sets the foreground color (typically the color of the text) of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
HasAttributes	Gets a value indicating whether the control has attributes set. (Inherited from WebControl)
HasChildViewState	Gets a value indicating whether the current server control's child controls have any saved view-state settings. (Inherited from Control)
Height	Gets or sets the height of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
IControlBuilderAccessor.ControlBuilder	For a description of this member, see ControlBuilder. (Inherited from Control)
IControlDesignerAccessor.UserData	For a description of this member, see UserData. (Inherited from Control)
ID	Gets or sets the programmatic identifier assigned to the server control. (Inherited from Control)
IDataBindingsAccessor.DataBindings	For a description of this member, see DataBindings. (Inherited from Control)
IDataBindingsAccessor.HasDataBindings	For a description of this member, see HasDataBindings. (Inherited from Control)
IdSeparator	Gets the character used to separate control identifiers. (Inherited from Control)
IExpressionsAccessor.Expressions	For a description of this member, see Expressions. (Inherited from Control)
IExpressionsAccessor.HasExpressions	For a description of this member, see HasExpressions. (Inherited from Control)
ImageUrlField	Gets or sets a custom data field to use in place of the ImageUrl attribute for an advertisement.
IsChildControlStateCleared	Gets a value indicating whether controls contained within this control have control state. (Inherited from Control)
IsEnabled	Gets a value indicating whether the control is enabled. (Inherited from WebControl)
IsTrackingViewState	Gets a value that indicates whether the server control is saving changes to its view state. (Inherited from Control)
IsViewStateEnabled	Gets a value indicating whether view state is enabled for this control. (Inherited from Control)
KeywordFilter	Gets or sets a category keyword to filter for specific types of advertisements in the XML advertisement file.
LoadViewStateByID	Gets a value indicating whether the control participates in loading its view state by ID instead of index. (Inherited from Control)
NamingContainer	Gets a reference to the server control's naming container, which creates a unique namespace for differentiating between server controls with the same ID property value. (Inherited from Control)
NavigateUrlField	Gets or sets a custom data field to use in place of the NavigateUrl attribute for an advertisement.
Page	Gets a reference to the Page instance that contains the server control. (Inherited from Control)
Parent	Gets a reference to the server control's parent control in the page control hierarchy. (Inherited from Control)
Site	Gets information about the container that hosts the current control when rendered on a design surface. (Inherited from Control)
SkinID	Gets or sets the skin to apply to the control. (Inherited from WebControl)
Style	Gets a collection of text attributes that will be rendered as a style attribute on the outer tag of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
TabIndex	Gets or sets the tab index of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
TagKey	Gets the HTML tag for the AdRotator control.
TagName	Gets the name of the control tag. This property is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
Target	Gets or sets the name of the browser window or frame that displays the contents of the Web page linked to when the AdRotator control is clicked.
TemplateControl	Gets or sets a reference to the template that contains this control. (Inherited from Control)
TemplateSourceDirectory	Gets the virtual directory of the Page or UserControl that contains the current server control. (Inherited from Control)
ToolTip	Gets or sets the text displayed when the mouse pointer hovers over the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)
UniqueID	Gets the unique, hierarchically qualified identifier for the AdRotator control.
ViewState	Gets a dictionary of state information that allows you to save and restore the view state of a server control across multiple requests for the same page. (Inherited from Control)
ViewStateIgnoresCase	Gets a value that indicates whether the StateBag object is case-insensitive. (Inherited from Control)
Visible	Gets or sets a value that indicates whether a server control is rendered as UI on the page. (Inherited from Control)
Width	Gets or sets the width of the Web server control. (Inherited from WebControl)

