How to fire a button event from inside a repeater? - asp.net

Question

I have done my research but can't find an efficient way to do the following in VB:
Each button should fire the same event.
The button event saves every repeater item and so each event is not unique.
I am aware I can use the ItemCommand option but have not been able to get it working as desired.
ASP.NET
Inside Repeater Item
<asp:Button ID="btnSave" RunAt="Server"/>
VB.NET
Protected Sub btnSave_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
sqlConn.Open()
For Each Item As RepeaterItem In rpt.Items
...
Next
sqlConn.Close()
End Sub

Answer 1

Edit:
After some research here on SO, I found that others events than ItemCommand are not caught by Asp:Repeater, as FlySwat said on his answer. So you'll need to write your VB.NET code like this:
First, declare the ItemCommand event on your page with something like this:
Protected Sub rpt_ItemCommand(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.RepeaterCommandEventArgs) Handles rpt.ItemCommand
If e.CommandName = "Save" Then
'Save
End If
End Sub
Then, on Asp:Button markup inside the Asp:Repeater, you must set its CommandName property like this:
<Asp:Button ID="btnSave" runat="server" CommandName="Save" UseSubmitBehavior="false"/>
Take a look here to learn more about the UseSubmitBehavior.
Try it.

Answer 2

When the button is inside a Repeater template, you need to add OnClick event, you can add event on ItemDataBound event of the Repeater control.
Your .aspx code will look something like this:
<asp:Repeater ID="Repeater1" runat="server">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Button ID="btnSave" runat="server" Text="SomeText" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
code-behind
void Repeater1_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Item.ItemType == Repeater1.AlternatingItem || e.Item.ItemType == Repeater1.Item)
{
var btn = e.Item.FindControl("btnSave") as Button;
if (btn != null)
{ // adding button event
btn.Click += new EventHandler(btn_Click);
}
}
}
void btn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//write your code
}
in vb.net
Private Sub Repeater1_ItemDataBound(sender As Object, e As RepeaterItemEventArgs)
If e.Item.ItemType = Repeater1.AlternatingItem OrElse e.Item.ItemType = Repeater1.Item Then
Dim btn = TryCast(e.Item.FindControl("btnSave"), Button)
If btn IsNot Nothing Then
' adding button event
btn.Click += New EventHandler(btn_Click)
End If
End If
End Sub
Private Sub btn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
'write your code
End Sub