How can I data bind <%# Eval("Object.Property")%> programmatically in VB.NET - asp.net

Question

I can bind a inner object property to gridview using the following setup at design time in an ASP.NET gridview
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="ObjectName" >
<ItemTemplate>
<%# Eval("Object.property")%>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
but what I would like to do know is create this programmatically at runtime
i.e. define my columns, add them to the gridview and then databind

Answer 1

I'm not sure if this is what you want to achieve. But if you want to create columns dynamically according to your object's properties on runtime, have a look at following code(example is with BoundColumns, have a look at Volpa's answer when you need TemplateColumns):
ASPX:
<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false"></asp:GridView>
Codebehind:
Public Partial Class GridViewTest
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
If Not IsPostBack Then
BindData()
End If
End Sub
Private Sub BindData()
Dim cList As New List(Of CustomClass)
For i As Int32 = 1 To 10
Dim c As New CustomClass
c.ID = i
c.Name = "Object " & i
cList.Add(c)
Next
Dim model As New CustomClass
For Each prop As Reflection.PropertyInfo In model.GetType.GetProperties
If prop.CanRead Then
Dim field As New BoundField()
field.HeaderText = prop.Name
field.DataField = prop.Name
Me.GridView1.Columns.Add(field)
End If
Next
Me.GridView1.DataSource = cList
Me.GridView1.DataBind()
End Sub
End Class
Public Class CustomClass
Private _id As Int32
Private _name As String
Public Property ID() As Int32
Get
Return _id
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Int32)
_id = value
End Set
End Property
Public Property Name() As String
Get
Return _name
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
_name = value
End Set
End Property
End Class

Answer 2

One way would be to create a class that implements ITemplate interface:
public class PropertyTemplate : ITemplate
{
private string _value = string.Empty;
public PropertyTemplate(string propValue)
{
this._value = propValue;
}
public void InstantiateIn(Control container)
{
container.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(this._value));
}
}
Then in your code-behind assing the ItemTemplate as following:
myTemplateField.ItemTemplate = new PropertyTemplate(myBusinessObject.MyProperty);
Another way would be to use Page.LoadTemplate if your custom template resides in the separate .ascx file:
myTemplateField.ItemTemplate = Page.LoadTemplate("~/MyTemplate.ascx");
And the .ascx file will look like:
<%# Eval("MyProperty") %>