Which control for this scenario?

Question

I have a page that contains 2 dropdowns, 2 textboxes and a Button. The user will select items from the dropdowns and then key in data into the textboxes. After doing so, they will click a button to take the information from these controls and populate an "Order Container". They will be able to enter multiple "Orders."

• Will the Gridview control be the route to go for this "Order Container"?
• Will the Gridview control allow me to insert multiple records?
• Does the Gridview control allow for removal of records?

Thanks for helping! Mike

Update: Here's how I'm updating the gridview:

Protected Sub imgAddOrderItemClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.ImageClickEventArgs) Handles imgAddOrderItem.Click
    Dim qty As String 'Integer
    Dim type As String
    Dim product As String
    Dim price As Integer
    Dim count As Integer

    count = GridView1.Rows.Count
    type = ddlProductTypes.SelectedItem.ToString
    product = ddlProductFamilies.SelectedItem.ToString
    price = 11
    qty = TextBox10.Text


    ' Populate the datatable with your data (put this in appropriate loop)        
    dr = dt.NewRow        
    dr("Type") = type
    dr("Product") = product
    dr("Qty") = qty
    dr("Price") = price

    ' Add the row
    dt.Rows.Add(dr)

    dt.AcceptChanges()

    GridView1.DataSource = dt 'GetData()
    GridView1.DataBind()

End Sub

Answer 1

GridView is fine !

Where is your dt coming from?

I think the problem is that when you post back, your dt gets initialised and therefore it is empty. That is why you only get a one (new) record every time. There are two ways to sort it,

(1). You have to keep dt (or data source) in your session and your code is fine.

(2). If dt is not in session, you need to first loop through the gridview rows and columns to fill already added data (if any), next add the new order and finally bind it to the gridview.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The Gridview will work just fine. You are seeing your row overwritten most likely because your data table ( dt ) in your code is being reinstantiated on every request. What you need to do is keep that table in memory (put it in Session, for example), grab it from there, add the new row and rebind the GridView. Something like this:

Protected Sub imgAddOrderItemClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.ImageClickEventArgs) Handles imgAddOrderItem.Click
dt = Session("Data")

  If dt is Nothing Then
    ' Create your DT columns here
      Session.Add("Data",dt)
  End If

  'Add rows here and rebind
  dr = dt.NewRow        
  dr("Type") = type
  dr("Product") = product
  dr("Qty") = qty
  dr("Price") = price

  ' Add the row
  dt.Rows.Add(dr)

  dt.AcceptChanges()

  GridView1.DataSource = dt 'GetData()
  GridView1.DataBind()
End Sub