Data binding — GridView, Repeater, ListView and data source controls — ASP.NET Web Forms — Page Life Cycle, ViewState, Controls and State Management

6. Data binding — GridView, Repeater, ListView and data source controls

Intermediate★ Must knowLesson 6 of 10

Control	Output	Paging/sorting/editing built in	Use
GridView	HTML table	✅	Admin grids with edit/delete
Repeater	Exactly your template HTML	❌ (do it yourself)	Lightweight custom lists
ListView	Your templates + layout	✅ (with DataPager)	Flexible lists with editing
DataList	Table/flow layout	Partial	Legacy
DetailsView / FormView	One record	✅	Detail/edit forms

aspx

<asp:Repeater ID="rptOrders" runat="server" ItemType="ShopWeb.Models.OrderDto">
  <ItemTemplate>
    <div class="order"><%#: Item.Id %> — <%#: Item.Total.ToString("C") %></div>
  </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

<!-- ASP.NET 4.5 model binding: the grid calls your methods -->
<asp:GridView ID="gv" runat="server" ItemType="ShopWeb.Models.Product" DataKeyNames="Id"
     SelectMethod="GetProducts" UpdateMethod="UpdateProduct" AllowPaging="true" AllowSorting="true" AutoGenerateEditButton="true" />

csharp

public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts() => _db.Products.OrderBy(p => p.Name);   // paging/sorting applied by the grid
public void UpdateProduct(int id)
{
    var p = _db.Products.Find(id);
    if (p != null && TryUpdateModel(p)) _db.SaveChanges();
}

Data source controls: SqlDataSource (SQL in markup — quick but mixes data access into the UI), ObjectDataSource (calls methods on your business class — better layering), EntityDataSource, LinqDataSource. Prefer model binding or code-behind binding to services.

GridView events: RowDataBound (format each row), RowCommand (custom buttons with CommandName/CommandArgument), RowEditing/RowUpdating/RowDeleting, PageIndexChanging, Sorting.