ASP.NET linkbutton visible property issue

Question

Hi I'm using a public variable called IsAdmin in the code behind of an aspx page.

 public partial class _news : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    public bool IsAdmin = false;
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    if (User.Identity.Name.Contains("admin"))
    {
        IsAdmin = true;
    }
    else
    {
        IsAdmin = false;
    }
 }

And i use the property Visible='<%#IsAdmin%>' to assign to panels which i want to show if the user is an admin in the aspx design of the page. Strangely it works for the linkbuttons i've put on the repeater.

 <asp:Panel ID="Panel1" runat="server" Visible='<%#IsAdmin%>'>
 <asp:LinkButton ID="LinkButton2" runat="server" PostBackUrl='<%# "news_edit.aspx?     Action=edit&id=" + Convert.ToString( Eval("news_id")) %>Edit</asp:LinkButton>

 <asp:LinkButton ID="LinkButton3" runat="server" PostBackUrl='<%# "news.aspx?Action=delete&id=" + Convert.ToString( Eval("news_id")) %>'>Delete</asp:LinkButton>
        </asp:Panel>

and it works fine, however outside the repeater i've put another linkbutton without a panel

 <asp:LinkButton ID="LinkButton4" runat="server" PostBackUrl="~/news_edit.aspx?action=new" Visible='<%#IsAdmin%>'>Add New Item</asp:LinkButton>

but the visible property doesn't work on it! I tried putting it inside a panel too and setting it's visible property but that too didn't work.

So i have following doubts

1)what is the issue? 2)what is the technical name when we use references like '<%#IsAdmin%>' in the design page 3)Does page load happen before page is rendered of after page is rendered?

Thanks

Answer 1

<%# %> is the syntax used for accessing databound fields. Since you are likely databinding the Repeater control at some point, these expressions will be evaluated.

Since you are likely not calling databind on the Panel and the Linkbuttons outside of the Repeater, these expressions will not be processed. You can probably change them to something like

<%= IsAdmin.ToString() %>

and get the result you want.

Check this great blog entry for more information on the differences.

Also, Page Load happens before the page is rendered. Rendering the page is the last thing that happens in the ASP.Net page lifecycle.