Question

For the moment, I’m binding my gridviews by calling a linq query that returns a list collection of objects MyObject. In my gridview, if I’m using a boundfield I set its Datafield property to the name of the property of MyObject and if I’m using an itemtemplate I work with Eval. In my code behind, I have

MyGridview.DataSource = MyListOfMyObject;
MyGridview.DataBind();

All seems to work fine.

What’s the purpose of adding an ObjectDataSource control in the aspx file. What does it do extra?

Thanks.

PS: I’m new to the .net framework and I’m still figuring things out.

Answer 1

From here:

ObjectDataSource belongs to the family
of data source controls in ASP.NET,
which enables a declarative
databinding model against a variety of
underlying data stores, such as SQL
databases or XML. Most data source
controls encourage a two-tiered
application architecture, where the
presentation layer (the page)
interacts directly with the backend
data provider.

However, it is also
common for page developers to
encapsulate data retrieval (and
optionally business logic) into a
component object, introducing an
additional layer between the
presentation page and data provider.
The ObjectDataSource control allows
developers to structure their
applications using this traditional
three-tiered architecture and still
take advantage of the ease-of-use
benefits of the declarative
databinding model in ASP.NET.