How do I best populate an HTML table in ASP.NET?

Question

This is what I've got. It works. But, is there a simpler or better way?

ASPX Page…

<asp:Repeater ID="RepeaterBooks" runat="server">
    <HeaderTemplate>
        <table class="report">
            <tr>
                <th>Published</th>
                <th>Title</th>
                <th>Author</th>
                <th>Price</th>
            </tr>
    </HeaderTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
            <tr>
                <td><asp:Literal ID="LiteralPublished" runat="server" /></td>
                <td><asp:Literal ID="LiteralTitle" runat="server" /></td>
                <td><asp:Literal ID="LiteralAuthor" runat="server" /></td>
                <td><asp:Literal ID="LiteralPrice" runat="server" /></td>
            </tr>
    </ItemTemplate>
    <FooterTemplate>
        </table>
    </FooterTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

ASPX.VB Code Behind…

Protected Sub Page_Load( ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    Dim db As New BookstoreDataContext
    RepeaterBooks.DataSource = From b In db.Books _
                               Order By b.Published _
                               Select b
    RepeaterBooks.DataBind()
End Sub

Sub RepeaterBooks_ItemDataBound( ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.RepeaterItemEventArgs) Handles RepeaterBooks.ItemDataBound
    If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Item Or e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.AlternatingItem Then
        Dim b As Book = DirectCast(e.Item.DataItem, Book)
        DirectCast(e.Item.FindControl("LiteralPublished"), Literal).Text = "<nobr>" + b.Published.ToShortDateString + "</nobr>"
        DirectCast(e.Item.FindControl("LiteralTitle"), Literal).Text = "<nobr>" + TryNbsp(HttpContext.Current.Server.HtmlEncode(b.Title)) + "</nobr>"
        DirectCast(e.Item.FindControl("LiteralAuthor"), Literal).Text = "<nobr>" + TryNbsp(HttpContext.Current.Server.HtmlEncode(b.Author)) + "</nobr>"
        DirectCast(e.Item.FindControl("LiteralPrice"), Literal).Text = "<nobr>" + Format(b.Price, "c") + "</nobr>"
    End If
End Sub

Function TryNbsp(ByVal s As String) As String
    If s = "" Then
        Return "&nbsp;"
    Else
        Return s
    End If
End Function

Answer 1

@Geoff

That sort of Eval statement was actually added in 2.0, but if performance is important Eval should be avoided since it uses Reflection.

The repeater is a pretty good way of doing it, although it might be faster to generate the table in code:

ASPX Page:

<table class="report" id="bookTable" runat="server">
        <tr>
            <th>Published</th>
            <th>Title</th>
            <th>Author</th>
            <th>Price</th>
        </tr>
 </table>

Code Behind:

Protected Sub Page_Load( ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not Page.IsPostback Then
        BuildTable()
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub BuildTable()
    Dim db As New BookstoreDataContext
    Dim bookCollection = from b in db.Books _
                         Order By b.Published _
                         Select b
    Dim row As HtmlTableRow
    Dim cell As HtmlTableCell

    For Each book As Books In bookCollection
        row = New HtmlTableRow()
        cell = New HtmlTableCell With { .InnerText = b.Published.ToShortDateString }
        row.Controls.Add(cell)
        cell = New HtmlTableCell With { .InnerText = TryNbsp(HttpContext.Current.Server.HtmlEncode(b.Title)) }
        row.Controls.Add(cell)
        cell = New HtmlTableCell With { .InnerText = TryNbsp(HttpContext.Current.Server.HtmlEncode(b.Author))
        row.Controls.Add(cell)
        cell = New HtmlTableCell With { .InnerText = Format(b.Price, "c") }
        row.Controls.Add(cell)
        bookTable.Controls.Add(row)
    Next

I guess it depends on how important speed is to you. For simplicity's sake I think I would go with the Repeater.

Answer 2

The ListView control introduced with framework 3.5 might be a little bit better solution. Your markup would look like this:

<asp:ListView runat="server" ID="ListView1"
    DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1">
  <LayoutTemplate>
    <table runat="server" id="table1" runat="server" >
      <tr runat="server" id="itemPlaceholder" ></tr>
    </table>
  </LayoutTemplate>
  <ItemTemplate>
    <tr runat="server">
      <td runat="server">
        <asp:Label ID="NameLabel" runat="server"
          Text='<%#Eval("Name") %>' />
      </td>
    </tr>
  </ItemTemplate>
</asp:ListView>

You'll want to set your data source ID from a public or private property in the code-behind class.