CookieParameters and Datasource's

Since the cookie support on DataSource controls for cookies is completely crap, my understanding is it is supposed to pull off the whole cookie(which is no use), if you need to pull of subkey values then doesnt work and it simply passes null.

To add this correctly, put the code in the page_load, this should hit the datasource before it has been rendered to the page.

This is the fastest in the way of 1 line.

Example:

NewsDataSource.WhereParameters.Add(new Parameter("RandomKey", DbType.String, Request.Cookies["CookieName"]["Key"]));

Note: When debugging things along these lines to see what value is passed to the database use sql profiler.

Entity Framework, Nested Controls, Nested Datasources

Well after lots of searching for a decent example of how to nest entity items using entity framework I ended up with my own solution after many painful hours.

The following code, passes a parameter/value through from a control the nested datasource and then in turn populates the control.  This is most useful when creating categories.

This is still work in progress, but hopefully it can be useful for those struggling with this entity framework lark as its not the easiest thing to work with.

<!--Categories-->

  <asp:EntityDataSource ID="CategoriesDataSource" runat="server" ConnectionString="name=NewsEntities1"

  DefaultContainerName="NewsEntities1" EnableFlattening="False" EntitySetName="tbl_NewsCategories"

  Select="it.[Category_ID], it.[Category_Title]">

  </asp:EntityDataSource>

 

 

  <asp:Repeater ID="Repeater1" runat="server" DataSourceID="CategoriesDataSource">

  <ItemTemplate>

  <div class="Article">

  <asp:Label ID="CategoryHeading" runat="server"><h2><%# Eval("Category_Title") %></h2></asp:Label>

  <asp:Label ID="CategoryID" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Category_ID")%>' Visible="false" />

<!--News Articles-->

  <asp:EntityDataSource ID="NewsDataSource" runat="server" ConnectionString="name=NewsEntities1"

  DefaultContainerName="NewsEntities1" EnableFlattening="False"

  EntitySetName="tbl_News"

  Select="it.[News_ID], it.[Category_ID], it.[Article_Title], it.[Article_Content], it.[Article_Image], it.[Article_Author], it.[Article_CreatedOn]"

  Where="it.[Category_ID] = @CategoryID">

  <SelectParameters>

  <asp:ControlParameter ControlID="CategoryID" Name="CategoryID" DefaultValue="0" Type="Int32" />

  </SelectParameters>

  </asp:EntityDataSource>

 

 

  <asp:ListView ID="ListView1" runat="server" DataSourceID="NewsDataSource" GroupItemCount="3">

  <LayoutTemplate>

<div ID="groupPlaceholder" runat="server">

  </div>

</LayoutTemplate>

<GroupTemplate>

<div ID="itemPlaceholder" runat="server">

  </div>

</GroupTemplate>

  <EmptyItemTemplate>

  <div>

  There are currently no articles for this category.

  </div>

  </EmptyItemTemplate>

  <ItemTemplate>

<div>

<a href="#"><%# Eval("Article_Title") %></a><br />

  <%# Eval("Article_Content") %><br />

  By <%# Eval("Article_Author") %><br /><br />

</div>

</ItemTemplate>

  </asp:ListView>

 

  </div>

  </ItemTemplate>

  </asp:Repeater>