Getting edited data from Repeater control in asp.net

Question

I have a list

List<DashboardFinancialDates> financialDates = new List<DashboardFinancialDates>();

and I bind this list to a repeater as a data source

FinancialDates.DataSource = financialDates;
                FinancialDates.DataBind();

and here is my repeater control

   <asp:Repeater ID="FinancialDates" runat="server">
                                            <HeaderTemplate>
                                                <table class="DashboardConfigTable">
                                                    <thead>
                                                        <tr>
                                                            <th>Month</th>
                                                            <th>Start Date</th>
                                                            <th>End Date</th>
                                                        </tr>
                                                    </thead>
                                                    <tbody>
                                            </HeaderTemplate>
                                            <ItemTemplate>
                                                <tr>
                                                    <td> <%# Eval("Month") %></td>
                                                    <td><input type="text" class="datepicker" value="<%# Eval("StartDate")%>" /></td>
                                                    <td><input type="text" class="datepicker" value="<%# Eval("EndDate")%>" /></td>
                                                </tr>
                                            </ItemTemplate>
                                            <FooterTemplate>
                                                </tbody>
    </table>
                                            </FooterTemplate>
                                        </asp:Repeater>

Now I am making changes via the edit textbox datepicker and I was thinking repeater will automatically modify the datasource with the updated data but that's not happening. Can someone please tell me how I can catch the edited values back from the repeater on page submit.

Thanks

Answer 1

You have to retrieve the data from the Repeater upon postback. For this to work, you need to use ASP.NET controls to display and edit the data in the markup:

<ItemTemplate>
    <tr>
        <td>
            <asp:Label ID="lbl" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Month") %>'></asp:Label></td>
        <td>
            <asp:TextBox ID="txtDateFrom" runat="server" CssClass="datepicker" Text='<%# Eval("StartDate")%>' /></td>
        <td>
            <asp:TextBox ID="txtDateTo" runat="server" CssClass="datepicker" Text='<%# Eval("EndDate")%>' /></td>
    </tr>
</ItemTemplate>

Upon postback, you can retrieve the data like this:

private IEnumerable<Tuple<string, DateTime, DateTime>> GetUpdatedItems()
{
    var lst = new List<Tuple<string, DateTime, DateTime>>();
    var items = rpt.Items
        .OfType<RepeaterItem>()
        .Where(x => x.ItemType == ListItemType.Item
                    || x.ItemType == ListItemType.AlternatingItem);
    foreach (var item in items)
    {
        var month = ((Label)item.FindControl("lbl")).Text;
        var dateFromStr = ((TextBox)item.FindControl("txtDateFrom")).Text;
        var dateToStr = ((TextBox)item.FindControl("txtDateTo")).Text;
        var dateFrom = DateTime.Parse(dateFromStr);
        var dateTo = DateTime.Parse(dateToStr);
        lst.Add(Tuple.Create(month, dateFrom, dateTo));
    }
    return lst.ToArray();
}

The code iterates over the Repeater items and retrieves the values of the controls.

If you need an id for the item, you can add a HiddenField to the ItemTemplate and also retrieve it during PostBack.