Getting text from labels inside gridview cells (VB) - asp.net

Question

VB
I've got a gridview in which I need to use template columns, therefore instead of being able to retrieve text straight from the cell, it's inside of a label. All the labels have different ids as well so I would like to programmatically retrieve the label inside a cell then look at the text inside the label.
This is what I have got at the moment, however it never manages to return the text and instead returns the empty string ("").
Public Function ReturnLabelText(ByVal c As TableCell) As String
For Each lb In c.Controls
If lb.[GetType]() = GetType(Label) Then
Return CType(lb, Label).Text()
End If
Next
Return ""
End Function
The function is called on this line:
doc.ReplaceText("#" + gridView.HeaderRow.Cells(i).Text.ToLower, ReturnLabelText(row.Cells(i)).Replace(" ", "").Replace(vbCr, ""))

Answer 1

You have to use GridViewRow.FindControl("ControlID") to get the reference of the Label.
So for example, if you want to loop loop all rows:
For Each row As GridViewRow In Me.GridView1.Rows
Dim label = DirectCast(row.FindControl("LabelID"), Label)
Dim text As String = label.Text
' ... '
Next
But if you want to set it's text on databinding i'd use the GridView.RowDataBound event instead:
Protected Sub GridView1_RowDataBound(sender As Object, e As GridViewRowEventArgs) Handles GridView1.RowDataBound
Select Case e.Row.RowType
Case DataControlRowType.DataRow
Dim label = DirectCast(e.Row.FindControl("LabelID"), Label)
Dim text As String = label.Text
' ... '
End Select
End Sub
You can even get the DataSource of each row via e.Row.DataItem to access all fields.
If you have a TableCell and you want to get all labels in it you could also use OfType:
Dim firstLabel = c.Controls.OfType(Of Label)().FirstOrDefault()
If firstLabel IsNot Nothing Then Return firstLabel.Text
Return Nothing