Question

I am using an ASP datagrid, and I have a ButtonColumn. When the button is rendered to the page, it is a input of type submit. So its a submit button. The button is used for deleting records. But I want to have some javascript that confirms that the user wants to delete the record. The problem that I have is that even if I return false from the confirm method, the submit event still happens…

Here is the Server Side Code that assigns the javascript method to the click event:

Button deleteButton = e.Item.Cells[6].Controls[0] as Button;
if (deleteButton != null)
{
    deleteButton.OnClientClick = "confirmDelete()";
}

Here is the ASP.net code that creates the datagrid:

<asp:DataGrid 
    runat="server" 
    ID="UsersList" 
    OnItemCommand="UsersList_ItemCommand" 
    AutoGenerateColumns="false"
    HeaderStyle-CssClass="dataTableHeader" 
    Width="60%">
    <Columns>
        <asp:HyperLinkColumn DataNavigateUrlField="Username" DataTextField="Username" HeaderText="Username"  DataNavigateUrlFormatString="~/Account/EditUser.aspx?user={0}"/>
        <asp:BoundColumn DataField="Email" HeaderText="Email" />
        <asp:ButtonColumn Text="Delete" HeaderText="Delete" ButtonType="PushButton" CommandName="DeleteUser" CausesValidation="false" />
    </Columns>
</asp:DataGrid>

Here is the Javscript code that confirms the delete:

<script>
    function confirmDelete() {
        var x = confirm("This action cannot be undone. Are you sure you want to delete this user?");
        return x;
    }
</script>

Perhaps there is no way to accomplish this with a ButtonColumn. I’m considering changing to a TemplateColumn, and just putting a button in there. But then I will have to redesign the code that handles these click events on the back end, which is currently handled in the ItemCommand handler.

Answer 1

You need to confirm delete on form.submit(), not deletebutton.click(), but you’ll need to either assign an anonymous validation function to form.submit by the deletebutton.click(), or set a delete flag on deletebutton click, then check that value on form.submit(). That way other buttons that you WANT to submit the form still submit. And don’t forget to clear the variable/or anon function after validation fails.