Question

Whats wrong in the code..? It isn’t working!!

Actually I want to split the entries from one of the field of database.. The items in it are separated by commas..

Here is what I am doing.

string str = dataSet.Tables[0].Rows[0]["Ingredients"].ToString();

string[] split = str.Split(',');
IList<string> lblListItemIngredients  = new List<string>();
foreach (string item in split)
{
  lblListItemIngredients.Add(item);
}

and in my aspx page,

<ul>
<li>
<asp:label id="lblListItemIngredients" runat="server></asp:Label>
</li>
</ul>

But the output isn’t coming, but in debugging mode, i can see the string is splitting.. Whats wrong?

Answer 1

You have to get the data in the list to the control somehow. That doesn’t happen magically just because you give a variable the same name as the id of the control.

Actually, you should use a different name for the variable, otherwise it will shadow the property that has been added to the page object.

If you want to make a HTML list it’s not enough to put a label in one list item, that won’t create one list item for each string. You can use a repeater:

<ul>
  <asp:Repeater id="lblListItemIngredients" runat="server">
    <ItemTemplate>
      <li><%# Container.DataItem %></li>
    </ItemTemplate>
  </asp:Repeater>
</ul>

You don’t have to create a list for a data source, an array works just fine:

string str = dataSet.Tables[0].Rows[0]["Ingredients"].ToString();
string[] split = str.Split(',');

lblListItemIngredients.DataSource = split;
lblListItemIngredients.DataBind();