FormView.DataItem Property

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.Web.UI.WebControls

Assembly:: System.Web.dll

Important

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Gets the data item bound to the FormView control.

public:
 virtual property System::Object ^ DataItem { System::Object ^ get(); };

[System.ComponentModel.Browsable(false)]
public virtual object DataItem { get; }

[<System.ComponentModel.Browsable(false)>]
member this.DataItem : obj

Public Overridable ReadOnly Property DataItem As Object

Property Value

Object

An Object that represents the data item bound to the FormView control.

Implements

DataItem

Attributes: BrowsableAttribute

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to use the DataItem property to determine the value of a field in the data item.

<%@ page language="C#" %>
<%@ import namespace="System.Data"%>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<script runat="server">
  
  // To dynamically create a template for a FormView control,
  // you must create a custom template class to represent 
  // the template. This template class represents the item
  // template for a FormView control.
  private sealed class EmployeeTemplate : ITemplate
  {
    
    // When implementing the ITemplate interface, you must
    // implement the InstantiateIn method. The FormView
    // control calls this method to create the template's 
    // content. 
    void ITemplate.InstantiateIn(Control container)
    {
      // Create the child controls contained in the template.
      // For this example, the item template displays the
      // FirstName and LastName fields from the data source.
      // To support data binding, create event handlers 
      // for the DataBinding event of each child child control.
      // The event handler must bind the appropriate value 
      // to the control.
      Label firstNameLabel = new Label();
      firstNameLabel.ID = "FirstNameLabel";
      firstNameLabel.DataBinding += new EventHandler(FirstNameLabel_DataBinding);
      
      LiteralControl lineBreak = new LiteralControl("<br/>");
      
      Label lastNameLabel = new Label();
      lastNameLabel.ID = "LastNameLabel";
      lastNameLabel.DataBinding += new EventHandler(LastNameLabel_DataBinding);

      // Add the controls to the Controls collection of the 
      // container control.
      container.Controls.Add(firstNameLabel);
      container.Controls.Add(lineBreak);
      container.Controls.Add(lastNameLabel);
    }
    
    // This event handler binds the value of the FirstName field
    // to the FirstNameLabel Label control displayed in the template.
    private void FirstNameLabel_DataBinding(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
      // Use the sender parameter to retrieve the Label control
      // being bound to data.
      Label firstNameLabelControl = (Label)sender;

      // Retrieve the value to bind to the Label control. First,
      // use the NamingContainer property to retrieve the parent 
      // control of the Label control. In this example, the parent 
      // control is the FormView control.
      FormView formViewContainer = (FormView)firstNameLabelControl.NamingContainer;
      
      // Get the data item bound to the FormView control.
      DataRowView rowView = (DataRowView)formViewContainer.DataItem;

      // Use the data item to retrieve the value of the FirstName field
      // Set the Text property of the Label control to this value.        
      firstNameLabelControl.Text = rowView["FirstName"].ToString();
    }

    // This event handler binds the value of the LastName field
    // to the LastNameLabel Label control displayed in the template.
    private void LastNameLabel_DataBinding(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
      // Use the sender parameter to retrieve the Label control
      // being bound to data.
      Label lastNameLabelControl = (Label)sender;

      // Retrieve the value to bind to the Label control. First,
      // use the NamingContainer property to retrieve the parent 
      // control of the Label control. In this example, the parent 
      // control is the FormView control.
      FormView formViewContainer = (FormView)lastNameLabelControl.NamingContainer;

      // Get the data item bound to the FormView control.
      DataRowView rowView = (DataRowView)formViewContainer.DataItem;

      // Use the data item to retrieve the value of the LastName field.
      // Set the Text property of the Label control to this value.         
      lastNameLabelControl.Text = rowView["LastName"].ToString();
    }
    
  }

  void Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  {
    
    // Create a new FormView object.
    FormView employeesFormView = new FormView();
    
    // Set the FormView object's properties.
    employeesFormView.ID = "EmployeesFormView";
    employeesFormView.DataSourceID = "EmployeeSource";
    employeesFormView.AllowPaging = true;
    employeesFormView.PagerSettings.Mode = PagerButtons.NextPrevious;
    employeesFormView.HeaderText = "Employee Name";
    employeesFormView.RowStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightBlue;
    employeesFormView.HeaderStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Silver;
    employeesFormView.PagerStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Silver;

    // Create the dynamic template using the custom template class.
    employeesFormView.ItemTemplate = new EmployeeTemplate();

    // Add the FormView object to the Controls collection
    // of the PlaceHolder control.
    DetailsViewPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(employeesFormView);

  }

</script>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > 
  <head runat="server">
    <title>FormView Constructor Example</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
        
      <h3>FormView Constructor Example</h3>
        
      <!-- Use a PlaceHolder control as the container for the -->
      <!-- dynamically generated FormView control.            -->       
      <asp:PlaceHolder id="DetailsViewPlaceHolder"
        runat="server"/>
            
      <!-- This example uses Microsoft SQL Server and connects  -->
      <!-- to the Northwind sample database. Use an ASP.NET     -->
      <!-- expression to retrieve the connection string value   -->
      <!-- from the Web.config file.                            -->
      <asp:sqldatasource id="EmployeeSource"
        selectcommand="Select [EmployeeID], [LastName], [FirstName] From [Employees]"
        connectionstring="<%$ ConnectionStrings:NorthWindConnectionString%>" 
        runat="server"/>
          
