asp.net datalist data binding

Question

I am using an asp.net/c# datalist.

<asp:DataList ID="EquipmentList" RepeatColumns="5".....

I have the following line inside the <ItemTemplate> tag:

<a href=""><%# {I want to put something here but dont know how} %> </a>

In my code behind I have a NameValueCollection variable that contains all strings:
NameValueCollection myListofStrings = //calling a method here that populates myListofStrings
this.EquipmentList.DataSource = myListofStrings;
this.EquipmentList.DataBind();

Please can someone tell me how to bind this NameValueCollection variable to my datalist tag in the markup? Also additional knowledge on how to bind a datalist to a dataset, sqldatareader, IList<> would be helpful. Thannks

thank you all. but for now what do I write inside the tag if lets say i HAVE to bind to a NameValueCollection variable like in my case above. It has no properties or columns so I cannot write anything like Eval("propertyname") which is the answer that most here gave me. It is just like I am binding it to an array of strings. So what do I write now?

Answer 1

<%# %> is the databinding syntax.

You usually do something like:

<%# Eval("PropertyName") %>

This defines a one-way binding to a property/column named PropertyName in your data source.

In your case I think you can do either Name or Value since those are the public properties of NameValueCollection.

You can also do a two way data binding using:

<%# Bind("PropertyName") %>

Answer 2

Please can someone tell me how to bind this NameValueCollection variable to my datalist tag in the markup? Also additional knowledge on how to bind a datalist to a dataset, sqldatareader, IList<> would be helpful. Thannks

I declare my List<ComplexObject> in my codebehind (say ... in a method attached to an OnClick) and then I will databind it like so:

private void DoDataGetAndBind() {
  List<ComplexObject> complexObjects = _dataAccessLayer.GetComplexObjectsMethod(parameter1, parameter2, sortParameter);
  datalist1.DataSource = complexObjects;
  datalist1.DataBind();
}

Now please understand how simplified my code is, I didn't put any error checks (like, if the database dropped or you returned no results) and I didn't define the parameters or the ComplexObject (because I presume you understand how those things work).

In the .aspx of the page, I would then define inside the ItemTemplate of the DataList control fields where I <%# Eval('ComplexObjectFieldOneName') %> or <%# Eval('ComplexObjectFieldTwoName') %> (etc).

So given a

public class ComplexObject {
  public string MyFirstField {get;set;}
  public string MySecondField {get;set;}
}

I would define the fields in the .aspx as <%# Eval('MyFirstField') %> and <%# Eval('MySecondField') %>

Ok, that was rather long winded, so I hope it really did help.

---

Another point: You can also use ObjectDataSources (or the derived classes like SqlDataSource, etc) and do all the linking on the .aspx, assuming properly built object classes. Something to consider.

Answer 3

Bind the datalist source to the data view or datatable.

Datalist.Datasource = DataView;

   <ITEMTEMPLATE>
    <ASP:LABEL id="lblField" runat="server" Font-Bold="true">
    <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "DATAITEMNAME") %>
    </ASP:LABEL>
    </ITEMTEMPLATE>