Asp.net dynamic gridview buttons

Question

I have a gridview that is populated with data from SQL and I would like to add buttons/linkbuttons dynamically to its columns.

protected void gridview_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
        {

            Button button = new Button();
            button.ID = "row" + e.Row.RowIndex;
            button.Text = "click me";
            button.Click += new EventHandler(Unnamed_Click);
            e.Row.Cells[1].Controls.Add(button);
        }

Visually that works fine but when clicking it, it does a postback and the changes are lost. The buttons are gone.

Where can I recreate them so they persist?

Answer 1

You can use command field or template field for buttons, below is example for image button:

<asp:CommandField ShowEditButton="true" EditImageUrl="~/images/edit.png" ButtonType="Image" ItemStyle-Width="20px" HeaderStyle-Width="20px" AccessibleHeaderText="Edit">
  <HeaderStyle Width="20px" />
   <ItemStyle Width="20px" />
</asp:CommandField> 

Or 

<asp:TemplateField>
 <ItemTemplate>
  <asp:ImageButton ID="btnEdit" runat="server" CommandName="Edit"
   ImageUrl="~/images/edit.png" ToolTip="Click to Edit></asp:ImageButton>
 </ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>

Answer 2

Please use the below steps to bypass the binding of grid in case the click me button was clicked

Change your OnRowBound function code to:

  protected void gridview_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Row.DataItemIndex != -1)
            {
                Button button = new Button();
                button.ID = "gridview1row" + e.Row.RowIndex;
                button.UseSubmitBehavior = false;
                button.Text = "click me";
                button.Click += new EventHandler(Unnamed_Click);
                e.Row.Cells[1].Controls.Add(button);
            }
        }

Add the below check to you Page_Load before Grid View Load

     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            if ( Request.Params["__EventTarget"] == null || !Request.Params["__EventTarget"].Contains("gridview1row"))
            {
                using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(GetConnectionString()))
                {
                    using (SqlCommand command =
                        new SqlCommand("SELECT TOP 100 * FROM dbo.TableName", connection))
                    {
                        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
                        SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter();
                        da.SelectCommand = command;
                        da.Fill(ds);
                        GridView1.DataSource = ds;
                        GridView1.DataBind();
                    }
                }
            }

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
        }

    }