FormView Control in ASP.Net : Part 1

Introduction

We use the FormView control to do anything that we also can do with the DetailsView control. Just as we can with the DetailsView control, we can use the FormView control to display, page, edit, insert, and delete database records. However, unlike the DetailsView control, the FormView control is entirely template driven. I end up using the FormView control much more than the DetailsView control. The FormView control provides us with more control over the layout of a form. Furthermore, adding validation controls to a FormView is easier than adding validation controls to a DetailsView control.

Displaying Data with FormView Control

We can display a database record with the FormView control by using an ItemTemplate. For example, the page given below displays a record from the BOOK_LIST database table.

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

</script>

<asp:FormView
id="frmBooks"
DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1"
Runat="server">
<ItemTemplate>
<b><u><%# Eval("TITLE")%></u></b>
<br />
<b>Serial Number:</b>
<%# Eval("ID")%>
<br />
<b>Author:</b>
<%# Eval("AUTHOR")%>
<br />
<b>Price:</b>
<%# Eval("PRICE")%>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:FormView>

<asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource1" runat="server"
ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:DatabaseConnectionString1 %>"
ProviderName="<%$ ConnectionStrings:DatabaseConnectionString1.ProviderName %>"
SelectCommand="SELECT [ID], [TITLE], [AUTHOR], [PRICE] FROM [BOOK_LIST]">
</asp:SqlDataSource>

</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

In above code, FormView control's DataSourceID property points to the SqlDataSource control. The SqlDataSource control retrieves the first record from the Movies database table.

Notice that the ItemTemplate contains databinding expressions that display the values of the TITLE, ID, AUTHOR and PRICE columns. The Eval() method retrieves the values of these columns. I have also used CSS for its better look.

Note: Continue in Next Part.

HAVE A GREAT CODING!