Methods

Method	Description
AddAttributesToRender(HtmlTextWriter)	Adds HTML attributes and styles that need to be rendered to the specified HtmlTextWriterTag. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
AddedControl(Control, Int32)	Called after a child control is added to the Controls collection of the Control object. (Inherited from Control)
AddParsedSubObject(Object)	Notifies the server control that an element, either XML or HTML, was parsed, and adds the element to the server control's ControlCollection object. (Inherited from Control)
ApplyStyle(Style)	Copies any nonblank elements of the specified style to the Web control, overwriting any existing style elements of the control. This method is primarily used by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
ApplyStyleSheetSkin(Page)	Applies the style properties defined in the page style sheet to the control. (Inherited from Control)
BuildProfileTree(String, Boolean)	Gathers information about the server control and delivers it to the Trace property to be displayed when tracing is enabled for the page. (Inherited from Control)
ClearChildControlState()	Deletes the control-state information for the server control's child controls. (Inherited from Control)
ClearChildState()	Deletes the view-state and control-state information for all the server control's child controls. (Inherited from Control)
ClearChildViewState()	Deletes the view-state information for all the server control's child controls. (Inherited from Control)
CopyBaseAttributes(WebControl)	Copies the properties not encapsulated by the Style object from the specified Web server control to the Web server control that this method is called from. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
CreateChildControls()	Called by the ASP.NET page framework to notify server controls that use composition-based implementation to create any child controls they contain in preparation for posting back or rendering. (Inherited from Control)
CreateControlStyle()	Creates the style object that is used internally by the WebControl class to implement all style related properties. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
DataBind()	Binds a data source to the invoked server control and all its child controls. (Inherited from Control)
DataBind(Boolean)	Binds a data source to the invoked server control and all its child controls with an option to raise the DataBinding event. (Inherited from Control)
DataBindChildren()	Binds a data source to the server control's child controls. (Inherited from Control)
Dispose()	Enables a server control to perform final clean up before it is released from memory. (Inherited from Control)
EnsureChildControls()	Determines whether the server control contains child controls. If it does not, it creates child controls. (Inherited from Control)
EnsureID()	Creates an identifier for controls that do not have an identifier assigned. (Inherited from Control)
Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object. (Inherited from Object)
FindControl(String)	Searches the current naming container for a server control with the specified id parameter. (Inherited from Control)
FindControl(String, Int32)	Searches the current naming container for a server control with the specified id and an integer, specified in the pathOffset parameter, which aids in the search. You should not override this version of the FindControl method. (Inherited from Control)
Focus()	Sets input focus to a control. (Inherited from Control)
GetDesignModeState()	Gets design-time data for a control. (Inherited from Control)
GetHashCode()	Serves as the default hash function. (Inherited from Object)
GetType()	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object)
HasControls()	Determines if the server control contains any child controls. (Inherited from Control)
HasEvents()	Returns a value indicating whether events are registered for the control or any child controls. (Inherited from Control)
IsLiteralContent()	Determines if the server control holds only literal content. (Inherited from Control)
LoadControlState(Object)	Restores control-state information from a previous page request that was saved by the SaveControlState() method. (Inherited from Control)
MapPathSecure(String)	Retrieves the physical path that a virtual path, either absolute or relative, maps to. (Inherited from Control)
MemberwiseClone()	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object)
MergeStyle(Style)	Copies any nonblank elements of the specified style to the Web control, but will not overwrite any existing style elements of the control. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
OnAdCreated(AdCreatedEventArgs)	Raises the AdCreated event for the AdRotator control.
OnBubbleEvent(Object, EventArgs)	Determines whether the event for the server control is passed up the page's UI server control hierarchy. (Inherited from Control)
OnDataBinding(EventArgs)	Raises the DataBinding event. (Inherited from Control)
OnInit(EventArgs)	Raises the Init event.
OnLoad(EventArgs)	Raises the Load event. (Inherited from Control)
OnPreRender(EventArgs)	Gets the advertisement information for rendering by looking up the file data or calling the user event.
OnUnload(EventArgs)	Raises the Unload event. (Inherited from Control)
OpenFile(String)	Gets a Stream used to read a file. (Inherited from Control)
PerformDataBinding(IEnumerable)	Binds the specified data source to the AdRotator control.
PerformSelect()	Retrieves the advertisement data from the associated data source.
RaiseBubbleEvent(Object, EventArgs)	Assigns any sources of the event and its information to the control's parent. (Inherited from Control)
RemovedControl(Control)	Called after a child control is removed from the Controls collection of the Control object. (Inherited from Control)
Render(HtmlTextWriter)	Displays the AdRotator control on the client.
RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriter)	Renders the HTML opening tag of the control to the specified writer. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter)	Outputs the content of a server control's children to a provided HtmlTextWriter object, which writes the content to be rendered on the client. (Inherited from Control)
RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter)	Renders the contents of the control to the specified writer. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter)	Outputs server control content to a provided HtmlTextWriter object and stores tracing information about the control if tracing is enabled. (Inherited from Control)
RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter, ControlAdapter)	Outputs server control content to a provided HtmlTextWriter object using a provided ControlAdapter object. (Inherited from Control)
RenderEndTag(HtmlTextWriter)	Renders the HTML closing tag of the control into the specified writer. This method is used primarily by control developers. (Inherited from WebControl)
ResolveAdapter()	Gets the control adapter responsible for rendering the specified control. (Inherited from Control)
ResolveClientUrl(String)	Gets a URL that can be used by the browser. (Inherited from Control)
ResolveUrl(String)	Converts a URL into one that is usable on the requesting client. (Inherited from Control)
SaveControlState()	Saves any server control state changes that have occurred since the time the page was posted back to the server. (Inherited from Control)
SaveViewState()	Saves any state that was modified after the TrackViewState() method was invoked. (Inherited from WebControl)
SetDesignModeState(IDictionary)	Sets design-time data for a control. (Inherited from Control)
SetRenderMethodDelegate(RenderMethod)	Assigns an event handler delegate to render the server control and its content into its parent control. (Inherited from Control)
ToString()	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object)
TrackViewState()	Causes the control to track changes to its view state so they can be stored in the object's ViewState property. (Inherited from WebControl)

