Programming C# 3.0, 5th Edition

Data Binding

Various technologies have offered programmers the opportunity to bind controls to data so that as the data was modified, the controls responded automatically. However, as Rocky used to say to Bullwinkle, "That trick never works." Bound controls often provided the developer with severe limitations in how the control looked and performed.

The ASP.NET designers set out to solve these problems and provide a suite of robust data-bound controls, which simplify display and modification of data, sacrificing neither performance nor control over the UI. From version 2.0, they have expanded the list of bindable controls and provided even more out-of-the-box functionality.

In the previous section, you hardcoded radio buttons onto a form, one for each of three shippers in the Northwind database. That can't be the best way to do it; if you change the shippers in the database, you have to go back and rewire the controls. This section shows you how you can create these controls dynamically and then bind them to data in the database.

You might want to create the radio buttons based on data in the database because you can't know at design time what text the buttons will have, or even how many buttons you'll need. To accomplish this, you'll bind your RadioButtonList to a data source.

Create a new page (right-click on the project, and choose Add New Item; put your form in split view; from the dialog box, choose Web Form). Name the new Web Form DisplayShippers.aspx.

From the toolbox, drag a ...