How to find controls in a repeater header or footer

Question

I was wondering how one would find the controls in the HeaderTemplate or FooterTemplate of an Asp.Net Repeater control.

I can access them on the ItemDataBound event,

Answer 1

As noted in the comments, this only works AFTER you've DataBound your repeater.

To find a control in the header:

lblControl = repeater1.Controls[0].Controls[0].FindControl("lblControl");

To find a control in the footer:

lblControl = repeater1.Controls[repeater1.Controls.Count - 1].Controls[0].FindControl("lblControl");

---

With extension methods

public static class RepeaterExtensionMethods
{
    public static Control FindControlInHeader(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        return repeater.Controls[0].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
    }

    public static Control FindControlInFooter(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        return repeater.Controls[repeater.Controls.Count - 1].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
    }
}

Answer 2

Find control into Repeater (Header, Item, Footer)

public static class FindControlInRepeater
{
    public static Control FindControl(this Repeater repeater, string controlName)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < repeater.Controls.Count; i++)
            if (repeater.Controls[i].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName) != null)
                return repeater.Controls[i].Controls[0].FindControl(controlName);
        return null;
    }
}

Answer 3

private T GetHeaderControl<T>(Repeater rp, string id) where T : Control
{
    T returnValue = null;
    if (rp != null && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id))
    {
        returnValue = rp.Controls.Cast<RepeaterItem>().Where(i => i.ItemType == ListItemType.Header).Select(h => h.FindControl(id) as T).Where(c => c != null).FirstOrDefault();
    }
    return returnValue;
}

Finds and casts the control. (Based on Piyey's VB answer)

Answer 4

Better solution

You can check item type in ItemCreated event:

protected void rptSummary_ItemCreated(Object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Footer) {
        e.Item.FindControl(ctrl);
    }
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Header) {
        e.Item.FindControl(ctrl);
    }
}

Answer 5

This is in VB.NET, just translate to C# if you need it:

<Extension()>
Public Function FindControlInRepeaterHeader(Of T As Control)(obj As Repeater, ControlName As String) As T
    Dim ctrl As T = TryCast((From item As RepeaterItem In obj.Controls
                   Where item.ItemType = ListItemType.Header).SingleOrDefault.FindControl(ControlName),T)
    Return ctrl
End Function

And use it easy:

Dim txt as string = rptrComentarios.FindControlInRepeaterHeader(Of Label)("lblVerTodosComentarios").Text

Try to make it work with footer, and items controls too =)

Answer 6

For ItemDataBound

protected void Repeater1_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Header)//header
    {
            Control ctrl = e.Item.FindControl("ctrlID");
    }
    else if (e.Item.ItemType == ListItemType.Footer)//footer
    {
            Control ctrl = e.Item.FindControl("ctrlID");
    }
}