Customizing DataGrid (or any control)

[kashif_82]

Hi, I have to customize a datagrid so that I can have the headers shows up in TH tag instead of TD tag and a few other things that are coming down the road so that those tables are accessible. I searched online and found an example which I was able to use but it's not doing what i want to do the proper (dynamic) way.
For now this is what I have: a class which Inherits System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGrid

    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Render(ByVal output As HtmlTextWriter)
        If Not Visible Then
            Return
        End If
        Dim writer As StringWriter = New StringWriter
        Dim buffer As HtmlTextWriter = New HtmlTextWriter(writer)
        MyBase.Render(buffer)
        Dim gridMarkup As String = writer.ToString
        Dim insertPoint As Integer

        'grab first instance of TR and closing TR
        Dim intStartTR, intEndTR As Integer
        intStartTR = gridMarkup.IndexOf("<tr>")
        intEndTR = gridMarkup.IndexOf("</tr>")

        Dim strHeadRow As String = gridMarkup.Substring(intStartTR, intEndTR - intStartTR)

        'replace all TDs that occur in between first TRs with TH
        strHeadRow = strHeadRow.Replace("<td", "<th scope=""col"" ")
        strHeadRow = strHeadRow.Replace("</td>", "</th>")

        gridMarkup = gridMarkup.Remove(intStartTR, intEndTR - intStartTR)
        gridMarkup = gridMarkup.Insert(intStartTR, strHeadRow)
        'end adding TH

        output.Write(gridMarkup)

    End Sub

The code above does what I want to do for now but as you can see it is sort of a static way of doing things. If I wanted to add something to the TH tag, I would have to add it here and then recompile the code and so on.

What I really want to do here is be able to create some custom properties (which will become attributes for TABLE) which can be assigned in the asp:TemplateColumn tags and then call them either in this Render or any other method to add them as attributes (headers, ID, etc).

I tired doing this (changing TD to TH for header items) in the code behind for ASPX page but I didn't get anywhere:

Private Sub onBound(ByVal o As Object, ByVal e As DataGridItemEventArgs) Handles dg2.ItemDataBound
        If e.Item.ItemType = ListItemType.Header Then
            Dim ctr As Control
            For Each ctr In e.Item.Controls
              'e.Item.RenderControl doesn't do anything
            Next
        End If
    End Sub

I know what I am asking for might be idiotic or just not possible but I dont see anyother way of getting the functionality of datagrid (without spending a whole lot of time) and yet still make it accessible. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Phil Weber]

Can you do your project in ASP.NET 2.0? It includes a number of improvements for creating accessible Web sites: http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040727.htm

If not, it looks like there's a patch available for the 1.1 datagrid: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Sectio...AndASPNET.aspx

[kashif_82]

thanks Phill. Unfortunately (or maybe it was planned, hmmm) every programmer got VS2005 a lonnnngggg time ago before me. And I haven't even started playing with it yet.
Thanks for the link but I am still out of luck for being able to do anything (any customization to add whatever I want to add) regarding the DataGrid class, aren't I?

[RobDog888]

Use css for it. Create a style and then set the datagrids style to it. There are multiple styles for parts like the header, footer, etc.

[kashif_82]

Yes, to control the style I am using CSS at many other places but style sheet will only handle the formatting, it's not going to handle the HTML output of the datagird. I am looking for a way to control the HTML output.