Nested Control with Checkbox select???

[baden]

I need help with the following:

The code below (and code-behind) creates a nested Repeater control, that looks like this:

Desserts
[ ] Cakes
[ ] Cookies
[ ] Ice Cream
[ ] Mousse
[ ] Pastries
[ ] Pies

Dining
[ ] African
[ ] Chinese
[ ] Contemporary
[ ] French

Instead of using a repeater inside, would it be better to use a DataGrid control?

Also, I want to be able to select all items in a given category (adding a checkbox beside the category), and entering into the db. (later, I'll want to read the saved values and populate the checkboxes accoringly).

For the checkbox ID (for sub-categories - the only ones I'm interested in collecting) I tried id="chkbox_<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "[\"iscID\"]")%>" which returns the error, "Parser Error Message: The server tag is not well formed."

<asp:repeater id="parentRepeater" runat="server">
   <itemtemplate>
   	<span class="contentHeader1">
   		<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "icDescription") %>
   	</span><br>
   	<table>
   		<!-- start child repeater -->
   		<asp:repeater id="childRepeater" datasource='<%# ((DataRowView)Container.DataItem).Row.GetChildRows("myrelation") %>' runat="server">
   			<itemtemplate>
   				<tr>
   					<td width="10px">&nbsp;</td>
   					<td>
   						<input type="checkbox" id="checkbox_ID" runat="server">
   					</td>
   					<td><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "[\"iscDescription\"]")%> </td>
   				</tr>
   			</itemtemplate>
   		</asp:repeater>
   		<!-- end child repeater -->
   	</table>
   	<br>
   </itemtemplate>
</asp:repeater>

The Code-Behind:

		public void BindData()
		{
			// using nested repeater
			SqlConnection objConn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ConnectionString"]);
			SqlDataAdapter cmd1 = new SqlDataAdapter("SELECT * " +
													 "FROM InterestCategory " +
													 "ORDER BY icDescription ASC", objConn);
													 
			DataSet ds = new DataSet();
			cmd1.Fill(ds, "InterestCategory");

			//Create a second DataAdapter for the Titles table.
			SqlDataAdapter cmd2 = new SqlDataAdapter("SELECT * " +
													 "FROM InterestSubCategory " +
													 "ORDER BY iscDescription ASC", objConn);
			cmd2.Fill(ds,"InterestSubCategory");

			//Create the relation bewtween the Authors and Titles tables.
			ds.Relations.Add("myrelation",
				ds.Tables["InterestCategory"].Columns["icID"],
				ds.Tables["InterestSubCategory"].Columns["icID"]);
			

			parentRepeater.DataSource = ds.Tables["InterestCategory"];
			Page.DataBind();
			//myRepeater.DataSource = ds;
			//myRepeater.DataBind();

			objConn.Close();
		}

 

[baden]

Well, I suppose I will continue to answer my own questions in order to help those who may experience the same issues... but I'm stuck again: Checkboxes - selecting all items in a given category, and retrieving those for database storage on submit.

First of all - Success! I've adapted code from

http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/072603-1.aspx

to C# and added a TemplateColumn containing a checkbox:

The ID is just there for now to show, as I'm going to want to retrieve those (when they're applied in the checkbox ID's later).

The resultant page shows:

Preference       ID   
Bar / Night Club        []
Dance Club       16  []
Lounge           17  []
Pre-Club Hangout 18  []  
Pubs             15  []  
Sports Bar       14  []  
Desserts                []
Cakes            106 []   
Cookies          110 []

Where [] is a checkbox.

<asp:datagrid id="DataGrid1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" OnItemDataBound="DataGrid1_ItemDataBound"Cellpadding="3">
<Columns>

	<asp:BoundColumn DataField="iscDescription" HeaderText="Preference"></asp:BoundColumn>
	<asp:BoundColumn DataField="iscID" HeaderText="ID"></asp:BoundColumn>
	
	<asp:TemplateColumn HeaderText="ChkBox">
		<HeaderTemplate>
			<asp:CheckBox id="chkAll" 
				AutoPostBack="false" ToolTip="Select/Deselect All"
				onClick="javascript:SelectAllCheckboxes(this);"
				runat="server">
			</asp:CheckBox>
		</HeaderTemplate>
		<ItemTemplate>
			<asp:CheckBox id="chkSelect" 
				AutoPostBack="false" ToolTip="Select/Deselect"
				onClick="javascript:HighlightRow(this);"
				runat="server">
			</asp:CheckBox>
		</ItemTemplate>
	</asp:TemplateColumn>																							
</Columns>
</asp:datagrid>

I added the Javascript code found at

http://www.codeproject.com/aspnet/Multi-select_Dataagrid.asp

and the checkbox stuff from there to try to get this going - obviously it won't work yet (won't do what I need it to do).


Code-behind:

		public void BindData()
		{
			//using a DataGrid, adapted from [URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/072603-1.aspx[/URL]
			SqlConnection objConn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ConnectionString"]);

			string CommandText = "SELECT icDescription, iscDescription, CAST(iscID AS varchar(50)) AS iscID " +
								 "FROM InterestSubCategory INNER JOIN InterestCategory ON InterestSubCategory.icID = InterestCategory.icID " +
								 "ORDER BY icDescription ASC, iscDescription ";

			SqlDataAdapter cmd1 = new SqlDataAdapter(CommandText, objConn);
			
			DataSet ds = new DataSet();
			cmd1.Fill(ds);


			string curCat = "";
			string prevCat = "";
			TableRow row = new TableRow();
			DataRow shRow;
			int i = 0;

			while (i <= ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count -1)
			{
				curCat = ds.Tables[0].Rows[i].ItemArray[0].ToString();
				
				if (curCat != prevCat)
				{
					prevCat = curCat;
					//shRow = new DataRow();
					shRow = ds.Tables[0].NewRow();
					shRow["iscDescription"] = ds.Tables[0].Rows[i].ItemArray[0];

					shRow["iscID"] = "SubHead";
					ds.Tables[0].Rows.InsertAt(shRow, i);

					i += 1;
				}

				i+=1;
			}


			DataGrid1.DataSource = ds;
			DataGrid1.DataBind();


		}

		public void DataGrid1_ItemDataBound(object sender, DataGridItemEventArgs e)
		{
			if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.AlternatingItem | e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Item)  //check the row type
			{
				if (e.Item.Cells[1].Text.Equals("SubHead"))
				{
					// format data and align text to left cell to the left

					// set colspan=3
					e.Item.Cells[0].ColumnSpan = 3;

					// remove right two cells
					e.Item.Cells.RemoveAt(1);
					//e.Item.Cells.RemoveAt(0);
	
					//align to left and format text to bold and set bgColor
					e.Item.Cells[0].Attributes.Add("align", "Left");
					e.Item.Cells[0].Font.Bold = true;
					e.Item.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(204,0,0);

				}
			}

		}