DOC: Information Is Missing About How to Gain Access to Child Controls in Templated Data-Bound Controls

The documentation for the templated data-bound controls such as the Repeater class, the DataList class, and the DataGrid Class does not provide sufficient information about how to gain access to the child controls contained in the templates.

For Information about Repeater Class, the DataList Class and the DataGrid Class, see the first three references in the "References" section.

The following ASP.NET server controls are designed to be data-bound:

• Repeater
• DataList
• DataGrid

You can use templates to customize the layout of the data that the data-bound controls represent. A template is a container for other controls. A template is not an object that has its own user interface.

You add controls to the template, and then set the display properties of those controls. When the control runs, it iterates through the data source. For each data element, the control creates an item that is a merger of the controls in the template with the information in the data element.

You cannot gain direct access to the child controls that the templates of the data-bound controls contain through the code. The data-bound controls host template objects. These template objects contain the individual child controls. For example, if you add a Label control that is named Label1 to a DataList control, you cannot get or set the properties of the Label control at run time by referring to Label1 in your code.

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web sites: