How to add a CSS style sheet reference to all Web forms in a Visual C# .NET Web project

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This article was previously published under Q320985

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to create a custom Web Form template so that you can include a cascading style sheet (CSS) reference in all Web Forms in a Visual C# .NET Web project.

Typically, Web site designers must maintain a consistent look-and-feel on every page for a particular Web site. This article describes how to create a custom Web Form template that contains a link to a CSS style sheet. When you create all Web Forms in an application with this template, you provide an easy way to maintain a consistent design across the site.

The technique that is described in this article is based on the concept of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Templates. For more information, see the "REFERENCES" section of this article.

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Edit WebProjectItems.vsdir file

In Notepad, open the WebProjectItems.vsdir file from the following folder:
In Visual Studio .NET 2002:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\VC#\CSharpProjectItems\WebProjectItems

In Visual Studio .NET 2003:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\VC#\CSharpProjectItems\WebProjectItems

Add the following text to the end of the file:

..\MyCustomWebFormWiz.vsz|{FAE04EC1-301F-11d3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}|My Custom
Form|10|#2263|{FAE04EC1-301F-11d3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}|4534|0|WebForm.aspx

Save the file.

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Create custom Web form wizard

Open the following folder:
In Visual Studio .NET 2002:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\VC#\CSharpProjectItems

In Visual Studio .NET 2003:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\VC#\CSharpProjectItems
Copy the CSharpAddWebFormWiz.vsz file to the MyCustomWebFormWiz.vsz file.
In Notepad, open the MyCustomWebFormWiz.vsz file, and then change the Param value as follows:
Param="WIZARD_NAME = MyCustomWebFormWiz"
Save the file.

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Create custom Web form template

Open the following folder:
In Visual Studio .NET 2002:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\VC#\VC#Wizards

In Visual Studio .NET 2003:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\VC#\VC#Wizards
Copy CSharpAddWebFormWiz to a new directory that is named MyCustomWebFormWiz.
Open the following folder:
In Visual Studio .NET 2002:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\VC#\VC#Wizards\MyCustomWebFormWiz\Templates\1033

In Visual Studio .NET 2003:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\VC#\VC#Wizards\MyCustomWebFormWiz\Templates\1033
In Notepad, open the WebForm1.aspx file, and then add the following link reference (which appears indented) between the <meta name=vs_targetSchema> tag and the closing <head> tag as follows:
<meta name=vs_targetSchema content="[!output DEFAULT_TARGET_SCHEMA]"> <link id="link1" rel="stylesheet" href="myStyleSheet.css" type="text/css" runat="server" /> </head>
Save the file.

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Test link reference

Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
Click Visual C# Projects under Project Types, and then click ASP.NET Web Application under Templates.
On the Project menu, click Add New Item to add a style sheet to the project, and then name the style sheet myStyleSheet.css.
Set the background color of the body element to blue for testing purposes.
On the Project menu, click Add New Item.
Click My Custom Form under Templates, name the file, and then click Open to add a custom Web Form to the application. Notice that the style sheet is applied automatically to the new Web Form and that the background is blue.

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REFERENCES

For more information about Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Templates, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Enterprise Templates for Distributed Applications
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vsent7/html/vxoriEnterpriseTemplates.asp (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vsent7/html/vxoriEnterpriseTemplates.asp)

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