Access parent data in a nested strongly typed repeater

Question

Lets say I have a class structure that looks something like this:

public class A
{
    public string Poperty1 { get; set; }
    public string Poperty2 { get; set; }
    public List<B> Property3 { get; set; }
}

public class B
{
    public string Property4 { get; set; }
    public string Property5 { get; set; }
}

...and a couple of nested repeaters that look like this:

<asp:Repeater ItemType="A" runat="server">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <asp:Label Text="<%# Item.Property1 %>" runat="server" />
        <asp:Repeater runat="server" DataSource="<%# Item.Property3 %>" ItemType="B">
            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:Label Text="<%# Item.Property4 %>" runat="server" />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:Repeater>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

How would I access Property2 from the second repeater?

Do you mean DataSource="<%# Item.Property3 %>" instead of DataSource="<%# Item.Property2 %>" — Steven Wexler, May 02 '13 at 17:44

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

9

Well, from Accessing parent data in nested repeater, in the HeaderTemplate, I found the following solution. It's not the prettiest, but it works:

<%# ((Container.Parent.Parent as RepeaterItem).DataItem as A).Property2 %>

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

1
1

answered May 02 '13 at 18:00

Douglas Ludlow

10,754
6
30
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I was hoping for a solution that involved some magic property that contained the strongly typed parent... but I haven't been able to find one... – Douglas Ludlow May 02 '13 at 18:02

andersh · Answer 2 · 2013-06-25T22:27:20.703

You could use a generic Tuple as type for the inner repeater, and pass on the Item from the outer repeater:

<asp:Repeater ItemType="A" runat="server" ID="Rpt">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <asp:Label Text="<%# Item.Property1 %>" runat="server" />
        <asp:Repeater runat="server" 
            DataSource="<%#  Item.Property3.Select(innerItem => new Tuple<A,B>(Item, innerItem)) %>" 
            ItemType="System.Tuple<A,B>">
            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:Label Text="<%# Item.Item2.Property4 %>" runat="server" />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:Repeater>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

Be aware that ReSharper will protest against using generics in ItemType!

Here is a different example, closer to something I was working on:

<asp:Repeater runat="server" ID="RptWeekNumbers" ItemType="System.Int32">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <asp:Repeater runat="server" 
            DataSource="<%# Enumerable.Range(1, 5).Select(day => new Tuple<int,int>(Item, day))%>" 
            ItemType="System.Tuple<int,int>">
            <ItemTemplate>
                WeekNumber: <%# Item.Item1 %>, 
                DayNumber: <%# Item.Item2 %>
                <br />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:Repeater>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 09 '15 at 22:03

1

When setting the DataSource for the inner repeater:

DataSource='<%# Eval("Property3") %>'

Note the single quote when setting the value.

edited Sep 09 '15 at 22:03

mhall

3,671
3
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answered Sep 09 '15 at 21:53

Gilberto Santos

11
2

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 14 '20 at 14:09

You could assign the parent repeater's Item to a separate variable.

<script runat="server">
    A parentItem;
</script>
<asp:Repeater ItemType="A" runat="server">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <%# parentItem = Item %>
        <asp:Label Text="<%# Item.Property1 %>" runat="server" />
        <asp:Repeater runat="server" DataSource="<%# Item.Property3 %>" ItemType="B">
            <ItemTemplate>
                <asp:Label Text="<%# parentItem.Property4 %>" runat="server" />
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:Repeater>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

Be aware, that the assignment in the databinding expression, will render in the html the ToString value of the expression. You might want to overwrite the ToString method of your type A, or alternatively wrap the assignment in a helper function that returns null.

Access parent data in a nested strongly typed repeater

4 Answers4