Question

I am trying to loop through my repeater control and get the textbox values.
However, I am getting an error:

{“Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”}

my code is:

    Dim txtField As TextBox
    Dim j As Integer = 0

   'Confirm if user has entered atleast one quantity
    For Each item In rptRequestForm.Items
        txtField = rptRequestForm.FindControl("txtBox")
        If txtField.Text <> Nothing Then
            j += 1
        Else

        End If
    Next

UPDATE: aspx code is:

        <td><asp:Repeater ID="rptRequestForm" runat="server">
            <HeaderTemplate>
                    <table border="0" width="100%">
                        <tr>
                            <td style="width:50%" class="TextFontBold"><asp:Label runat="server" ID="Label1" Text="Product"></asp:Label></td>
                            <td style="width:25%" class="TextFontBold"><asp:Label runat="server" ID="Label2" Text="Quantity"></asp:Label></td>
                            <td style="width:25%" class="TextFontBold"><asp:Label runat="server" ID="Label3" Text="Price (ea.)"></asp:Label></td>
                        </tr>
                    </table>
            </HeaderTemplate>
                <ItemTemplate>
                    <table border="0" width="100%">
                        <tr>
                            <td style="width:50%" class="TextFont"><span><%#Trim(Eval("Product_Title"))%></span></td>
                            <td style="width:25%"><asp:TextBox ID="txtBox" runat="server" Width="30%" onblur="Javascript:numberonly(this)"></asp:TextBox></td>
                            <td style="width:25%" class="TextFont"><span><%#Trim(FormatCurrency(Eval("Price")))%></span></td>
                        </tr>
                    </table>
                </ItemTemplate>
            </asp:Repeater>

Answer 1

try

Dim someString as String = "Not set"  <-- used later to hold the values of the string
Dim txtField As TextBox    
Dim j As Integer = 0   
'Confirm if user has entered atleast one quantity    
For Each item In rptRequestForm.Items        
   txtField = item.FindControl("txtBox")        
   If Not IsNothing(txtField) Then      ' <--- this is the line I changed       
     j += 1  
     someString = txtField.Text ' <--  once you've checked and know that the textbox exists, you just grab the value like so. 
     ' do whatever you like with the contents of someString now.     
   Else        
   End If    
Next

The problem is that you’re trying to access the “.Text” property of a TextBox that it didn’t find. The TextBox itself is the object to which there is no reference.

Incidentally, the .Text property of an actual Textbox (one that exists and was found) can’t be “Nothing”. It can only be String.Empty or a valid string.

Edited my line of code

Sorry, my VB is rusty.

Final edit

AARGH! I’m blind. I can’t believe I didn’t see this. There were TWO problems withthe original code. This is the answer to the second issue:

Change

txtField = rptRequestForm.FindControl("txtBox")

to

txtField = item.FindControl("txtBox")

The ITEM has to find the control, not the repeater itself!

I created a small web app just to check to see if I was grabbing the textbox’s text and finally found the issue above. my code is NOT the same as yours in the aspx, but here’s a complete code listing so that you can see how it works:

vb code

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        Dim t As New System.Data.DataTable

        t.Columns.Add("Name")

        Dim newRow(1) As Object

        t.Rows.Add(New Object() {"Frank"})
        t.Rows.Add(New Object() {"Dave"})
        t.Rows.Add(New Object() {"Muhammad"})

        rptRequestForm.DataSource = t
        rptRequestForm.DataBind()

        Dim txtField As TextBox
        Dim j As Integer = 0   'Confirm if user has entered atleast one quantity    
        For Each item As RepeaterItem In rptRequestForm.Items
            txtField = item.FindControl("txtBox")
            If Not IsNothing(txtField) Then     ' <--- this is the line I changed            
                j += 1
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(item.ItemType.ToString())
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(txtField.Text)
            Else
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(item.ItemType.ToString())
            End If
        Next
End Sub

aspx code

<asp:Repeater ID="rptRequestForm" runat="server">
        <HeaderTemplate>
            Hello!
        </HeaderTemplate>
        <ItemTemplate>
            <asp:TextBox ID="txtBox" runat="server" Text='<%#Bind("Name") %>'></asp:TextBox>
            <br />
        </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

produces the following output in the System.Diagnostics.Debug window:

Item

Frank

AlternatingItem

Dave

Item

Muhammad

The thread 0x321c has exited with code 0 (0x0).

The thread 0x39b8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).