How to get cell contents in ASP.NET GridView while handling OnRowEditing? - asp.net

Question

I have a GridView with a BoundField column and quite a few item templates like the following:
<asp:GridView ID="gvUsers" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" OnRowCommand="gvUsers_RowCommand"
OnRowDataBound="gvUsers_RowDataBound" DataKeyNames="UserId" OnRowEditing="gvUsers_OnRowEditing"
OnRowUpdating="gvUsers_OnRowUpdating" OnRowUpdated="gvUsers_OnRowUpdated"
DataSourceID="DataSource1" Width="807px" Height="105px"
AllowPaging="True" >
<Columns>
<asp:BoundField DataField="UserName" HeaderText="User Name"
SortExpression="UserName" />
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Approver">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:CheckBox ID="cbApprover" runat="server" Enabled="false" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Auditor">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:CheckBox ID="cbAuditor" runat="server" Enabled="false" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:LinkButton ID="btnEdit" runat="server"
CommandArgument='<%# Eval("UserName") %>' CommandName="Edit" Text="Edit" />
<asp:Label ID="lblPipe1" runat="server" Text=" | " />
<asp:LinkButton ID="btnUpdate" runat="server"
CommandArgument='<%# Eval("UserName") %>' CommandName="Update" Text="Update" />
<asp:Label ID="lblPipe" runat="server" Text=" | " />
<asp:LinkButton ID="btnDelete" runat="server"
CommandArgument='<%# Eval("UserName") %>' CommandName="Remove"
OnClientClick="return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete this user?');"
Text="Delete" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
</Columns>
While handling the Edit link button I need to use the value in the BoundField, UserName. Unfortunately during the OnRowEditing handler, all strings are empty "". This is also true in the ensuing OnRowDataBound handler for the row in question where e.Row.RowState == DataControlRowState.Edit. Is there a way to obtain this value after the user clicks on the Edit link, and commences the OnRowEditing event?

Answer 1

I arrived at a solution that was a bit more complicated than I was hoping for. I'll show code later but I did the following:
Created a HiddenField to hold the
value of the cell I wanted to edit in
its view state.
In the OnRowDataBound handler, I assigned the value to the
HiddenField.
The ItemTemplate, as seen above, sends the UserName as an
argument. I store this value in
the HiddenField.
The OnRowEditing is fired after the Command handler. That is where I
read the HiddenField.
If anyone has a simpler solution I would love hear about it.

Answer 2

Could it be that you're using late binding in TemplatedItems without EditItemTemplates?