I want to include the DateTime of a request as one of the elements that I capture in my contact form. I've defined a DateTime variable in my code behind. I was trying to place it into a text field of my form, but the text does not appear.

public string strDate = DateTime.Now.ToString();

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     tbDate.Text = strDate;
}

If I could get that to work I could use the <asp:ControlParameter> which I'm most comfortable using to do an insert. So my question is twofold. One, why doesn't this work?

Two, I'd really prefer to pass the variable directly to my SqlDataSource control. If I don't want the user to input it, the back of my head keeps screaming that it should not be part of the UI. If I could pass the variable directly in, I could drop the Date textbox entirely.

-------------------------

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann von Goethe

When Two Hearts Race... Both Win.
-Dove Chocolate Wrapper

Chroniclemaster1, Founder of www.EarthChronicle.com
A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.

__________________
-------------------------

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann von Goethe

When Two Hearts Race... Both Win.
-Dove Chocolate Wrapper

Chroniclemaster1, Founder of www.EarthChronicle.com
A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.

I am not sure why the text doesn't appear for you. Using this code:

string s = DateTime.Now.ToString();
TextBox1.Text = s;

achieves the desired result. Have you considered, instead of using this field, using the getdate() method of Sql Server to get the current date and time rather then using a text box?

hth.

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Read this if you want to know how to get a correct reply for your question:
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I couldn't figure out why it didn't work either. I'll try skipping the page load as shown.

It sounds like getdate() is a method of the database? I will check it out. I know that SQL Server has a lot more advanced functionality, but I haven't ever tried "programming" it like that. I'll run some searches and check back if I have more questions on it.

Thanks!

-------------------------

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann von Goethe

When Two Hearts Race... Both Win.
-Dove Chocolate Wrapper

Chroniclemaster1, Founder of www.EarthChronicle.com
A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.

:S OK, from the frying pan into the fire. Can you make sense of this? I tried moving the assignment line out of the Page_Load and rewriting the lines exactly the way you have. I get a Compilation Error on the second line.

string s = DateTime.Now.ToString();
TextBox1.Text = s; //This line throws the error.

CS1519: Invalid token '=' in class, struct, or interface member declaration. But the help files on CS1519 don't seem to relate to this situation, instead talking about invalid modifiers in a variable declaration.

When I tried it with the line TextBox1.Text = s; inside a Page_Load event handler, the page runs, but the time is not inserted into the text box. When I move both lines into the Page_Load, it throws an error.


protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{ // this line throws the error
string s = DateTime.Now.ToString();
TextBox1.Text = s;
}

CS1513: } expected. What's going on?

-------------------------

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann von Goethe

When Two Hearts Race... Both Win.
-Dove Chocolate Wrapper

Chroniclemaster1, Founder of www.EarthChronicle.com
A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.

It sounds like your class looks something like this:

public partial class foo
{
   protected void Page_Load(object sender, eventargs e)
  {
    string s = DateTime.Now.ToString();
    TextBox1.Text = s;
  }

Notice the missing closing brace. Does adding an additional closing brace to the end of your class fix your problem?

================================================== =========
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
================================================== =========
.: Wrox Technical Editor / Author :.
Wrox Books 24 x 7
================================================== =========

:o I think I understand it now. I went back to look, and the closing brace was there. Beat my head against it for awhile longer (and did some partially satisfactory searches on SQL Server).

I was working with an old file from one of .NET courses. The instructor was teaching us VB. I finally noticed, that while I'd modified most everything to work for C#, the AutoEventWireup was set to false. I'm sure there are ways to work with that, but I'm not familiar with them. I added a fresh webform to my project added a label control and typed the lines into my page_load event in the code behind. :) Now I'm grinning.

I'm guessing that with the wireup set to false, there was nothing to tie the code in the code behind to the control on the page? If that's true then am I correct in thinking that it had no idea what TextBox1 was; so it was trying to interpret the line as a "class, struct, or interface member declaration"?

-------------------------

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann von Goethe

When Two Hearts Race... Both Win.
-Dove Chocolate Wrapper

Chroniclemaster1, Founder of www.EarthChronicle.com
A Growing History of our Planet, by our Planet, for our Planet.