Concatenation
If the value you would like to appear can be derived from multiple database fields, you can use concatentation in the SQL statement to create an expression. For example, a common requirement is to provide a count of items in a category in brackets (parentheses) after the name of a category, eg Beverages (12). Using the Northwind database (and the Access version is good enough for this demonstration), the following is the SQL that would achieve such an outcome:
SELECT Categories.CategoryID,
Categories.CategoryName & ' (' & Count(Products.ProductID) & ')' As CountOfCategories
FROM Categories
INNER JOIN Products
ON Categories.CategoryID = Products.CategoryID
GROUP BY Categories.CategoryID, Categories.CategoryName
CountOfCategories is the expression that holds the value we want, which comprises the CategoryName value, followed by an opening bracket, concatented with the value from Count(Products.ProductID) for each CategoryName and finished off with a closing bracket. It's a simple job to apply this value to the DataTextField property:
[c#]
string connect = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=|DataDirectory|Northwind.mdb";
OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(connect);
string query = @"SELECT Categories.CategoryID,
Categories.CategoryName & ' (' & Count(Products.ProductID) & ')'
As CountOfCategories
FROM Categories
INNER JOIN Products
ON Categories.CategoryID = Products.CategoryID
GROUP BY Categories.CategoryID, Categories.CategoryName";
OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand(query, conn);
conn.Open();
OleDbDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
CheckBoxList1.DataSource = rdr;
CheckBoxList1.DataTextField = "CountOfCategories";
CheckBoxList1.DataValueField = "CategoryID";
CheckBoxList1.DataBind();
rdr.Close();
conn.Close();
[VB]
Dim query As String = "SELECT Categories.CategoryID," & _
"Categories.CategoryName & ' (' & Count(Products.ProductID) & ')' " & _
"As CountOfCategories" & _
"FROM Categories " & _
"INNER JOIN Products" & _
"ON Categories.CategoryID = Products.CategoryID" & _
"GROUP BY Categories.CategoryID, Categories.CategoryName"
Dim connect As String
connect = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=|DataDirectory|Northwind.mdb"
Dim conn As New OleDbConnection(connect)
Dim cmd As New OleDbCommand(query, conn)
conn.Open()
Dim rdr As OleDbDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader()
CheckBoxList1.DataSource = rdr
CheckBoxList1.DataTextField = "CountOfCategories"
CheckBoxList1.DataValueField = "CategoryID"
CheckBoxList1.DataBind()
rdr.Close()
conn.Close()
PreRender
A Control's PreRender event occurs after a control has been loaded into memory on the web server, but before it is rendered to the html stream. so it is at this point during the page's lifecycle that any final tweaks can be made to the properties of a control. Consequently, if you want to customise the DataTextField values, this is when you do it. In the example below, each of the items in the list are enumerated, and that enumeration is applied to the DataTextField value. First, though, the DataTextField needs to be populated:
[C#] string connect = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=|DataDirectory|Northwind.mdb"; string query = @"SELECT CategoryID, CategoryName FROM Categories"; OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(connect); OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand(query, conn); conn.Open(); OleDbDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(); CheckBoxList1.DataSource = rdr; CheckBoxList1.DataTextField = "CategoryName"; CheckBoxList1.DataValueField = "CategoryID"; CheckBoxList1.DataBind(); rdr.Close(); conn.Close();
[VB] Dim connect As String connect = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=|DataDirectory|Northwind.mdb" Dim query As String = "SELECT CategoryID, CategoryName FROM Categories" Dim conn As New OleDbConnection(connect) Dim cmd As New OleDbCommand(query, conn) conn.Open() Dim rdr As OleDbDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader() CheckBoxList1.DataSource = rdr CheckBoxList1.DataTextField = "CategoryName" CheckBoxList1.DataValueField = "CategoryID" CheckBoxList1.DataBind() rdr.Close() conn.Close()
Now we create an event handler for the CheckBox's PreRender event. Within the handler, we define an integer and set it's value to 1. Iterating through the collection of ListItems, we obtain the Text property then modify it by having the value of the integer variable prepended. Then the integer value is advanced by 1.
[C#]
protected void CheckBoxList1_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int i = 1;
foreach (ListItem item in CheckBoxList1.Items)
{
string curval = item.Text;
item.Text = i.ToString() + ". " + curval;
i++;
}
}
[VB]
Protected Sub CheckBoxList1_PreRender(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
Handles CheckBoxList1.PreRender
Dim i As Integer = 1
For Each item As ListItem In CheckBoxList1.Items
Dim curval As String = item.Text
item.Text = i.ToString() & ". " & curval
i = i + 1
Next
End Sub
