ASP.NET 3.5: A Beginner's Guide - www.mustafaof.com

330ASP.NET 3.5: A Beginner’s GuideKey Skills & Concepts●●Data bindingMore options for data display● What is data binding?● Basic binding● Binding data to web controls●●●Binding to a LabelBinding with GridView controlBinding to a ListView● Binding to a table●●●Using the Repeater controlHeaders and footersAlternating styles● ListView bindingData are as good as their accessibility. You can have all the great data stored in a tablein your database, but if the user is confused or the data narrowly constricted in theirdisplay, the data might as well stay in the database. Data binding connects data sourceswith web controls, making it very easy to place your data into a clear presentation. In thischapter you will see how to connect data to everything from Labels to Lists and manycontrols in between.What Is Data Binding?Data binding is one of those terms that states exactly what it is. It is a process of bindingdata to an ASP.NET 3.5 control. The data source that makes the most sense to bind is thedata from a table in a database, but any kind of data can be bound using data binding. Forexample, you can bind values from items in an array or from a simple variable. Likewise,you can usefully bind data from a relational database or a single table.