LinkButton alternative? (Need it to function like a normal link)

LinkButtons are giving me headaches. I thought, foolishly, that they allowed you to create programmatic links. Obviously this is not the case (by design), as they have behave nothing like normal links - you can't see your address when you hover over them, you can't open them in a new tab, etc.

Is there an alternative in .NET that actually lets you programmatically create a true HTML link? The abilit开发者_开发百科y to open multiple items in tabs is sort of a requirement. I've looked into styling a Button to look like a link, but it still behaves like a button, so this won't work either. Any ideas?

EDIT: Sorry, forgot: can't use HyperLink, as I need the ability to send CommandArguments, set OnClick events, etc. It needs to function as a button still.

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The HyperLink control.

Set the href using the NavigateUrl property, and tagets (for new windows/tabs) can be set using the Target property

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Edit to respond to question edit

I'm not really sure what you're after - your question is asking for a control that "functions like a normal link", so that clicking on it can open in a new window/tab, but your edit says you want to be submitting CommandArguments and using the OnClick event - so not a normal link.

The problem you've got here is that the PostBack processing of command arguments and OnClick events happens at the server, but the "open in a new window" happens on the client (using the "target" attribute of the anchor tag, or possibly with JavaScript) - these two don't really mix all that well.

A couple of options spring to mind:

1. Use a LinkButton, and if you handle a PostBack, output some JavaScript to open the new page in a new window.
2. Use a HyperLink control with a target and set the "CommandArguments" as a querystring element to the link - you can then process that on the catching page that opens in the new tab.

You can also cause JavaScript to fire onClick using the Attributes collection:

// Create a hyperlink
HyperLink link = new HyperLink();
link.NavigateUrl = "/somepage.aspx?arg=First";
link.Target = "_blank"; // Open in a new window

// Add a client side onClick event calling someMethod function with a reference
// to the link, and making sure the link processing stops.
link.Attributes.Add("onClick", "someMethod(this);return false");

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You mean HyperLink?

Of course you could always use the a tag in HTML.

EDIT: When you hover over a link, the browser displays the target. When you hover over a LinkButton, the browser displays the javascript call that will execute the function server side. I'd say the best you can do is display the target page in the ToolTip, since I think it would be pretty tough to display it in the browser.

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If you use a LinkButton you will be able to set the command arguments and the onclick method in your code behind. By doing so, you will no longer be able to open the link in a new window as you have found out.

One of the reasons that you cannot open a LinkButton in a new window is because it is doing a postback to the same page.

I think you either have to use a HyperLink control and pass the command argument as a query string parameter or use a LinkButton control and loose the open in a new tab functionality.

If you pass the argument as a query string parameter, then you can check for that param in page load and still call your onclick function which you were going to use for your LinkButton.

Hope this is clear and it helps you.