How to find controls in a repeater header or footer

I was wondering how one would find the controls in the HeaderTemplate or FooterTemplate of an Asp.Net Repeater control.

I can access them on the ItemDataBound event, but I was wondering how to get them after (for example to retrieve a value of an input in the header/footer).

Note: I posted this question here after finding the answer just so that I remember it (and maybe other people might find this useful).

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

As noted in the comments, this only works AFTER you’ve DataBound your repeater.

To find a control in the header:

lblControl = repeater1.Controls[0].Controls[0].FindControl("lblControl");

lblControl = repeater1.Controls[repeater1.Controls.Count - 1].Controls[0].FindControl("lblControl");

With extension methods

public static class RepeaterExtensionMethods
{
    public static Control FindControlInHeader(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        return repeater.Controls[0].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
    }

    public static Control FindControlInFooter(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        return repeater.Controls[repeater.Controls.Count - 1].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
    }
}

Method 2

Better solution

You can check item type in ItemCreated event:

protected void rptSummary_ItemCreated(Object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Footer) {
        e.Item.FindControl(ctrl);
    }
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Header) {
        e.Item.FindControl(ctrl);
    }
}

Method 3

You can take a reference on the control on the ItemCreated event, and then use it later.

Method 4

Find control into Repeater (Header, Item, Footer)

public static class FindControlInRepeater
{
    public static Control FindControl(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < repeater.Controls.Count; i++)
            if (repeater.Controls[i].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName) != null)
                return repeater.Controls[i].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
        return null;
    }
}

Method 5

This is in VB.NET, just translate to C# if you need it:

<Extension()>
Public Function FindControlInRepeaterHeader(Of T As Control)(obj As Repeater, ControlName As String) As T
    Dim ctrl As T = TryCast((From item As RepeaterItem In obj.Controls
                   Where item.ItemType = ListItemType.Header).SingleOrDefault.FindControl(ControlName),T)
    Return ctrl
End Function

Dim txt as string = rptrComentarios.FindControlInRepeaterHeader(Of Label)("lblVerTodosComentarios").Text

Method 6

The best and clean way to do this is within the Item_Created Event :

 protected void rptSummary_ItemCreated(Object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
        {
            switch (e.Item.ItemType)
            {
                case ListItemType.AlternatingItem:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.EditItem:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.Footer:
                    e.Item.FindControl(ctrl);
                    break;
                case ListItemType.Header:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.Item:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.Pager:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.SelectedItem:
                    break;
                case ListItemType.Separator:
                    break;
                default:
                    break;
            }
    }

Method 7

private T GetHeaderControl<T>(Repeater rp, string id) where T : Control
{
    T returnValue = null;
    if (rp != null && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id))
    {
        returnValue = rp.Controls.Cast<RepeaterItem>().Where(i => i.ItemType == ListItemType.Header).Select(h => h.FindControl(id) as T).Where(c => c != null).FirstOrDefault();
    }
    return returnValue;
}

Method 8

For ItemDataBound

protected void Repeater1_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Header)//header
    {
            Control ctrl = e.Item.FindControl("ctrlID");
    }
    else if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Footer)//footer
    {
            Control ctrl = e.Item.FindControl("ctrlID");
    }
}

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