Single event handler for multiple links/buttons on ASP.NET - asp.net

Question

I have a dropdown list that contains a collection of names. My entire names list is very large (over 2,000) so I would like to pair down the names in the drop down list to those starting with the same letter.
To do this I would like to have 26 links all on the same line, one for each letter in the alphabet ..
A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
The idea being that the user clicks on the letter they are interested in and the stored procedure that obtains the list of names is re-executed to only grab those names starting with the letter that was clicked and then the resulting dataset is rebound to the dropdown list.
What is vexing me is how to handle creating all the "Click Events" necessary to deal with the user "clicking" on a link. I could create 26 different event handlers, one for each link, but I have to believe there is a simpler way I am not seeing.
Form demonstration here is the click event for one link, the letter "A" ...
Protected Sub lnkLetterA_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles lnkLeterA.Click
Call LoadNamesIntoDropDown("A")
End Sub
Is there a way to create one event handler that could handle all 26 links? Thank you.
P.S. C# or VB.NET examples are fine. I just happen to be using VB.NET in this case.

Answer 1

You can reuse the same click handler a simple example
protected void HandleLinkClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HyperLink link = (HyperLink)sender;
LoadNamesIntoDropDown(link.Text);
}
However, there are loads of autocomplete style solutions you can use. A free one from MS
http://www.asp.net/ajax/ajaxcontroltoolkit/samples/autocomplete/autocomplete.aspx

Answer 2

Of course you can have one handler to rule them all. Just connect the Click event of all the links to the same method.
Do you create the links dynamically in code-behind, or have you created them in the designer? If it is done in the designer:
Select a link
In the property grid, switch to the event view
In the click event, select your event handler from the dropdown list
Repeat for all links
In the event handler, use the sender argument to examine which of the links that was clicked, and act accordingly.

Answer 3

As per your example use:
Protected Sub lnkLetter_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles lnkLeterA.Click, lnkLeterB.Click, lnkLeterC.Click //etc
Call LoadNamesIntoDropDown(CType(sender, LinkLabel).Text)
End Sub