Gridview - disappearing data when column is hidden

[steve.falzon@]

Hi Folks

I've hit a problem that is givng me a real headache. I've been at this
for hours, I need some sleep

In the RowDatabound event I'm building a string which uses a value of
a visible column. When all the rows have been added I hide the column
and this is where the dificulties start.

The cell data, which is now part of a string, disappears. I don't
understand why this happens. I've already retrieved the value and
added it to the string so why would it disappear from the string? (I
understand the cell data isn't available once I hide the column) Is
the value of the cell not actually used? ie is a pointer inserted in
the string instead and when I hide the column the pointers become
invalid? I know that doesn't make sense but I've ran out of ideas. I
know it's something I'm missing, it always is

Here is the code
----
Sub RowDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
GridViewRowEventArgs)


Dim Id As Long

If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then
MessageId = Convert.ToInt32(e.Row.Cells(0).Text)
e.Row.Attributes.Add("onClick", "ShowDetail('" +
Id.ToString() + "')")

' both above and below work if I don't hide column 0
'e.Row.Attributes.Add("onClick", "ShowDetail('" + e.Row.Cells(0).Text
+ "')")
End If

End Sub

---

Any suggestions are very welcome.

tia

Steve