Question

I think my question title is quite straight forward.

Any help is appreciated..

Answer 1

With BoundField and in readonly mode you can use GridView1.Rows[x].Cells[x].Text but with edit mode you have to use Controls collection to get reference of a control. This method returns a Control object.

Control control=GridView1.Rows[x].Cells[x].Controls[0]; // later you may cast it to appropriate control class.

If template field is used then you have to issue FindControl method from the Cells collection to get reference of a control based upon its ID. You may also use Cells[x].Controls collection too.

Control control=GridView1.Rows[x].Cells[x].FindControl("ID_Of_Control"); // later you may cast it to appropriate control class.

EDIT:

It is also possible that there can be one or more controls having same name/ID across the Templatefields. In that case you can’t use FindControl method.

Example:

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False">
    <Columns>
        <asp:TemplateField>
            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:TemplateField>
        <asp:TemplateField>
            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:TemplateField>
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>

Now to get Button and change its text from 2nd row and 1st cell:

 Button btn = GridView1.Rows[1].Cells[0].Controls[1] as Button ;
 if(btn!=null)
    btn.Text = "Hello";