They Thought They Could Stop Me.

I was working with a DataGrid that had a ButtonColumn in it.  I had a need to set the CommandArgument for this button.  Did you know there is no way to set a CommandArgument for a ButtonColumn?

image21

I was all prepared to grab that control and set that property in the ItemDataBound event, but it doesn’t seem to exist.  Most people would resort to a template column, stick a button in it and work on that control.  Problem was, I was doing everything in code with no markup.  That adds a little complexity to that alternative.

Setting a simple breakpoint in the ItemDataBound event, I looked a little closer at what I had to work with in the Immediate window.

? e.Item.Controls(3)
{System.Web.UI.WebControls.TableCell}
     System.Web.UI.WebControls.TableCell: {System.Web.UI.WebControls.TableCell}
? e.Item.Controls(3).Controls.Count
1
? e.Item.Controls(3).Controls(0)
{Text = “Edit”}
     System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGridLinkButton: {Text = “Edit”}

Hmm, it’s a DataGridLinkButton.  And it does have a CommandArgument property.  So let’s find that control and cast to that type and set that property.

image_thumb22

I see.  So this type is not user-accessible.  It doesn’t even show up in the Object Browser.  However, it does show up in Reflector, and I can see that it inherits from LinkButton, which is public.  Let’s whip up a quick function to find that control and return a LinkButton for setting the CommandArgument.

Woah, slow down a bit.  This is a ButtonColumn and it can be a link button, command button, or an image button.  If we have a function specifically for LinkButton, it’s going to potentially error out.  In the typical, excellent design of the .NET framework, these three button types are all related using the IButtonControl interface, which has properties for CommandName and CommandArgument.  So by using the interface instead of the exact type, we’re being safe and future-proofing ourselves against other button types.

Private Function GetButtonColumnButton(row As DataGridItem, commandName As String) As IButtonControl
    Return RecurseRowControls(row, commandName)
End Function

Private Function RecurseRowControls(ctl As WebControl, commandName As String) As IButtonControl
    Dim btn As IButtonControl

    ' loop through embedded controls
    For Each c As WebControl In ctl.Controls
        btn = TryCast(c, IButtonControl)

        ' if it is a button and the command name matches, return it
        If btn IsNot Nothing AndAlso String.Compare(btn.CommandName, commandName, True) = 0 Then
            Return btn
        End If

        ' if the control has child control, search them for the button
        If c.HasControls Then
            btn = RecurseRowControls(c, commandName)
            If btn IsNot Nothing Then Return btn
        End If
    Next

    ' no button found
    Return Nothing

End Function

And just like that, we can now have access to the button’s properties like Text, CommandName, CommandArgument, and CausesValidation.  That’s some great stuff there.

Private Sub Grid_ItemDataBound(sender As Object, e As DataGridItemEventArgs) Handles Me.ItemDataBound
    Dim btn As IButtonControl

    If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.AlternatingItem Or e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item Then
        btn = GetButtonColumnButton(e.Item, "Edit")
        btn.CommandArgument = "something like an ID"
        btn.Text = "specific text label"
    End If
End Sub

.