Hello,

I am trying to set up a Master-Details feature with two distinct lists of links on the "Master" side and one control on the "Details" side, all displaying on the same page. For example, the Master control(s) would display a list of links to item details, seperated into two sections:

Teachers
link1
link2
link3

Students
link1
link2
link3

...each of the links under both "Teachers" and "Students" would populate a single Details control with data appropriate to the selected link.

Right now I have a simple Master/Details on a single page using a single column gridview as the Master (<asp:ButtonField CommandName="Select" />) and a FormView control for Details. The Master Details relationship is handled declaratively with a <SelectParameters> in the Detail control's SQL Data Source. However, this arrangement only allows for a single column of Master links, i.e.:

Teachers & Students
link1
link2
link3
link4
link5
link6

I'm not sure how to solve this; is there any way to

1. have two Master controls feed to the same details control?
2. or perhaps have a Details control for each Master list, but swap visibility for each Detail control so it appears that there is only one Details control on the page?
3. or else have a Master control like a gridview or datalist display two sections of links, one on top of the other, each section with its own HeaderText, controlling the same Details control?

Thanks very much for any advice!

I'm not sure you'll be able to get the results you want declaratively. You'd probably want to be able to switch your Details control's DataSource property between two possible DataSources, which will probably have to be done in the codebehind anyway.

I'm also not sure I understand what you're trying to do...Usually, a Master-Details arrangements involves selecting one (or more) items from a list, and then displaying "details" in another set of a controls. For example, selecting Teacher1 from the Teachers list, will populate the details with a list of the students this teacher teaches.

Are you attempting to create a single "details control" where you can select either a Teacher from the Teachers list and have it display a list of their students OR you can select a student from the Students list and have it display a list of that student's teachers? If that's what you're wanting, then you'll need two SQLDataSources, and put code in the codebehind to swap between them based upon which selection was made most recently. The problem you'll have is that you'll want to clear the selection in the other control (when you select a Teacher, clear the selection from the Student's list); otherwise, the visual cues on the UI will make it difficult to determine the proper context (the code won't have that problem, because you'll probably handle it in a "selection changed" event).

Hope that helps.