Asp.net – Is there a way to get different values from a single radiobuttonlist field used in ASP:Gridview

Sure, just keep in mind, that controls inside of the GridView repeat over and over. So, you don’t have "one" control say called rblOptions, but you have a "new" control with an ID generated for each row of the GridView.

So, of course you can’t just use the control ID = rblOptions, since which row would it apply to?

So, you have to use “FindControl" for each row in question.

I don’t have your data, but this sample will show a working concept as to how you can save the selected RadioButtonList back into the database.

So, say this GridView of some hotels, and we have an RadioButtonList to set if the room been inspected.

So, this markup:

        <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server"
            AutoGenerateColumns="False" DataKeyNames="ID"
            CssClass="table table-hover" Width="50%"
            OnRowDataBound="GridView1_RowDataBound"
            >
            <Columns>
                <asp:BoundField DataField="FirstName" HeaderText="FirstName" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="LastName" HeaderText="LastName" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="City" HeaderText="City" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="HotelName" HeaderText="HotelName" />
                <asp:BoundField DataField="Description" HeaderText="Descripiton" />
                <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Description">
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <asp:RadioButtonList ID="rblOptions" runat="server"                                 
                            RepeatDirection="Horizontal"
                            >
                            <asp:ListItem Text="Yes" Value="Yes"></asp:ListItem>
                            <asp:ListItem Text="No" Value="No"></asp:ListItem>
                        </asp:RadioButtonList>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
            </Columns>
            <PagerStyle CssClass="GridPager" />
        </asp:GridView>



        <asp:Button ID="cmdSave" runat="server" Text="Save/Done"
            CssClass="btn btn-dark"
            OnClick="cmdSave_Click"/>

        <asp:Button ID="cmdCancel" runat="server" Text="Cancel Changes"
            CssClass="btn btn-dark"
            OnClick="cmdCancel_Click"
            style="margin-left:35px"
            />

So, code behind to load is this:

    DataTable dtHotels = new DataTable();
     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (!IsPostBack)
        {
            LoadData();
            Session["dtHotels"] = dtHotels;
        }
        else
        {
            dtHotels = (DataTable)Session["dtHotels"];
            }
    }

    void LoadData()
    {
        string strSQL =
            @"SELECT * FROM tblHotelsA
            WHERE Active = 1
            ORDER BY HotelName";

        dtHotels = General.MyRst(strSQL);
        GridView1.DataSource = dtHotels;
        GridView1.DataBind();
        
    }

However, turns out some "extra" work is required, since our column in the database could be null (empty). Normally, we could just bind the RadioButtonList to an expression in the markup, but since we have null values, then that will not work.

Hence, on row data bound, we test for null, and ONLY if a value exists, do we set the RB.

Hence this code:

    protected void GridView1_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow) 
        {
            RadioButtonList rbOption = (RadioButtonList)e.Row.FindControl("rblOptions");
            DataRowView gRowData = (DataRowView)e.Row.DataItem;
            
            if (gRowData["Inspected"].ToString() != "")
                    rbOption.Text = gRowData["Inspected"].ToString();
        } 
    }

So, now the GV will display, and the user is free to choose/set each RB for each row.

Our save button then has to send the choices back to the database table. Hence this code:

    protected void cmdSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        GridToTable();

        using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(Properties.Settings.Default.TEST4))
        {
            string strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblHotelsA";
            using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(strSQL, conn))
            {
                SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
                SqlCommandBuilder daU = new SqlCommandBuilder(da);
                conn.Open();
                da.Update(dtHotels);
            }
        }

        Response.Redirect("TestJump.aspx"); // navagate back to options page

    }

    void GridToTable()
    {
        // send grid rows back to table.
        foreach (GridViewRow rRow in GridView1.Rows)
        {
            DataRow OneDataRow = dtHotels.Rows[rRow.DataItemIndex];
            RadioButtonList rbOption = (RadioButtonList)rRow.FindControl("rblOptions");

            if (rbOption.Text != "")
                OneDataRow["Inspected"] = rbOption.Text;
        }
    }

So, above transfers the choices from each row of the GridView back to the data table, and then on "one" operation, we send all changes back to the database.

The result is thus this:

And note how if I go back to the web page with the GridView, you can see my choices persist and are correctly saved back to the database.

Hence this:

In summary, to get use of a control in ONE row of a GridView, then you have to get an instance of that one GridView row, and then use FindControl method of that GridView row, since that control exists "many" times in the page, and you have to resolve to the one row of controls you wish to obtain values from.