ASP.NET Datagrid, populating empty rows from recordset

in this case, you have two options:
=======================
<asp:DataGrid Id="DataGrid1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False">
<Columns>
<asp:TemplateColumn>
<HeaderTemplate>Use Id</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><%# IIf(DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataRowView).Row.IsNull("data"),"Untitled",DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataRowView)("data").ToString) %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>
</Columns>
</asp:DataGrid>

or

<asp:DataGrid Id="DataGrid1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False">
<Columns>
<asp:TemplateColumn>
<HeaderTemplate>Use Id</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><%# ProcessItem(Container.DataItem,"data") %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>
</Columns>
</asp:DataGrid>

...
Public Function ProcessItem(ByVal dataItem As Object, ByVal column As String) As String
      Dim viewRow As DataViewRow = DirectCast(dataItem,DataViewRow)
      Dim value As String = "Untitled"
      If Not viewRow.Row.IsNull(column) Then
            value = viewRow(column).ToString()
      End If
      
      Return value
End Function

assuming the data source is either a datatable or a dataview.

Thanks guys. This is actually a recordset from an  Index Server query. I assume it is not the same, since after implementing b1xml2's code I get

Type 'DataRowView' is not defined

*extreme newbie* my apologies and thanks for the help

typo
===
<ItemTemplate><%# IIf(DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataViewRow).Row.IsNull("data"),"Untitled",DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataViewRow)("data").ToString) %></ItemTemplate>

Here's where i frustrate you :)

Same error. here is the code I am using

<Columns>

<asp:TemplateColumn>
<HeaderTemplate>docTitle</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><%# IIf(DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataViewRow).Row.IsNull("DocTitle"),"Untitled",DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataViewRow)("DocTitle").ToString) %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>

<asp:HyperLinkColumn HeaderText="Title" DataNavigateUrlField="VPATH" DataNavigateUrlFormatString="" DataTextField="DocTitle" Target="_blank" ItemStyle-Font-Size="11px" />

<asp:BoundColumn DataField="create" HeaderText="Created" ItemStyle-Font-Size="11px"></asp:BoundColumn>
<asp:BoundColumn DataField="write" HeaderText="Modified" ItemStyle-Font-Size="11px"></asp:BoundColumn>
<asp:BoundColumn DataField="characterization" HeaderText="Abstract" ItemStyle-Font-Size="11px"></asp:BoundColumn>

</Columns>

Whats the data source type? a datatable, or data reader??

do us a favour:
<asp:TemplateColumn>
<HeaderTemplate>docTitle</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><%# Container.DataItem.GetType() %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>

This will tell me the data type of the container

The ugly way is this:
<asp:TemplateColumn>
<HeaderTemplate>docTitle</HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><%# IIf(DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"DocTitle").ToString() = "" ,"Untitled",DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"DocTitle").ToString()) %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateColumn>

System.Data.DataRowView ?

Mine was much simple

Excellent, this works very well, thank you. Oddly enough I am running into rows which still appear blank though. Any ideas?

jitganguly, i would not disagree with you, however I am such a newbie in .NET I was not able to determine how to implement your solution.

in that case, there are empty string values...

<ItemTemplate><%# IIf(DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataRowView).Row.IsNull("DocTitle") OrElse DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataRowView)("DocTitle").ToString().Trim() = "","Untitled",DirectCast(Container.DataItem,DataRowView)("DocTitle").ToString) %></ItemTemplate>

>>I was not able to determine how to implement your solution.

Item data bound fires just before data bound so thats the last chance you could tweak with your data. If you had used VS.net, it would have been easier for you and accpeted my comment :-)

Sweet, thanks b1xml2, that worked perfectly.

jitanguly, i realize that if I had more knowledge or a better understanding of the VS.NET IDE i would have known how to implement your solution, so it is primarily my problem for not being able to implement your solution.

If if it acceptable to you both I will split the points and give jitanguly 150 points for being the first to answer and providing an assisted solution that others (who arent newbs like me!) will be able to use. Is this ok?

Ok