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

<%@ page language="VB" %>
<%@ import namespace="System.Data"%>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<script runat="server">
  
  ' To dynamically create a template for a FormView control,
  ' you must create a custom template class to represent 
  ' the template. This template class represents the item
  ' template for a FormView control.
  Private NotInheritable Class EmployeeTemplate
    Implements ITemplate
    
    ' When implementing the ITemplate interface, you must
    ' implement the InstantiateIn method. The FormView
    ' control calls this method to create the template's 
    ' content. 
    Sub InstantiateIn(ByVal container As Control) Implements ITemplate.InstantiateIn
    
      ' Create the child controls contained in the template.
      ' For this example, the item template displays the
      ' FirstName and LastName fields from the data source.
      ' To support data binding, create event handlers 
      ' for the DataBinding event of each child child control.
      ' The event handler must bind the appropriate value 
      ' to the control.
      Dim firstNameLabel As New Label()
      firstNameLabel.ID = "FirstNameLabel"
      AddHandler firstNameLabel.DataBinding, AddressOf FirstNameLabel_DataBinding
      
      Dim lineBreak As LiteralControl = New LiteralControl("<br/>")
      
      Dim lastNameLabel As New Label()
      lastNameLabel.ID = "LastNameLabel"
      AddHandler lastNameLabel.DataBinding, AddressOf LastNameLabel_DataBinding

      ' Add the controls to the Controls collection of the 
      ' container control.
      container.Controls.Add(firstNameLabel)
      container.Controls.Add(lineBreak)
      container.Controls.Add(lastNameLabel)
    End Sub
    
    ' This event handler binds the value of the FirstName field
    ' to the FirstNameLabel Label control displayed in the template.
    Private Sub FirstNameLabel_DataBinding(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

      ' Use the sender parameter to retrieve the Label control
      ' being bound to data.
      Dim firstNameLabelControl As Label = CType(sender, Label)

      ' Retrieve the value to bind to the Label control. First,
      ' use the NamingContainer property to retrieve the parent 
      ' control of the Label control. In this example, the parent 
      ' control is the FormView control.
      Dim formViewContainer As FormView = CType(firstNameLabelControl.NamingContainer, FormView)
      
      ' Get the data item bound to the FormView control.
      Dim rowView As DataRowView = CType(formViewContainer.DataItem, DataRowView)

      ' Use the data item to retrieve the value of the FirstName field
      ' Set the Text property of the Label control to this value.        
      firstNameLabelControl.Text = rowView("FirstName").ToString()
  
    End Sub

    ' This event handler binds the value of the LastName field
    ' to the LastNameLabel Label control displayed in the template.
    Private Sub LastNameLabel_DataBinding(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

      ' Use the sender parameter to retrieve the Label control
      ' being bound to data.
      Dim lastNameLabelControl As Label = CType(sender, Label)

      ' Retrieve the value to bind to the Label control. First,
      ' use the NamingContainer property to retrieve the parent 
      ' control of the Label control. In this example, the parent 
      ' control is the FormView control.
      Dim formViewContainer As FormView = CType(lastNameLabelControl.NamingContainer, FormView)

      ' Get the data item bound to the FormView control.
      Dim rowView As DataRowView = CType(formViewContainer.DataItem, DataRowView)

      ' Use the data item to retrieve the value of the LastName field
      ' Set the Text property of the Label control to this value.         
      lastNameLabelControl.Text = rowView("LastName").ToString()
    
    End Sub

  End Class
  
  Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
      
    ' Create a new FormView object.
    Dim employeesFormView As New FormView()
    
    ' Set the FormView object's properties.
    employeesFormView.ID = "EmployeesFormView"
    employeesFormView.DataSourceID = "EmployeeSource"
    employeesFormView.AllowPaging = True
    employeesFormView.PagerSettings.Mode = PagerButtons.NextPrevious
    employeesFormView.HeaderText = "Employee Name"
    employeesFormView.RowStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightBlue
    employeesFormView.HeaderStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Silver
    employeesFormView.PagerStyle.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Silver

    ' Create the dynamic template using the custom template class.
    employeesFormView.ItemTemplate = New EmployeeTemplate()

    ' Add the FormView object to the Controls collection
    ' of the PlaceHolder control.
    DetailsViewPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(employeesFormView)

  End Sub

</script>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > 
  <head runat="server">
    <title>FormView Constructor Example</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
        
      <h3>FormView Constructor Example</h3>
        
      <!-- Use a PlaceHolder control as the container for the -->
      <!-- dynamically generated FormView control.            -->       
      <asp:PlaceHolder id="DetailsViewPlaceHolder"
        runat="server"/>
            
      <!-- This example uses Microsoft SQL Server and connects  -->
      <!-- to the Northwind sample database. Use an ASP.NET     -->
      <!-- expression to retrieve the connection string value   -->
      <!-- from the Web.config file.                            -->
      <asp:sqldatasource id="EmployeeSource"
        selectcommand="Select [EmployeeID], [LastName], [FirstName] From [Employees]"
        connectionstring="<%$ ConnectionStrings:NorthWindConnectionString%>" 
        runat="server"/>
          
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Remarks

Use the DataItem property to access the data item bound to the FormView control. The data item is often used to access the field values of the current record directly. The type of the Object returned by this property varies depending on the data source. For example, when a SqlDataSource control is bound to the FormView control, a DataRowView object is returned.

Note

This property is available only after data binding has occurred. Before data binding occurs, this property returns null. This property is also not applicable when the FormView control is in insert mode and returns null.

Applies to