Extending the DataGrid take 3

[Justin Dutoit]

Hey. I've posted this a couple times but I thought I'd try again.

I want to extend the Datagrid, for example, to add a title bar before the
column headers. This means leaving it to render the table tag, rendering my
row, then letting it render the remainder of the grid. I'm very concerned
that I don't mess around with the Datagrid's 'plumbing'.

For example, when you have a Template column with an asp:Label, you can
refer to it on postback using
MyGrid.Items(i).FindControl(id)
Now this is implemented by rendering a span with an id that looks like
_ctl_something. I think it is different for different browsers.

My question is, how do I avoid touching this plumbing and still extend the
Datagrid, ie what should Render() look like?
I'm looking for someone with experience in DataGrid control creation.

Thanks

Justin Dutoit

 

[Saravana]

Check out this code, it should add the title bar before the column header
and this wont affect the datagrid behaviour.

Private Sub DataGrid1_PreRender(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles DataGrid1.PreRender

Dim dgItem As DataGridItem

Dim dgCell As TableCell

dgItem = New DataGridItem(1, 0, ListItemType.Header)

dgCell = New TableCell

dgCell.ColumnSpan = 3 ' (depending upon number of columns in your table
change this field..)

dgItem.Cells.Add(dgCell)

dgItem.Cells.Item(0).Text = "Title bar"

DataGrid1.Controls(0).Controls.AddAt(1, dgItem)

End Sub