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Gridview - Add/remove rows on the fly without a database

I have a gridview created blank on the fly. At the end of every row, there's an Add/Remove link button that will add/remove rows. I have one textbox field they have to enter.
As they add new rows, the text they have entered in previous rows has to be displayed. Although I see this text (in debug mode), I can't display it in the table as I loop through the gridviewrow.

The error is: "Type of value has a mismatch with column type"

Thanks

Here's the sub that builds a blank gridview with one row:
    Private Sub BuildUploadTable()
        Dim dt As New DataTable
        Dim dc As New DataColumn("description")
        dtFiles.Columns.Add(dc)
        Dim dr As DataRow = dtFiles.NewRow
        dr("description") = "None"
        dtFiles.Rows.Add(dr)
        dsFiles.Tables.Add(dtFiles)
        'gFiles.DataSource = dsFiles
        gvFiles.DataSource = dtFiles
        gvFiles.DataBind()
        gvFiles.Visible = True
    End Sub
 
Here's the part that's problematic:
    Protected Sub gvFiles_RowCommand(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewCommandEventArgs) Handles gvFiles.RowCommand
        If dtFiles.Rows.Count = 0 Then
            dtFiles.Columns.Add("tbDesc", GetType(TextBox))
            dtFiles.Columns.Add("Add", GetType(ButtonColumn))
            dtFiles.Columns.Add("Remove", GetType(ButtonColumn))
        End If
        'Convert datagrid to dt
        Dim gr As GridViewRow
        Dim nr As DataRow
 
        For Each gr In gvFiles.Rows
            nr = dtFiles.NewRow
'BEGIN PROBLEM
            nr(0) = CType(gr.FindControl("tbDesc"), TextBox).Text 
            nr(1) = "Add"
            nr(2) = "Remove"
'END PROBLEM
            dtFiles.Rows.Add(nr)
        Next
 
        If e.CommandName = "Add" Then
            'Add new row to dt
            nr = dtFiles.NewRow
            dtFiles.Rows.Add(nr)
            dsFiles.Tables.Add(dtFiles)
            gvFiles.DataSource = dtFiles
            gvFiles.DataBind()
            gvFiles.Visible = True
        ElseIf e.CommandName = "Remove" Then
            dtFiles.Rows.RemoveAt(gvFiles.Rows(e.CommandArgument).RowIndex)
            dsFiles.Tables.Add(dtFiles)
            gvFiles.DataSource = dtFiles
            gvFiles.DataBind()
            gvFiles.Visible = True
        End If
    End Sub

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Bob Learned

You should be able to add/insert rows into the DataTable datasource, and rebind to get new rows.

Bob

tucson

ASKER

I added and removed rows successfully in the sample code above. The problem is displaying the previous row contents when a new row is added. I can see the textbox value in the table and dataset in debug mode but can't assign those values back into the gridview to be displayed.

Bob Learned

If you are correctly re-binding the GridView to the DataTable after adding a row, I don't see why it shouldn't work as expected.

Bob

tucson

ASKER

Please look at my code snippet. I can see the values in the dataset and datatable but once I rebind it, it's not in the gridview. Thanks.

Bob Learned

I did look at your code, and I was trying to say that there is some missing bit of information to show why you are having a problem, because the code doesn't show it.

Bob

tucson

ASKER

EnableViewState is True for the gridview.
I'm not sure what else to look for (what "missing bit"?) It doesn't show what?

tucson

ASKER

It seems like my problem is that I'm trying to store the fileupload and textbox objects into the gridview AS WELL AS trying to store the string values of the fileupload and the textbox contents. And I can't do that? When I preview the datatable, the objects are in there but the values can't be displayed because the gridview also needs to display the objects.
I tried a placeholder but it doesn't work either.

Bob Learned

Are you saying that you have a TemplateField defined with a FileUpload control and a TextBox in the same template?

Bob

tucson

ASKER

No they are 2 in different template columns. But I want to display the fileupload and textbox objects and their perviously entered values each time a new blank row is added.

