Problem: Nested Repeater won't databind()?

[Colin Nicholls]

Platform: ASP.NET 1.1

I have a repeater nested inside another repeater. My outer repeater is
looping fine. I am manually binding the inner repeater to a DataReader
obtained from another function.

My objects aren't null, my ItemDataBound() method is being called, and as
you can see I have verified that I have data.

Yet, the repeater does not appear in the final HTML, and what's more, after
the DataBind() call, the .Items.Count property is still 0. What am I doing
wrong?

Here is the code (I apologise for any text wrapping - is there a way to turn
that off?):

//------------------------------------------
protected void OuterRepeater_ItemDataBound( object sender,
System.Web.UI.WebControls.RepeaterItemEventArgs e )
{

System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItemType lt = e.Item.ItemType ;

if ( lt == System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItemType.Item ||
lt == System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItemType.AlternatingItem )
{

System.Web.UI.WebControls.Repeater innerRepeater ;

System.Data.Common.DbDataRecord dr = e.Item.DataItem as
System.Data.Common.DbDataRecord ;
if ( dr != null)
{
string cChildKeyValue = dr["CHILD_KEY"].ToString() ;

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader oReader =
this.getChildDataFor( cChildKeyValue ) ;
if ( oReader != null )
{
innerRepeater = e.Item.FindControl("InnerRepeater") as
Repeater ;
if ( rptrGlassPart != null )
{
// Prove we have the right data:
if ( false ) {
while( oReader.Read() )
{
Response.Write( "<div>Data: " +
oReader.GetString(0) + "</div>" );
}
}
else {
// These statements appear to have no effect.
// The repeater is not rendered in the output HTML:

innerRepeater.DataSource = oReader ;
innerRepeater.DataBind() ;

// innerRepeater.Items.Count = 0 at this point.
}
}
else {
Response.Write("<div>innerRepeater is null.</div>") ;
}
oReader.Close();
}
}
}
}
//------------------------------------------

Thanks in advance,
- Colin

 

[Karl Seguin]

I can't say that I see anything inherently wrong, I imagine that the
innerRepeater is actually named rptrGlassPart as you still have a reference
to it in your code. You could use some better try/catch and god only
knows where your connections are being closed for the inner repeater's
datareader...but that shouldn't be a problem. I'd also wonder if using a
dataset with 2 datatables and a DataRelation wouldn't make things more clear
(and maybe even more performant) but again I can't see that as being the
actual problem.

Perhaps its soemthing wrong with the html side of the repeater?

Karl

 

[Colin Nicholls]

I can't say that I see anything inherently wrong, I imagine that the
innerRepeater is actually named rptrGlassPart as you still have a
reference to it in your code.

oops! Yes, sorry, I simplified the posted code and missed a reference.

You could use some better try/catch and god only
knows where your connections are being closed for the inner repeater's
datareader...but that shouldn't be a problem.

I took out some of the try/catch and debug code for simplification. The
connections (several in total) are all being closed in Page_Unload().

I'd also wonder if using a dataset with 2 datatables and a DataRelation
wouldn't make things more clear (and maybe even more performant) but
again I can't see that as being the actual problem.

My associate suggested that as well, but this is a simplified case of a
multi-child entity problem so changing to related data sets wouldn't solve
everything. I just felt that this should work - inefficient as it may be -
and it wasn't.

Perhaps its soemthing wrong with the html side of the repeater?

If so, I can't figure it out. I have other (not nested) repeaters elsewhere
in my aspx that are working fine, binding to DataReaders using the same
mechanism.

Thanks for verifying that it's not a simple newbie error. I have several
options to try.

1) bind the innerRepeater to a dataset instead of a reader (who knows? might
work)

2) use an inner DataGrid instead of a Repeater, bind it to the Reader
(ditto)

3) work up a REALLY simple nested Repeater example to see if it shows the
same problem.

Thanks again, Karl,
- Colin