ListView PostBack ViewState

Hi,

I have been working through an issue for the last several days.

I have a ListView that has the following ItemTemplate and corresponding EditItemTemplate:

            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:PlaceHolder runat="server" ID="categoryHeadingPlaceHolder" >
                    <tr style="background-color:Gray;">
                        <td colspan="3" ><font color="white"><%# Eval("Category") %></font></td>
                    </tr>
                </asp:PlaceHolder>
                <tr style="<asp:Literal runat="server" ID="rowStyleLiteral" />">
                    <td>
                        <asp:PlaceHolder runat="server" ID="controlsPlaceHolder" >
                            <asp:ImageButton runat="server" ID="editControl" CommandName="Edit" ImageUrl="_images/icons/edit.gif"  />
                            <asp:ImageButton runat="server" ID="deleteControl" CommandName="Delete" ImageUrl="_images/icons/delete.gif"  />
                        </asp:PlaceHolder>
                        <a href="Document.aspx?GUID=<%# Eval("GUID") %>" ><%# Eval("displayName") %></a>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <%# (null == Eval("postedDate") ) ? string.Empty : Eval("postedDate", "{0:M/d/yyyy}") %>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <%# (null == Eval("effectiveDate")) ? string.Empty : Eval("effectiveDate", "{0:M/d/yyyy}")%>
                    </td>
                </tr>
            </ItemTemplate>

            <EditItemTemplate>
                <asp:PlaceHolder runat="server" ID="categoryHeadingPlaceHolder" >
                    <tr style="background-color:Gray;">
                        <td colspan="3" ><font color="white"><%# Eval("Category") %></font></td>
                    </tr>
                </asp:PlaceHolder>
                <tr style="<asp:Literal runat="server" ID="rowStyleLiteral" />">
                    <td>
                        <asp:PlaceHolder runat="server" ID="controlsPlaceHolder" >
                            <asp:ImageButton runat="server" ID="updateControl" CommandName="Update" ImageUrl="_images/icons/save.gif"  />
                            <asp:ImageButton runat="server" ID="cancelControl" CommandName="Cancel" ImageUrl="_images/icons/delete.gif"  />
                        </asp:PlaceHolder>
                        <asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="displayNameTextBox" Text='<%# Eval("displayName") %>' Columns="50" />
                        <asp:RequiredFieldValidator runat="server" ID="displayNameRqdVal" ControlToValidate="displayNameTextBox" Text="(required)" />
                        <br /><asp:DropDownList runat="server" ID="categoryDropDownList" />
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <%# (null == Eval("postedDate") ) ? string.Empty : Eval("postedDate", "{0:M/d/yyyy}") %>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <asp:Calendar
                            runat="server"
                            ID="effectiveDateCalender"
                            SelectedDate='<%# ( null == Eval("effectiveDate") ) ? DateTime.Today : Eval("effectiveDate") %>' />
                    </td>
                </tr>
            </EditItemTemplate>

Select allOpen in new window

The issue is with the PlaceHolder control within the templates.  I have the following EventHandler:

        protected void documentListView_ItemCreated(object sender, ListViewItemEventArgs e)
        {
            ((PlaceHolder)e.Item.FindControl("categoryHeadingPlaceHolder")).Visible = false;
            string currentCategory = DataBinder.Eval(e.Item.DataItem, "Category").ToString();
            if (!tmpCategoryName.Equals(currentCategory))
            {
                tmpCategoryName = currentCategory;
                ((PlaceHolder)e.Item.FindControl("categoryHeadingPlaceHolder")).Visible = true;
                tempBackgroundFlag = true;
            }

            ((PlaceHolder)e.Item.FindControl("controlsPlaceHolder")).Visible = false;
            if ((int)Session[Constants.Applications.AuditPortalString] > Constants.Permission.Readonly)
            {
                ((PlaceHolder)e.Item.FindControl("controlsPlaceHolder")).Visible = true;
            }


            if (tempBackgroundFlag)
            {
                ((Literal)e.Item.FindControl("rowStyleLiteral")).Text = "background-color:white;";
            }
            else
            {
                ((Literal)e.Item.FindControl("rowStyleLiteral")).Text = "background-color:lightyellow;";
            }

            tempBackgroundFlag = !tempBackgroundFlag;

        }

Select allOpen in new window

This event handler does 2 things, 1 it checks to see if the category of the current item is the same as the previous.  If it is, it hides the control.  The second task is to set the background color of the row.  

Everything works fine and the output is great except for the following sequence of events.  
1) a row is selected for editing
2) the date of the calendar control is changed.

The forces a postback.  Which shows all the category heading fields and removes all the background colors from the rows.

Doing a debug, confirms that the ItemCreated event is not firing on the post back, so the formatting is not being applied.

Theoritcally these are dynamically created controls which is within the Page_Load, thus are not loaded into the viewState.  

I tried moving the databinds into Page_Init.  The initial view worked fine, but when I went to edit any of the rows, the first row that fired ItemCreated had null references for the dataItem.  I moved it back and haven't explored it further.

Testing the dynamically created controls theory, there are several controls that are being placed in the item.  The control which initiates the problem is the calendar control.  I tested the theory by changing the text in the TextBox control, which doesn't force a postBack and then changing the calendar date which does force a postback.  The text stays.  What this tells me is that the controls added to the page via the ItemTemplate and EditItemTemplate are being added to ViewState, which should then include the PlaceHolder and tr controls which I am having difficulty with.

Thanks for the reading to the end and I look forward to a healthy discussion on the topic.