How can I data bind <%# Eval("Object.Property")%> programmatically in VB.NET

Question

I can bind a inner object property to gridview using the following setup at design time in an ASP.NET gridview

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="ObjectName" >
                            <ItemTemplate>                                        
                                            <%# Eval("Object.property")%>                                       
                                    </ItemTemplate>
                        </asp:TemplateField>

but what I would like to do know is create this programmatically at runtime

i.e. define my columns, add them to the gridview and then databind

Answer 1

One way would be to create a class that implements ITemplate interface:

public class PropertyTemplate : ITemplate
{
    private string _value = string.Empty;

    public PropertyTemplate(string propValue) 
    { 
        this._value = propValue;
    }

    public void InstantiateIn(Control container)
    {
        container.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(this._value));
    }
}

Then in your code-behind assing the ItemTemplate as following:

myTemplateField.ItemTemplate = new PropertyTemplate(myBusinessObject.MyProperty);

Another way would be to use Page.LoadTemplate if your custom template resides in the separate .ascx file:

myTemplateField.ItemTemplate = Page.LoadTemplate("~/MyTemplate.ascx");

And the .ascx file will look like:

<%# Eval("MyProperty") %>