Question

I can’t seem to figure out why this does not work below. I need to bind the text box to a value from an inline expression. Seems like a simple thing right? But neither of these work. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

<asp:textbox id='tbName' runat='server' Text='<%# Eval('test') %>' /> <asp:textbox id='tbName' runat='server' Text='<%= 'test' %>' /> 

Edit: I should mention that this page has no code behind and only the following directives at the top.

<%@ Import Namespace='System' %> <%@ Import Namespace='System.Web' %> <%@ Page Language='C#' %> 

Edit:

The only workable solution that I could come up with short of adding a code behind is adding an inline server script, like this one. I wish I knew why the inline expressions won’t work unless you’re in a data binding context.

<script language='C#' runat='server'>     private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)     {       tbName.Text = 'test';     } </script> 

Answer 1

In the Page_Load of you will have to make a call to Page.DataBind() for

<asp:textbox id='tbName' runat='server' Text='<%# Eval('test') %>' /> 

to work.

<%= %> is a shortened response.Write() and is never valid as an attribute, for any server tag.

<%# %> can be used, only if the conatainer is databound (the page in your case).

<%$ %> can be used to access data in resources files.

EDIT: You can also take a look at How to 'bind' Text property of a label in markup which is a smimilar question.