Question

I can’t get my GridView to enable a user to sort a column of data when I’m using a custom SqlDataSource.

I have a GridView in which the code in the ASP reference to it in the HTML is minimal:

<asp:GridView id='grid' runat='server' AutoGenerateColumns='False' AllowSorting='True'> </asp:GridView> 

In the code-behind I attach a dynamically-created SqlDataSource (the columns it contains are not always the same so the SQL used to create it is constructed at runtime). For example:

I set up the columns…

BoundField column = new BoundField(); column.DataField = columnName; column.HeaderText = 'Heading'; column.SortExpression = columnName;  grid.Columns.Add(column); 

the data source…

SqlDataSource dataSource = new SqlDataSource(     'System.Data.SqlClient',     connectionString,      generatedSelectCommand); 

then the gridview…

grid.DataSource = dataSource; grid.DataKeyNames = mylistOfKeys; grid.DataBind(); 

At the moment nothing happens when a user clicks on a column heading when I’d expect it to sort the column data. Anyone any ideas what I’m missing?

If there’s a nicer way of doing this that would be helpful too as this looks messy to me!

Answer 1

First you need to add an event:

<asp:GridView AllowSorting='True' OnSorting='gvName_Sorting' ... 

Then that event looks like:

protected void gvName_Sorting( object sender, GridViewSortEventArgs e ) {     ...     //rebind gridview } 

You basically have to get your data again.

You’re right that it looks messy and there is a better way: ASP.Net MVC

Unfortunately that’s a drastically different page model.