Access a UserControl in a Gridview from the RowDatBound method

Question

I have a gridview and within the item template i have a usercontrol which is losing it's value on postback. I want to be able to access the control from my RowDataBound method in the c# code behind and reassign the CandidateID value

GridView Control

<asp:TemplateField>
    <ItemTemplate>

        <Controls:LikeButton ID="CandidateLikeButton" runat="server" LikeType="Candidate"
           LikedObjectID='<%# Bind("CandidateID") %>' />

    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>

How can i do this?

Answer 1

You can access it with FindControl like any other Control and cast it back to it's type.

protected void GridView1_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        LikeButton LB = e.Row.FindControl("CandidateLikeButton") as LikeButton;

        LB.CandidateID = 1234;
    }
}