Get fields within a panel within a repeater on button click - asp.net

Question

I have an item repeater that displays items that have been bid on by a user. The items are contained within a panel as they contain form elements to update the bid for each item individually. What I would like is for the user to be able to submit the individual item to be updated and for me to know which item they are trying to update so I can ignore all other fields when processing the update.
Right now, my repeater looks like:
<asp:Repeater ID="itemRepeater" runat="server" onitemdatabound="itemRepeater_DataBound">
<ItemTemplate>
<!-- Auction Item MASTER-->
<asp:Panel id="pnlDefaultButton" runat="server" DefaultButton="absenteeBtnBid">
<div style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate(0px, 236px);" class="item auction_item firearm user_item isotope-item">
<div class="item_image">
<asp:HyperLink ID="item_img_link" runat="server" Visible="False" EnableViewState="False">
<asp:Image ID="item_img" runat="server" Visible="False" EnableViewState="False" Width="224" />
</asp:HyperLink>
</div>
<div class="item_overlay">
<div class="item_buttons">
Following
<asp:Label ID="absenteeBidLabel" runat="server" Text="" CssClass="absenteePlaceBidLabel" AssociatedControlID="absenteeBid" style="font-size:11px;" Visible="false">
<asp:TextBox ID="absenteeBid" runat="server" Wrap="False" CssClass="absenteePlaceBid" placeholder="Enter Bid" />
</asp:Label>
<asp:TextBox ID="absenteeBidId" runat="server" Wrap="False" CssClass="timedPlaceBid" style="display:none;" Visible="false" />
<asp:TextBox ID="absenteeBidClose" runat="server" Wrap="False" CssClass="timedPlaceBid" style="display:none;" Visible="false" />
<asp:TextBox ID="absenteeBidSaleId" runat="server" Wrap="False" CssClass="timedPlaceBid" style="display:none;" Visible="false" />
<asp:Button runat="server" ID="absenteeBtnBid" cssClass="startbidding_button edit_button" OnClick="onclick_absenteeBid" Text="Edit Bid" />
<div class="bid_options">
Live Bid
Bid by Phone
<asp:HyperLink ID="bid_withdraw" runat="server" CssClass="withdrawbid"></asp:HyperLink>
</div>
</div>
<table class="item_bidstatus" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="190">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="status_label" width="50%">Bids:</td>
<td class="status_value" width="50%"><asp:Label ID="bid_count" runat="server" Text="0" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="status_label">My Top Bid:</td>
<td class="status_value"><asp:Literal ID="bid_amount" runat="server"></asp:Literal></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="status_label">Your Status:</td>
<td class="status_value status_low">LOW BID</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="item_description">
<h5>
<asp:HyperLink ID="labelLot" runat="server">Lot #<%# Eval("item_lot")%></asp:HyperLink> - <asp:HyperLink ID="item_title" runat="server"><%# Eval("item_title")%></asp:HyperLink>
</h5>
<asp:Label ID="labelEst" runat="server" Visible="false"></asp:Label>
<p class="item_details"><asp:Label ID="labelDesc" runat="server"><%# Eval("item_desc")%></asp:Label></p>
> Item Details
</div>
</div>
<table class="item_footer" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="item_category"><asp:HyperLink ID="item_sale" runat="server"></asp:HyperLink></div></td>
<td><div class="item_daysleft">Bid left: <asp:Literal ID="bid_time" runat="server"></asp:Literal></div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</asp:Panel>
<!-- /Auction Item MASTER-->
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
So my question would be how do I make the method onclick_absenteeBid only look at the form fields within the panel where the submission was made? Or am I even going about this the right way at all using a panel within a repeater?

Answer 1

Thre's nothing wrong with this approach. You have to find the container panel in the button's click event and find controls inside it. Here's how you can do it:
protected void onclick_absenteeBid(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Panel pnl = ((Button) sender).Parent as Panel;
if (pnl != null)
{
//Access controls inside panel here like this:
TextBox absenteeBidId = pnl.FindControl("absenteeBidId") as TextBox;
if(absenteeBidId != null)
{
string myAbsenteeBidId = absenteeBidId.Text;
}
//Access Repeater Item
RepeaterItem itm = pnl.NamingContainer as RepeaterItem;
if (itm != null)
{
// Do stuff
}
}
}