Find nested gridview in user defined function - asp.net

Question

I'm having a problem populating a child gridview using a function I define. I keep getting the error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object". What am I doing wrong? Am I using the FindControl function incorrectly? It doesn't seem to find the child gridview.
Sub RecordsByZip()
Dim DBConn As New SqlConnection(Application("DBConn"))
Dim gv1 As GridView
gv1 = grdTotal
Dim gv2 As GridView
gv2 = DirectCast(gv1.FindControl("grdChild"), GridView)
Dim ZipCode = lbZip.SelectedItem
For Each ZipCode In lbZip.Items
If ZipCode.Selected = True Then
Dim cmdZip As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand("spPICAInsertTotals2", DBConn)
cmdZip.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
strZip = ZipCode.Text
strUser = Session("User")
Dim Zip As New SqlParameter("#Zip", SqlDbType.VarChar)
Zip.Value = strZip
cmdZip.Parameters.Add(Zip)
Dim UserID As New SqlParameter("#UserID", SqlDbType.Int)
UserID.Value = strUser
cmdZip.Parameters.Add(UserID)
DBConn.Open()
gv1.DataSource = cmdZip.ExecuteReader
gv1.DataBind()
gv1.Visible = True
DBConn.Close()
End If
Next
btnExport.Visible = True
lblmsg.Visible = False
' Dim DBConn = New SqlConnection(Application("DBConn"))
Dim cmdCounty As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand("spPICAInsertTotals", DBConn)
cmdCounty.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
'Dim gv As GridView = TryCast(e.Row.FindControl("grdChild"), GridView)
strUser = Session("User")
Dim UserID2 As New SqlParameter("#UserID", SqlDbType.Int)
UserID2.Value = strUser
cmdCounty.Parameters.Add(UserID2)
DBConn.Open()
gv2.DataSource = cmdCounty.ExecuteReader
gv2.DataBind()
gv2.Visible = True
DBConn.Close()
btnExport.Visible = True
lblmsg.Visible = False
lblInstructions.Visible = False
End Sub

Answer 1

First of all . . .
Just as a disclaimer, I normally use repeater controls instead of gridview controls.
But this may help you . . .
I can tell you that with repeater controls, if you want to find a nested repeater then you must look for them inside the item of the parent repeater to which they belong. Essentially, what you are trying to do with the code above, is find grdChild when there might actually be several grdChild (it is a nested gridview, after all). I'd be willing to bet this is where you're object reference error is occurring.
In other words, if you want to find the nested repeater with the ID nestedRepeater, and you know it is located in the first item of your main repeater (which in this case I've assigned to the myRepeater variable), you can do this:
Dim myItem as RepeaterItem = myRepeater.Items(0)
Dim Rep2 as Repeater = myItem.FindControl("nestedRepeater")
Using SqlDataAdapter and a DataSet (recommended)
Dim sa As New SqlDataAdapter(cmdCounty) 'Initialize the SqlDataAdapter and assign the SqlCommand object to it.
Dim ds As New DataSet() 'Initialize the DataSet (we will bind this to the gridview)
Try 'The Try/Catch statements help you to handle errors.
cmdCounty.Connection.Open() 'Open the connection to the database.
sa.Fill(ds) 'This statement uses the SqlDataAdapter to easily execute the SqlCommand (using the query specified in the SqlCommand object) and . . .
'. . .use that data to fill our dataset.
cmdCounty.Connection.Close() 'These statement close the connection and dispose of the SqlCommand object. Note: You may only need the dispose command.
cmdCounty.Dispose()
Catch ex As Exception
'Catch your error here.
cmdCounty.Connection.Close()
cmdCounty.Dispose()
End Try
gv2.DataSource = ds 'Set the datasource for your GridView control.
gv2.DataBind() 'Bind the data.
Using SqlDataReader and a DataTable
According to your comment, you're code is breaking when you assign the gridview to the cmd.ExecuteReader.
You will need to access your data using a method like this:
Dim rdr as SqlDataReader = cmdCounty.ExecuteReader() 'Declare the SqlDataReader and set it to handle your SqlCommand.
Dim dt as New DataTable 'Initialize a new DataTable. This is where we will place the information we read using the SqlDataReader.
'Make sure you add the columns...
dt.Columns.Add("firstColumnName") 'Create a column for each field you will be retrieving data from.
dt.Columns.Add("secondColumnName")
Dim r as DataRow 'Declare the variable r as a DataRow.
'You may want to insert the line "If rdr.HasRows Then" to check if any data was pulled before attempting to read it.
While rdr.Read() 'Loop through each row in the reader.
r = dt.NewRow() 'Set r to equal a new DataTable in the DataTable we created. Note: This does not actually add the row to the table.
r("firstColumnName") = rdr("firstColumnName") 'Set the values of each column in the current DataRow to equal their corresponding data read from SQL.
r("secondColumnName") = rdr("secondColumnName")
dt.Rows.Add(r) 'Add the DataRow r to the DataTable.
End While 'Loop back until there are no more rows.
gv2.DataSource = dt
gv2.DataBind()
Both of these examples assume you have already created your SqlCommand object and have assigned a working SQL query string and Connection object to it.