Question

In ASP.NET, you can bind controls individually (i.e. GridView1.DataBind()) or you can call Page.DataBind() to bind all controls on the page.

Is there any specific difference between the two calls? Are there times when one should be preferred over the other?

Answer 1

For choosing between Page.DataBind() versus Control.DataBind(), here is the Microsoft guidance :

“Both methods work similarly. The main
difference is that all data sources
are bound to their server controls
after the Page.DataBind method is
called. No data is rendered to the
control until you explicitly call
either the DataBind method of the Web
server control or until you invoke the
page-level Page.DataBind method.
Typically, Page.DataBind (or DataBind)
is called from the Page_Load event.”

There will be cases when you want specify control databinding individually, depending on the current page scenario. For a detailed level of control over which controls are bound and when controls are bound, I opt for the control-level DataBind() methods.