Why can't I set the asp:Label Text property by calling a method in the aspx file?

Question

Can somebody please explain this to me:

I have a label and I want to be able to set the Text property by calling a method in the aspx file. It works fine if I set th

Answer 1

The sysntax you are looking for is <%= %> the # is for data binding. So your code should read:

<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text='<%= GetMyText("LabelText") %>' />

EDIT: This answere is incrrect

I am leaving this answer here because lots of people agreed with me that this is infact the correct answer, but it will not work. This line of code will produce the following HTML output:

<span id="Label1"><%= GetMyText("LabelText") %></span>

Answer 2

Try this:

<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text='<%= GetMyText("LabelText") %>' />

Edit

Yep. I was wrong. @Joe was right.

---

However, THIS works (and I'm not sure what the difference is):

 <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server"><%= GetMyText("LabelText") %></asp:Label>

CodeBehind:

protected string GetMyText(string input)
{
   return "Hello " + HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(input);
}

Answer 3

The syntax =<%# ... %> is Data binding syntax used to bind values to control properties when the DataBind method is called.

You need to call DataBind - either Page.DataBind to bind all the controls on your page, or Label1.DataBind() to bind just the label. E.g. add the following to your Page_Load event handler:

    if (!IsPostBack)
    {
        this.DataBind();
        // ... or Label1.DataBind() if you only want to databind the label
    }

Using Text='<%= GetMyText("LabelText") %>' as others have proposed won't work as you'll find out. This syntax is inherited from classic ASP. It can be used in some circumstances in ASP.NET for inserting dynamic values in static HTML, but can not be used for setting propeties of server controls.