ASP.NET inline ".FindControl()" in .aspx ListView? - asp.net

Question

In ASP.NET, we like using "child" SqlDataSource inside a bound grid server control (Girdview or ListView).
I've been using this FindControl() approach for years:
C# Codebehind:
protected void gridviewItems_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
Label labelItemId = (Label)e.Row.FindControl("labelItemId");
}
or like this:
protected void buttonSend_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Label labelItemId = (Label)((Control)sender).NamingContainer.FindControl("labelItemId");
}
Nothing wrong with it, but I'm quite tired of it and maybe there's a way to do this in .aspx markup?
Something like:
<asp:DropDownList
ID="dropdownItems"
runat="server"
DataSource=<% this.NamingContainer.FindControl("slqdatasourceItems") %>
DataTextField="ItemName"
DataValueField="ItemId" />
Is this possible?

Answer 1

I am not sure what your situation is. Do you have something like this?
namespace WebApplication1
{
public class Person
{
private string name;
public string Name
{
set
{
name = value;
}
get
{
return name;
}
}
public List<Person> GetAll()
{
List<Person> persons = new List<Person>();
Person p1 = new Person();
p1.Name = "John";
persons.Add(p1);
return persons;
}
}
}
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:GridView runat="server" ID="dataGrid" AutoGenerateColumns="false" DataSourceID="persons">
<Columns>
<asp:BoundField HeaderText="Person Name" DataField="Name" />
<asp:TemplateField>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:DropDownList runat="server" DataTextField="Name" DataSourceID="persons"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:ObjectDataSource runat="server" ID="persons" TypeName="WebApplication1.Person" SelectMethod="GetAll"></asp:ObjectDataSource>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
<asp:ObjectDataSource runat="server" ID="persons" TypeName="WebApplication1.Person" SelectMethod="GetAll"></asp:ObjectDataSource>
</div>
</form>
This is a web form with a gridview which has a "child" datasource pointing to the class Person and it´s method GetAll. There arise no problems at all. Please post some complete markup with your situation.
Edit
If you have something like this:
<asp:ListView runat="server" ID="lv" DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1">
<LayoutTemplate><div runat="server" id="itemPlaceholder"></div></LayoutTemplate>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Label runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>'></asp:Label>
<asp:Button runat="server" CommandName="Edit" Text="Edit" />
</ItemTemplate>
<EditItemTemplate>
<asp:Label runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>'></asp:Label>
<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList1" runat="server" DataTextField="Name" DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1"></asp:DropDownList>
<asp:SqlDataSource id="SqlDataSource1" runat="server" DataSourceMode="DataReader"
ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:SqlConnectionString%>" SelectCommand="SELECT Name FROM Person">
</asp:SqlDataSource>
</EditItemTemplate>
</asp:ListView>
<asp:SqlDataSource id="SqlDataSource1" runat="server" DataSourceMode="DataReader"
ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:SqlConnectionString%>" SelectCommand="SELECT Name FROM Person">
</asp:SqlDataSource>
you shouldn´t have any problems either. I am here a assuming that you are drawing data from a table named "Person". Please show your special case as this is of course a simple setup.