Events

Event	Description
AdCreated	Occurs once per round trip to the server after the creation of the control, but before the page is rendered.
DataBinding	Occurs when the server control binds to a data source. (Inherited from Control)
Disposed	Occurs when a server control is released from memory, which is the last stage of the server control lifecycle when an ASP.NET page is requested. (Inherited from Control)
Init	Occurs when the server control is initialized, which is the first step in its lifecycle. (Inherited from Control)
Load	Occurs when the server control is loaded into the Page object. (Inherited from Control)
PreRender	Occurs after the Control object is loaded but prior to rendering. (Inherited from Control)
Unload	Occurs when the server control is unloaded from memory. (Inherited from Control)

Explicit Interface Implementations

Explicit Interface Implementation	Description
IAttributeAccessor.GetAttribute(String)	Gets an attribute of the Web control with the specified name. (Inherited from WebControl)
IAttributeAccessor.SetAttribute(String, String)	Sets an attribute of the Web control to the specified name and value. (Inherited from WebControl)
IControlDesignerAccessor.GetDesignModeState()	For a description of this member, see GetDesignModeState(). (Inherited from Control)
IControlDesignerAccessor.SetDesignModeState(IDictionary)	For a description of this member, see SetDesignModeState(IDictionary). (Inherited from Control)
IControlDesignerAccessor.SetOwnerControl(Control)	For a description of this member, see SetOwnerControl(Control). (Inherited from Control)
IParserAccessor.AddParsedSubObject(Object)	For a description of this member, see AddParsedSubObject(Object). (Inherited from Control)

Extension Methods

Extension Method	Description

Remarks

All items in the collections of Session object is available within the scope of entire session for a client in the application.
A Session object with unique Session Identifier is created by the web server automatically when a web page from the application is requested by a client without a Session Identifier or does not already have a session. Therefore a client jumps between pages in the application will have the same Session object and session identifier. The Session object will be destroyed by the server once the session is abandoned or is destroyed.
An object instance of a component can be assigned to an item of a Contents Collection through the Server.CreateObject method with the Set keyword.
And an embedded object can also be assigned to an item of a StaticObjects Collection through the <OBJECT> tag
However, only threading model of objects marked as BOTH can be stored in the Session object, because the session is not locked to a single thread
But all built-in objects cannot be assigned to neither a Content Collection nor a StaticObjects Collection.
Besides, an array can also be assigned to an item of a Contents Collection in the form of a collection, but the elements of the stored array in the Contents Collection cannot be manipulated as an ordinary array directly because the array is stored as a collection.
The methods and properties of ASP Session object can be grouped into
- Setup/Event: Session_OnEnd; Session_OnStart
- Session Control: Abandon; SessionID; Timeout
- Session Setup: CodePage; LCID
- Embedded Object: StaticObjects
- Variable:iable:
  - Add/Set: Contents;
  - Remove: Contents.Remove; Contents.RemoveAll

Source/Reference

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.web.ui.webcontrols.adrotator?redirectedfrom=MSDN&view=netframework-2.0
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/edx4dac3(v=vs.140)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.web.ui.webcontrols?view=netframework-4.8

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