Get MenuItem in dynamically created Menu in asp.net

Question

Hi All,
I am using Menu control in asp.net. I am creating Menu control using xml databinding.
Here is the xml file;

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <Items Text="">
      <Item Text="" ImgPath="./../images/home.gif"  Url="" Value="Home"   />
      <Item Text="" ImgPath="" Url="" Value="Time Entry" >
        <Item Text="" Value="Our Clients" ImgPath="./../images/oc.gif" Url="~/OurClients.aspx" />
      </Item>
      <Item Text="" ImgPath="" Value="Admin" Url="">
        <Item Text="" Value="About Us" ImgPath="./../images/AboutUs.gif" Url ="~/AboutUs.aspx" />
      </Item>
    </Items>

For creating menu, in .aspx page, I am using;

<asp:Menu ID="Menu1" runat="server" Orientation="Horizontal" DisappearAfter="10"
    Width="300px" DataSourceID="XmlDataSource1" StaticEnableDefaultPopOutImage="False" OnMenuItemClick="Menu1_MenuItemClick">
    <StaticMenuItemStyle CssClass="MenuItem" />
    <DynamicHoverStyle CssClass="SubMenuItemHover" />
    <DynamicMenuItemStyle CssClass="SubMenuItem" />
    <StaticHoverStyle CssClass="MenuItemHover" />
    <DataBindings>
        <asp:MenuItemBinding DataMember="Item" NavigateUrlField="Url" TextField="Text" ImageUrlField="ImgPath" ValueField="Value" />
    </DataBindings>
</asp:Menu>

Now, I am trying to get MenuItem from this Menu control. For that, on page load, I am using ;

 MenuItem mn = Menu1.FindItem("Home");

But, it is returning null.
Please help me to get the solution.
Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

When you declaratively set a controls DataSourceID (i.e. set it in the aspx), the control is not databound until the page's prerender event. Try call the menu's databind method before you call its FindItem method.

You could also wait until the PreRenderComplete event is fired and run your code there, as long as that isn't too late.

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