Can anyone please help!!! Problem with the IF statement...

ivanv · September 27th, 2012, 05:16 PM

Hi All,

I am new to the asp.net development. I know classic asp very well but I am having some difficulty moving to the asp.net

Please find below a problem I am encountering in one of my master pages.

<asp:DataListID="DataList1"runat="server"DataSourceID="EventNews_Rs"
EnableViewState="False">
<ItemTemplate>
<%
Dim ArticleType AsString
ArticleType = DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "eventnews_type")

If (ArticleType = "event") Then
Response.Write("Upcoming Event:")
EndIf
%>

<asp:LabelID="eventnews_dateLabel"runat="server"Text='<%# Eval("eventnews_date") %>'/>
<br/>
<b><ahref=newszoom.aspx?article=<%# Eval("eventnews_id") %>><asp:LabelID="eventevent_titleLabel"runat="server"Text='<%# Eval("eventevent_title") %>'/></a></b>
<br/>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:DataList>

The problem is in the if statement. If I remove the if statement the website compiles without any problem. All I want is to simply write UPCOMING EVENT if the value from the database eventnews_type is = to event. I am receiving error 'Container' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.

I tried various ways but can't solve this problem. I know I am missing something simple.

Can you please help me.

Thanks in advance.

Ivan

Imar · September 28th, 2012, 09:35 AM

Hi there,

You're mixing classic ASP techniques with ASP.NET which won't work. Your controls are built during the data binding process, and then the combined HTML for the control is injected in the page. Response.Write on the other hand writes directly to the response. So, even if this code would run, the result from Response.Write would show up at a completely different location (at the top of the page).

Instead, you need to use data binding syntax. You can use a Label or a Literal and then have code like this:

Code:

 
<ItemTemplate>
  <asp:Literal runat="server" Text='<%# DetermineType(Eval("eventnews_type")) %>'/>
  <asp:LabelID="eventnews_dateLabel"runat="server"Text='<%# Eval("eventnews_date") %>'/>
  <br/>
  <b><ahref=newszoom.aspx?article=<%# Eval("eventnews_id") %>><asp:LabelID="eventevent_titleLabel"runat="server"Text='<%# Eval("eventevent_title") %>'/></a></b>
  <br/>
</ItemTemplate>

Then add the following method to the code behind:

Code:

 
Protected Function DetermineType(newsType As Object) As String
  If newsType.ToString() = "event" Then
    Return "Upcoming Event:"
  Else
    Return ""
  End If
End Function

A few other comments:

1. If you post code, can you please paste it in Notepad first to remove color coding and then use the forum editor's Code toolbar button to wrap your code in code tags. Otherwise, this forum messes up the code.

2. The DataList control is considered outdated and deprecated. Instead, look at the ListView which enables you to do the same stuff, but with more flexibility.

3. Consider getting a copy of my book Beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# and VB (or wait for the 4.5 version that should be out soon). I discuss stuff like this in great detail in that book.

Cheers,

Imar

ivanv · October 2nd, 2012, 06:07 AM

Thank Imar,

You solved my problem completely. I will for sure buy the book when the new one is released.

Thanks and Regards

ivan