Assigning data to a label

nanonerd · October 4th, 2011, 04:00 PM

Hello,

PROBLEM: How to bind data to a label, without using a view control.

CONTEXT: Chp 14, on the "Manage Photo Album" page, I would like to place the Album title at the top of the page.

WHAT I DID: I use a panel and place a label inside so I can easily center the label. I use a LinQ query to get the Name of the Album. But I cannot bind the name to the label.

Code:

using (PlanetWroxEntities myAlbum = new PlanetWroxEntities())
        {
            var albumName = from m in myAlbum.PhotoAlbums
                            where m.Id == albumId       // albumId retrieved from querystring
                            select new { m.Name };

THINGS I TRIED: I've tried using the Eval in the Markup View on the Label control and all sorts of scenarios. But I don't know if I'm assigning the datasource correctly, etc. I can get the Album name to display if I use view control (e.g., formview) at the top of the page and place a label inside. But I figured, there's probably just a simple way to bind data to a label without having to use a view control. Or must I use a view control of some sort?

Does anyone have an answer?

Imar · October 4th, 2011, 04:07 PM

What about simply assigning it to its Text property?

Code:

 
var albumName = (from m in myAlbum.PhotoAlbums
                            where m.Id == albumId       // albumId retrieved from querystring
                            select m.Name).FirstOrDefault();
myLabel.Text = albumName;

Cheers,

Imar

nanonerd · October 4th, 2011, 05:16 PM

Gracias,

That is pretty much what I was looking for. Actually, I did try to assign it to Label.Text ... but I didn't use the FirstorDefault() and well, it forced me to convert albumName.toString() ... obviously, the displayed text was not what I wanted ...

Thank you sir.

Imar · October 5th, 2011, 03:24 AM

You're welcome. The first quesry returns a collection of string (even though there's only one item in it) which you cannot assign to a Label. By using FirstOrDefault, you only get a single item, or null when the item could not be found.

Cheers,

Imar

morteza · October 5th, 2011, 05:44 AM

Hi,
Is there difference between

Code:

select new { m.Name }

and

Code:

select m.Name

?

Imar · October 5th, 2011, 09:58 AM

Yeah, there's a difference.

Code:

 
select new { m.Name }

results in an anonymous object with a property called Name that holds the name. If you output this directly, you get something like { Name = "The name" }

Code:

 
select m.Name

returns just a string holding the name you selected.

Hope this helps,

Imar