My solution is a bit different from Paul's requirements.
In the file DynamicData\PageTemplates\Insert.aspx.cs I made edits to show my defaults for new records in any table having the shared fields. The user can still put in something else on insert.
public partial class Insert : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected MetaTable table;
protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
table = DynamicDataRouteHandler.GetRequestMetaTable(Context);
var values = table.GetColumnValuesFromRoute(Context);
// set default values for meta data of new records across all tables
// unknown values will be skipped
values.Add("creationDate", DateTime.Now);
values.Add("modificationDate", DateTime.Now);
values.Add("modificationUser", HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name.Substring(
HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name.IndexOf("\\") + 1));
FormView1.SetMetaTable(table, values);
DetailsDataSource.EntityTypeFilter = table.EntityType.Name;
}
[...]
}
For editing records with existing values, I made changes to some DynamicData\FieldTemplates files.
public partial class Text_EditField : System.Web.DynamicData.FieldTemplateUserControl
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// ...
// show current user as value for the modification user upon editing records
if (Column.Name == "modificationUser")
{
FieldValue = Page.User.Identity.Name.Substring(Page.User.Identity.Name.IndexOf("\\") + 1);
}
}
[...]
}
It will show the updated value on the page for editing, but after updating the changes won't persist! An additional change to the Edit page template is required:
protected void FormView1_ItemUpdating(object sender, FormViewUpdateEventArgs e)
{
// make sure a meta data update is always triggered by setting a different old value
// required for the edit components
if (e.OldValues.Contains("modificationUser"))
{
e.OldValues["modificationUser"] = string.Empty;
e.OldValues["modificationDate"] = DateTime.MinValue;
}
}