Question

I have defined a SqlDataSource in my ASP code and I am trying to access it from my C# code-behind. I get an error that the source is unknown. What do I have to do so that I can access it from my code-behind?

C# code –

protected void OnEditingGridView1(object sender, GridViewEditEventArgs e)
{
    GridViewRow row = GridView1.Rows[e.NewEditIndex];
    int index = row.RowIndex;
    string ClientKey = GridView1.DataKeys[index].Values["ClientKey"].ToString();

    SqlDataSourceDebtor.SelectParameters.Clear();
    SqlDataSourceDebtor.SelectParameters.Add("clientKey", ClientKey);

}

ASP code –

            <EditItemTemplate>
                <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlDebtorName" runat="server" 
                    DataSourceID="SqlDataSourceDebtor" DataTextField="Name" 
                    DataValueField="DebtorKey">
                </asp:DropDownList>
                <asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSourceDebtor" runat="server" 
                    ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:AuditDevConnectionString2 %>" 
                    SelectCommand="sp_fc_vm_getDebtorList" SelectCommandType="StoredProcedure">
                    <SelectParameters>
                        <asp:ControlParameter ControlID="GridView1" DefaultValue="0" Name="ClientKey" 
                            PropertyName="SelectedValue" Type="Int32" />
                    </SelectParameters>
                </asp:SqlDataSource>
            </EditItemTemplate>

Answer 1

The SqlDataSource is in an EditItemTemplate. That means there’ll be a SqlDataSource for each row of this GridView, Repeater—whatever this is.

If you want to get the SqlDataSource for, say, the third row in your GridView, you’d want something like:

gv.Rows[2].FindControl("SqlDataSourceDebtor") as SqlDataSource;

EDIT – I did a quick test and this works fine:

    <asp:GridView runat="server" ID="gv">
        <Columns>
            <asp:BoundField DataField="str" />
            <asp:TemplateField>
                <ItemTemplate>
                    <asp:DropDownList runat="server" DataTextField="name" DataValueField="id" DataSourceID="sqlId"></asp:DropDownList>
                    <asp:SqlDataSource runat="server" ID="sqlId" ConnectionString="Data Source=DevAdam;Initial Catalog=ZoomieRest;Integrated Security = true;"
                     SelectCommand="Select top 10 id, name from zoomiesql.subjects where userid = 7"></asp:SqlDataSource>
                </ItemTemplate>
            </asp:TemplateField>
        </Columns>
    </asp:GridView>

Code Behind

    gv.DataSource = new[] { new { str = "A" }, new { str = "B" }, new { str = "C" } };
    gv.DataBind();

    var sqlSource = gv.Rows[2].FindControl("sqlId") as SqlDataSource;
    Response.Write(sqlSource.ConnectionString);

This prints out the connection string for the embedded SqlDataSource.