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Reusing TXTextControl Instances in Bootstrap Tabs

The TX Text Control document editor is created as a singleton instance in HTML pages. This article shows how to reuse an instance in order to use the document editor in tabs or tab lists.

Reusing TXTextControl Instances in Bootstrap Tabs

The TX Text Control document editor available for ASP.NET MVC and Angular is initialized as a singleton instance on an HTML page. Similar to MVC partial views or routes in Angular, usually the editor must be removed from the DOM and recreated at the new location. But some layouts require a fast initialization process and a fluent switch between instances such as in tab views:

TX Text Control in Bootstrap Tabs

Bootstrap Tab Pages

For these cases, the fully created editor can be moved within the DOM into a new active tab page. Consider the following Bootstrap layout:

<ul class="nav nav-tabs" id="myTab" role="tablist">
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button disabled class="nav-link active" id="doc1-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#doc1" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="doc1" aria-selected="true">Document 1</button>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button disabled class="nav-link" id="doc2-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#doc2" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="doc2" aria-selected="false">Document 2</button>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
        <button disabled class="nav-link" id="doc3-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#doc3" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="doc3" aria-selected="false">Document 3</button>
    </li>
</ul>

<div class="tab-content" id="myTabContent">
    <div style="height: 800px" class="tab-pane fade show active" id="doc1" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="doc1-tab">
        
        <!-- Document Editor DIV - this DIV will be moved within DOM -->
        <div style="height: 100%" id="tx-editor">@Html.TXTextControl().TextControl(settings => {
            settings.Dock = TXTextControl.Web.DockStyle.Fill;
        }).Render()</div>
        <!-- *** Document Editor DIV *** -->

    </div>
    <div style="height: 800px" class="tab-pane fade" id="doc2" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="doc2-tab"></div>
    <div style="height: 800px" class="tab-pane fade" id="doc3" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="doc3-tab"></div>
</div>

The editor is encapsulated into an additional DIV element with the id tx-editor. On switching the active tab pages, this complete element is moved to the new active tab page. Additionally, the content of the current instance is saved to the local storage and restored when switching back. In the following JavaScript (jQuery) code, two events are attached to the tab list view:

  • hide.bs.tab: Occurs when the previous tab is about to be hidden.
  • show.bs.tab: Occurs when the newly active tab is about to be shown.
$(document).ready(function(){

    // event for previous tab
    $(".nav-tabs button").on("hide.bs.tab", function(){

        // previous tab name
        var oldTab = $(this).attr("aria-controls");

        // save the document to local storage
        TXTextControl.saveDocument(TXTextControl.StreamType.InternalUnicodeFormat,
                                   function (e) {
            localStorage.setItem('tx-document_' + oldTab, e.data);
        });

    });

    // event for current tab
    $(".nav-tabs button").on("show.bs.tab", function(){

        // current tab name
        var newTab = $(this).attr("aria-controls");

        // get the previously stored document from local storage
        const document = localStorage.getItem('tx-document_' + newTab);

        // if document is not null, load the document
        // and move the editorin DOM to new tab location
        if (document !== null) {

            TXTextControl.loadDocument(TXTextControl.StreamType.InternalUnicodeFormat,
                                       document, function() {
                $("#tx-editor").appendTo("#" + newTab);
            });

        }
        // if document is null, clear the Text Control and move in DOM
        else {
            TXTextControl.resetContents(function() {
                $("#tx-editor").appendTo("#" + newTab);
            });
        }

    });

});

Saving the Document

For the previous tab, the document is saved using the saveDocument method and stored in a local storage variable with the associated tab name (aria-controls).

TXTextControl.saveDocument(TXTextControl.StreamType.InternalUnicodeFormat, function (e) {
    localStorage.setItem('tx-document_' + oldTab, e.data);
});

Loading the Document

For the current tab, the local storage is checked for a previously stored document. If a document has been found, it is loaded into the document editor using the loadDocument method. After that, the editor element is moved to the new tab page location in the DOM using the appendTo method:

TXTextControl.loadDocument(TXTextControl.StreamType.InternalUnicodeFormat, 
                           document, function() {
    $("#tx-editor").appendTo("#" + newTab);
});

If no document has been stored for the currently active tab, the content is reset and the element is moved:

TXTextControl.resetContents(function() {
    $("#tx-editor").appendTo("#" + newTab);
});

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Requirements for this sample

  • TX Text Control .NET Server (trial)
  • Visual Studio 2022

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