Binding dropdownlist inside gridview edititemtemplate

I’m not able to bind my dropdownlist present in edititem template . I am getting null reference when i try to access it.

My design:

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText ="Category">
    <ItemTemplate >
    <asp:Label ID="drpcategory" Text ='<%#Bind("category") %>' runat ="server" />
    </ItemTemplate>
    <EditItemTemplate>
        <asp:DropDownList ID="drpcategory1"  AppendDataBoundItems="True" runat="server" >
        </asp:DropDownList>
    </EditItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>

My code behind:

protected void gv_RowEditing(object sender, GridViewEditEventArgs e)
{
    gv_table1.EditIndex = e.NewEditIndex;
    DropDownList drpcategory1 = ((DropDownList)gv_table1.Rows[e.NewEditIndex].Cells[8].FindControl("drpcategory1"));
    //BindDropDown(drpcategory1);
    dt = con.GetData("Select category_name from category");

    String str = gv_table1.Rows[e.NewEditIndex].FindControl("drpcategory1").GetType().ToString();
    //((DropDownList)gv_table1.Rows[e.NewEditIndex].Cells[8].FindControl("drpcategory1")).DataSource = dt;
    drpcategory1.DataSource = dt;
    drpcategory1.DataTextField = "category_name";
    drpcategory1.DataValueField = "category_name";
    drpcategory1.DataBind();

    this.setgrid();
}

I’ve tried looking on the net and tried many things in vain. I am new to asp. Thanks in advance. I would like the dropdown to be bound only when user enters edit mode.

Answers:

Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Method 1

Code Behind: Tested Code and also set dropdown-list selected value on edit mode

protected void gv_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        if ((e.Row.RowState & DataControlRowState.Edit) > 0)
        {
            DropDownList ddList= (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("drpcategory1");
            //bind dropdown-list
            DataTable dt = con.GetData("Select category_name from category");
            ddList.DataSource = dt;
            ddList.DataTextField = "category_name";
            ddList.DataValueField = "category_name";
            ddList.DataBind();
            
            DataRowView dr = e.Row.DataItem as DataRowView;
            //ddList.SelectedItem.Text = dr["category_name"].ToString();
            ddList.SelectedValue = dr["category_name"].ToString();
        }
    }
}
    
protected void gv_RowEditing(object sender, GridViewEditEventArgs e)
{
    gv.EditIndex = e.NewEditIndex;
    gridviewBind();// your gridview binding function
}

Method 2

I do it like this. In which, Name and Id are two fields of Company object:

HTML Code:

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Công ty">
    <EditItemTemplate>
        <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlCompanyEdit" DataSource="<%# PopulateddlCompanyEdit() %>" DataValueField="Id" DataTextField="Name" runat="server"></asp:DropDownList>
    </EditItemTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <asp:Label ID="lbCompany" runat="server" Text='<%#Bind("Company") %>'></asp:Label>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>

C# code behind:

protected IEnumerable<Company> PopulateddlCompanyEdit()
{
    using (var bkDb = new BrickKilnDb())
    {
        return bkDb.Companies.ToList();
    }
}

Method 3

protected void gvProject_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            string Active = "";
            if (e.Row.DataItem != null)
            { 
                if ((e.Row.RowState & DataControlRowState.Edit) > 0)
                {
                    Label lblEditActive = (Label)e.Row.FindControl("lblUP_ET_ActiveStatus");
                    if (lblEditActive.Text != string.Empty)
                    {
                        Active = lblEditActive.Text.Trim();
                    }

                    DropDownList ddlActive = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddlUP_ET_ActiveStatus");
                    ddlActive.Items.Clear();
                    ddlActive.Items.Add("True");
                    ddlActive.Items.Add("False"); 
                    ddlActive.DataBind(); 
                    ddlActive.Items.FindByText(Active).Selected = true;
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw ex;
        }
    }

Method 4

The event RowEditing occurs just before a row is edited.

You should use the RowDataBound event instead.

protected void gv_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
   if (gv.EditIndex == e.Row.RowIndex && 
       e.Row.RowType==DataControlRowType.DataRow) 
   {       
       DropDownList drpcategory1 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("drpcategory1"); 
       //bind the control
   }
}

Method 5

You have to use RowDataBound event to bind the dropdown control for edited row. Please use below method in RowDataBound event.

        protected void gv_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Row.RowState == DataControlRowState.Edit)
        {
            DropDownList drpcategory1 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("drpcategory1");
            DataTable dt = con.GetData("Select category_name from category");
            drpcategory1.DataSource = dt;
            drpcategory1.DataTextField = "category_name";
            drpcategory1.DataValueField = "category_name";
            drpcategory1.DataBind();
        }
    }

Hope this will help you.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0