If I have a repeater with a asp:hyperlink field which i wont need to access programatically at all and is just used for databinding, is it ok if i dont use a id??

<tr>
 <td>
  <asp:HyperLink NavigateUrl='<% #Eval("topicid", "Threads.aspx?topic={0}")%>' Text='<% #Eval("name")%>' runat="server" /> <asp:Literal Text='<% #Eval("description")%>' runat="server" />
 </td>
</tr>

Like This with no ID:
<tr>
 <td>
  <a href="Threads.aspx?topic=1">Decorating</a> Get in the spirit by sharing your best decorating tips.
 </td>
</tr>

as aposed to This with a ID:
<tr>
 <td>
  <a id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_ForumRepeater_ctl00_ TopicRepeater_ctl00_lnk" href="Threads.aspx?topic=1">Decorating</a> Get in the spirit by sharing your best decorating tips.
 </td>
</tr>

Have you tried this prior to asking?

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:)Yeah, the worst thing that happens is it breaks and you have an error message that you can ask us about!

It's also just a better way to learn. You have permission to screw up. You're programming. That's what we do all day long. Break things and try to figure out how to fix it.

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A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.

Yeah it works fine. I just wondered if that was considered the wrong way to go about things or bad practice.. its just when you view source it looks really messy with the id's.

By using the actual <a href> tag it simply means that .NET has no way to access the control pragmatically and it is perfectly acceptable to do this. I would only consider this a bad practice if, for example, you had the href call a javascript that raised a postback when a simple link button could of sufficed.

But, for your example, it is all good =]

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Read this if you want to know how to get a correct reply for your question:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
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Beginning Visual C# 2008
Professional Search Engine Optimization with ASP.NET
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Wrox Blox: Create Amazing Custom User Interfaces with WPF and .NET 3.0
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