Question

Lets say i have this usercontrol

public class test : UserControl {
   public int Count { get; set; }

   public test() { 
      Count = 3;
   }

   public override DataBind() {
      aRepeater.DataSource = dal.GetObjects(Count);

      base.DataBind();
   }
}

and i use it on my page like this

<my:test runat="server" Count="<# something %>" />

my problem now is that i am not able to get the value of Count in my usercontrol before after the call to base.DataBind(). I guess its something with databinding values to itself. The workaround sofar has therefor been

public override DataBind() {
   base.DataBind(); // to bind values to self

   aRepeater.DataSource = dal.GetObjects(Count);

   base.DataBind(); // to bind new values that is dependent on the the first bind
}

It works, but it just doesn’t seem right. My question is therefor whats the best practices is for this scenario.

Answer 1

Just override OnDataBinding method, not DataBind:

protected override void OnDataBinding(EventArgs e) {
    base.OnDataBinding(e);
    aRepeater.DataSource = dal.GetObjects(Count);
}

DataBind method essentially consists of two steps: 1) OnDataBinding(), 2) DataBind() for each child control.