Paging with a Data Source Control

PagerDataSource using an ObjectDataSource without paging support

This sample shows how to use the PagerDataSource to obtain data from an ObjectDataSource in order to populate a DataList. In this sample our data mapper configured in the ObjectDataSource does not supports paging. To see an example where the ObjectDataSource does support paging, choose the sample "Paging a DataSourceControl (1)".

What we want is to populate the DataList with items obtained from the ObjectDataSource and also let the user choose the page of data to show. However, the ObjectDataSource will return all the rows in the table (as we aren't using custom paging) but we only want to show one page of data at a time. The PagerDataSource we can solve this without writing a single line of code!

The PagerDataSource control acts as a data source and as a data consumer. The DataList will consume the data exposed by the PagerDataSource (the data of the current page), and the PagerDataSource will consume the data exposed by the ObjectDataSource.

Fortunately, the PagerDataSource also exposes full design time information to the controls using it, so in design time we'll have all the type information and fields of the underlying data source (check the design time integration sample for more information).

The source code for this page is shown after the live sample.

Product List

Product 1

Full description for product number 1

2.00 $

Product 2

Full description for product number 2

4.00 $

Product 3

Full description for product number 3

6.00 $

Product 4

Full description for product number 4

8.00 $

Product 5

Full description for product number 5

10.00 $

Product 6

Full description for product number 6

12.00 $

Product 7

Full description for product number 7

14.00 $

Product 8

Full description for product number 8

16.00 $

Product 9

Full description for product number 9

18.00 $

Product 10

Full description for product number 10

20.00 $

Product 11

Full description for product number 11

22.00 $

Product 12

Full description for product number 12

24.00 $

Product 13

Full description for product number 13

26.00 $

Product 14

Full description for product number 14

28.00 $

Sample source code

The ASPX file for this sample is:.

            <%@
            Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/DefaultMaster.master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Paging_DataSourceId2.aspx.cs" 
                                Inherits="Paging_DataSourceId2"
            Title="Paging with a Data Source Control" %>

            <%@
            Register Assembly="PagerDataSource" Namespace="Manu.Web.UI.WebControls" TagPrefix="manu" %>

            <asp:Content 
                    ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="Content" Runat="Server">

<h2>Product
            List</h2>
             
                   <asp:DataList 
                    ID="DataList1" runat="server"
        
                    DataKeyField="id"
            DataSourceID="PagerDataSource1" 

                    RepeatColumns="7"
            RepeatDirection="Horizontal"
            Width="100%">

                    <ItemTemplate>

                        <table>

                            <tr>

                <td align="center">

            <asp:Label 
                    ID="idLabel" runat="server"
        
            Text='<%# Eval("id") %>'></asp:Label>

                </td>

                            </tr>

                            <tr>

                <td align="center">

            <b><asp:Label
            ID="nameLabel"
            runat="server"
        
            Text='<%# Eval("name") %>'></asp:Label></b>

                </td>

                            </tr>

                            <tr>

                <td align="center">

            <asp:Label 
                    ID="descriptionLabel" 
                        runat="server"
        
            Text='<%# Eval("description") %>'></asp:Label>

                </td>

                            </tr>

                            <tr>

                <td align="center">

            <asp:Label 
                    ID="priceLabel" runat="server"
        
            Text='<%# Eval("price", "{0:#0.00}") %>'>

            </asp:Label>
            $

                </td>

                            </tr>

                        </table>

                    </ItemTemplate>

                </asp:DataList>

                <manu:PagerDataSource
            ID="PagerDataSource1"
            runat="server"
        
                    DataSourceID="ObjectDataSource1"
            PageSize="14">

                </manu:PagerDataSource>

                <asp:ObjectDataSource
            ID="ObjectDataSource1"
            runat="server"
        
                    TypeName="ProductsDAL"
            SelectMethod="GetData">

                </asp:ObjectDataSource>

            </asp:Content>

The code-behind file (ASPX.CS) is:

using System;
 
public partial class Paging_DataSourceId1 : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
}