Question

On Page_Load, I am binding a Repeater using EF4. The repeater contains some text boxes which are populated at the start but the user could edit. How can I read these text boxes on a later postback?

page.aspx (extract):

<asp:Repeater ID="repOrders" runat="server">
  <ItemTemplate>
    <p>
      <%# Eval("Id") %> -
      <asp:TextBox ID="txtName" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>' runat="server">
      </asp:TextBox>
    </p>
  </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

page.aspx.cs (extract):

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  using (var ctx = new Ctx()) {
    var ds = ctx.Orders;
    repOrders.DataSource = ds;
    repOrders.DataBind();
  }
}

protected void lnkCheck_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  Response.Write(((TextBox)repOrders.Items[0].FindControl("txtName")).Text);
}

The problem is, when I click lnkCheck, the Repeater re-populates from the database first so any user changes to the textboxes are lost.

And if I put if (IsPostBack) return; in Page_Load then the Repeater is empty.

How can I get around this?

Answer 1

Only populate the repeater if not a postback. As long as viewstate is enabled for the repeater your data will be persisted.

 protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {

    if(!IsPostBack)
    {
     using (var ctx = new Ctx()) {
        var ds = ctx.Orders;
        repOrders.DataSource = ds;
        repOrders.DataBind();
      }
    }

    }

How are you raising the ‘later postback’ to read the text values from the repeater? Usual preference would be to raise an the itemcommand from the repeater and then use find control to get the value of the textbox in the item template.