Unidev .NET Technology Blog

I find myself using .net data containers in many web applications.  Binding controls such as asp:Repeater and asp:DataList to data sources can make displaying your data more manageable.  In a few of those instances I need to have some of the data display in a little different manner depending on that particular info.

For example, a “sold” image could be shown if the status of a data item warrants it.  If the status is anything else no extra HTML is rendered.

<%# (DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Status").ToString() == "Sold") ?
<img src='/images/sold.gif' />" : "" %>

Instead of making a server-side control in my .aspx page then having my code behind find it in some sort of databound function, I find it cleaner to use an inline C# IF statement for simple display changes such as these.

In the sample code below, we are making an anchor link. The data in the “Type” column from the database describes if the data is a URL or an email address.  Our inline IF statement has this structure:

If the Type equals “Website” then add nothing to the data.  Otherwise, the data is an email address, so make a “mailto:” link out if it.

<asp:Repeater id="rptAddress" runat="server">
<ItemTemplate>

<a href="<%# (DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Type").ToString() == "Website") ?
 "" : "mailto:" %>   <%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Address")%>" >
<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Address")%>
</a>

</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

Just remember, the C# syntax for an inline If uses the question mark and a colon:

<% (condition) ? "true" : "false" %>