In this example: http://geekswithblogs.net/casualjim/archive/2006/05/04/77151.aspx, you keep the fileupload/textbox objects in the footer row and adds the records into the gridview rows as labels. I want every row to be like the footer row in this example. I may just decide to to the footer row method since I'm not sure if what I'm trying to accomplish can be done in a gridview.

Bob Learned

How do you define your columns? Through the designer? In code?

You can't do this:

dtFiles.Columns.Add("Add", GetType(ButtonColumn))
dtFiles.Columns.Add("Remove", GetType(ButtonColumn))

And, then this:

nr(1) = "Add"
nr(2) = "Remove"

The type is not string, so you would need to add a ButtonColumn object. I don't think that is what you meant to do.

Bob

tucson

ASKER

I added the columns through the designer.
The code below displays the blank rows with the appropriate controls when I added a new row.
The problem is that I can't display the values that were entered in the previous row as they add new rows. Every row is blank. The datatable and gridview only store the controls and can't display the values.
In the example below, I can't do:
nr(0) = fileU.FileName
nr(1) = tb.text, which is what I want to do.

       For Each gr In gFiles.Rows
            nr = dtFiles.NewRow
            fileU = CType(gr.FindControl("FileToUpload"), FileUpload)
            tb = CType(gr.FindControl("tbDesc"), TextBox)
            bAdd = CType(gr.FindControl("btnAdd"), LinkButton)
            nr(0) = fileU
            nr(1) = tb
            nr(2) = bAdd
            dtFiles.Rows.Add(nr)
        Next
            gFiles.DataSource = dtFiles
            gFiles.DataBind()

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Bob Learned

So, you want a dynamic number of file uploads, instead of a fixed number of rows (the usual way of doing business)?

Bob

tucson

ASKER

Yes, because the range of number of uploads varies from 1 to 30.

Bob Learned

Does the <Add> button just insert a new row to upload? After you upload are you keeping track of the file name?

Bob

tucson

ASKER

The upload will occur as a batch, at the very end.
Yes, the Add button adds an empty row. I need to keep track of all the previous rows already entered before finally doing a batch upload.

Bob Learned

Attached is my version of a dynamic uploader page.

Bob

Bob Learned

<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="DynamicUploader.aspx.vb"
    Inherits="DynamicUploader" %>
 
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head id="Head1" runat="server">
    <title>Untitled Page</title>
    <style type="text/css">
        body { font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
        <div>
            <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" Height="50%" Width="100%" AutoGenerateColumns="False"
                Font-Names="Tahoma" Font-Size="10pt" OnRowCommand="GridView1_RowCommand" OnRowDataBound="GridView1_RowDataBound">
                <Columns>
                    <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Upload">
                        <ItemTemplate>
                            <asp:FileUpload ID="FileUpload" runat="server" Font-Names="Tahoma" Font-Size="10pt"
                                Width="100%" />
                            <asp:TextBox ID="FileName" runat="server" Width="100%" Visible="false" Text='<%# Eval("FileName") %>'></asp:TextBox>
                        </ItemTemplate>
                        <HeaderStyle Width="30%" />
                    </asp:TemplateField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="Description" HeaderText="Description">
                        <HeaderStyle Width="40%" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:ButtonField CommandName="Add" Text="Add">
                        <HeaderStyle Width="5%" />
                    </asp:ButtonField>
                </Columns>
            </asp:GridView>
        </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

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Bob Learned

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tucson

ASKER

Thanks, I'm looking into this after lunch.

tucson

ASKER

You are indeed a genius. Thank you for taking the time. You put the fileupload and a textbox in the same template column and hide/unhide the textbox. The textbox is used to store the filename for displaying it further.
Thanks

tucson

ASKER

I didn't expect to have the code provided to me at all. Initially his responses were vague ("missing things," "should work"). But at the end it's very clear. I will try to modify his code so that users can still browse to get their files even after a new row is inserted, perhaps create my own FileUpload subclass.

tucson

ASKER

Sorry to open this ticket again. When I upload the files at the end, what's the best way to read/write the files to upload them to the server? Since the upload control is no longer there (just the path is stored in a textbox), I can't call FileUpload.SaveAs method.
Thanks