Building Web Solutions with ASP.NET and ADO.NET

The DataList Control

If in the previous example you absentmindedly replaced Repeater with Data­List, your code would run perfectly and function in the same way. However, the two controls are not identical. DataList, which is a data bound control, offers you a full bag of new features, mostly in the area of graphical layout—in fact, its set of features begins where the set of features supported by the Repeater control ends. For example, it supports directional rendering in which items can flow horizontally or vertically, depending on the specified number of columns. DataList provides facilities to retrieve a key value associated with a current row in the data source and has built-in support for selection and editing. DataList also supports more ...