How to initialise data model before insert in ASP.net FormView

Question

I have created a simple FormView in ASP.net 4.5

<asp:FormView runat="server"
   ItemType="Wms.Models.GuiComponent"
   DataKeyNames="GuiComponentId"
   DefaultMode="Insert"
   SelectMethod="GetItem"
   InsertMethod="InsertItem"
   RenderOuterTable="false">
   <InsertItemTemplate>
      <div class="form-container">
         <asp:HiddenField runat="server" ID="TypeId" Value="<%# BindItem.TypeId %>"/>
         <div class="row">
            <asp:Label runat="server" AssociatedControlID="Reference">Reference</asp:Label>
            <asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="Reference" TextMode="SingleLine" Text="<%# BindItem.Reference %>" />
         </div>
         <div class="controls margin-top-05">
            <asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" Text="Create" CommandName="Insert" ValidationGroup="GuiComponent" runat="server" />
         </div>
      </div>
   </InsertItemTemplate>
</asp:FormView>

I would like to be able to pre-populate some of the fields (e.g. TypeId in the above example) so that a complete model is returned to InserItem() method, and also because pre-populating some fields improves/helps the user experience (common default values for example). I had thought/hoped that the FormView's SelectMethod would do this, but apparently it doesn't.

// This method is not called for the InsertItemTemplate
public GuiComponent GetItem()
{
   return new GuiComponent
   {
      // Initialise properties here
      TypeId = GuiType.GuiComponentTypeId
   };
}


public void InsertItem()
{
   var model = new GuiComponent();
   try
   {
      TryUpdateModel(model);

      if (ModelState.IsValid)
      {
         GuiComponentService.Insert(model);
         UnitOfWork.SaveChanges();

         var url = String.Format("../../ComponentDetail.aspx?id={0}",
            model.GuiComponentId);

         Response.Redirect(url, false);
      }
   }
   catch (DbEntityValidationException dbException)
   {
      ModelState.AddException(dbException);
   }
   catch (Exception ex)
   {
      ModelState.AddException("", ex);
   }
}

I could, I suppose, initialise the controls on the form directly, but this seems cumbersome.

Does anyone know if there is a solution to this?

Answer 1

This is an old question but:

Use the form view IntemInserting method. So, to set TypeID you would do something like:

protected void FormView_ItemInserting(object sender, FormViewInsertEventArgs e)
{
    e.Values["TypeId"] = TheDefaultValue;
}