ASP.NET GridView RowIndex As CommandArgument

Question

How can you access and display the row index of a gridview item as the command argument in a buttonfield column button?

Answer 1

I typically bind this data using the RowDatabound event with the GridView:

protected void FormatGridView(object sender, System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
   if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow) 
   {
      ((Button)e.Row.Cells(0).FindControl("btnSpecial")).CommandArgument = e.Row.RowIndex.ToString();
   }
}