Add table column names automatically in an ASP ListView?

Question

I have an ASP ListView which I am using to display some pivoted information (across years) in a table. Currently I have the ListView templates defined as:

<LayoutTemplate>
  <table id="listViewTable" class="tableData">
    <tr class="rowHeader">
        <td style="text-align: left;">Rank / Equivalent Rank</td>
        <td>2004</td>
        <td>2005</td>
        <td>2006</td>
        <td>2007</td>
        <td>2008</td>
        <td>2009</td>
        <td>2010</td>
    </tr>
    <tr id="itemPlaceholder" runat="server"></tr>
  </table>
</LayoutTemplate>
<ItemTemplate>
  <%#addListViewSectionHeaderRow()%>
    <%#addListViewRankValueCell()%>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2004"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2005"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2006"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2007"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2008"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2009"))%></td>
    <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval("2010"))%></td>
  </tr>
</ItemTemplate>

As you can see in the Eval() statements, the columns in the query behind the scenes already selects the years as they are displayed on the page.

How do I just display the column names from the query in the LayoutTemplate instead of the hard-coded values I have? I thought this would be easy to find in documentation somewhere, but I can't find anything...but maybe I'm not looking in the right place...

Thanks!

---

Edit: I guess I also have a problem with defining the actual years in the Eval() statements. I want to get this as automatic as possible so when, for example, 2011 data appears, the page reflects only 2005-2011 years. Maybe I'm doing something fundamentally wrong with that goal in mind?

Answer 1

If you're not dead-set on using a ListView, you could instead use a GridView setting the AutoGenerateColumns property to true. This way your results table will automatically pick up all the available columns from your results set.

Answer 2

ListView or GridView, this should be pretty easy. As long as you always want to base this on the current year, you can do something like this:

<asp:ListView ID="ListView1" runat="server">
        <LayoutTemplate> 
            <table id="listViewTable" class="tableData"> 
            <tr class="rowHeader"> 
                <td style="text-align: left;">Rank / Equivalent Rank</td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-6).Year%></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-5).Year%></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-4).Year%></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-3).Year%></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-2).Year%></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.AddYears(-1).Year %></td> 
                <td><%= DateTime.Today.Year %></td> 
            </tr> 
            <tr id="itemPlaceholder" runat="server"></tr> 
            </table> 
        </LayoutTemplate> 
        <ItemTemplate> 
            <tr>
                <%#addListViewSectionHeaderRow()%> 
                <%#addListViewRankValueCell()%> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-6).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-5).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-4).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-3).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-2).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.AddYears(-1).Year.ToString()))%></td> 
                <td class="cellNumeric"><%#formatNumber(Eval(DateTime.Today.Year.ToString()))%></td> 
            </tr> 
        </ItemTemplate>
    </asp:ListView>

Really, all I'm doing is telling the form to use current year minus X. That way, the years change automatically based on when the form is viewed.

I wasn't able to test this, so forgive my typo's, if any.