Fill DetailsView.DataSource with anonymous type

Question

I have an asp:DetailsView with several columns, e.g. Foo, Bar.

I want to fill it with an anonymous type, i.e.:

gridView.DataSource = new { Foo = 1, Bar = "2" };
gridVeew.DataBind();

But getting next error:

Data source is an invalid type. It must be either an IListSource, IEnumerable, or IDataSource.

How can I do what I want?

Answer 1

The DataSource property expects a collection. The value you are assigning is not a collection.

You will have to create a collection and put the anonymous typed instance into that collection. The following should probably work (though I've not tested it with DataSource):

gridView.DataSource = new[] {new {Foo = 1, Bar = "2"}};

Answer 2

You should have a collection containing your anonymous type.
Look at this example I found in this blog

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var Customer = new { FirstName = "John", LastName = "Doe" };
    var customerList = MakeList(Customer);

    customerList.Add(new { FirstName = "Bill", LastName = "Smith" });
    //then you can bind this collection
    gridView.DataSource = customerList;
    gridVeew.DataBind();
}

public static List<T> MakeList<T>(T itemOftype)
{
    List<T> newList = new List<T>();
    return newList;
}      

Answer 3

Another solution:

var list = from item in myList 
        select new { Foo = item.Foo, Bar = item.Bar.ToString() };
gridView.DataSource = list;
gridView.DataBind();

Which assumes you have a myList of IEnumerable<T>