Develop Reference

How to put eval string in function?

My question is how can I put this
<%# Eval("about")%>
into this function
<% Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(here goes string - "about") %>
In asp.net webforms?
Regards

This does what you want; it passes the result of Eval to a method.
<%# Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(Eval("about")) %>

Use combination of single and double quotes.
'<% Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(Eval("about")) %>'

Use like below
You should use ToString() function.
'<% Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(Eval("about").ToString()) %>'

<tag text='<%# Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(((YourDataItemClass)Container.DataItem).about) %>' />
or
<tag text='<%# Utils.UserUtils.showNiceDesc(DataBinder.Eval("about")) %>' />
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bda9bbfx(v=vs.100).aspx

asp.net calling a method from front end

i have a method in my back end that i would like to call from my front end, but can't seem to get it working. here is my code:
<% foreach(string item in Plants){ %>
<li>
<span class="folder">
<asp:label ID="lblPlantName" runat="server" Text='<% GetPlantName(item) %>'></asp:label>
</span>
</li>
<%} %>
the getplantName method should return a string and fill the text in. But this is not getting called for some reason.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Please use <%= GetPlantName(item) %> instead of <% GetPlantName(item) %> and method should be Public or Protected.

To return a string you need Response.Write which is written in shorthand as <%=%> so:
<%= GetPlantName(item) %>

While your code might be working (with the fix suggested by others) it's not good practice. It's the classic ASP way while you're using ASP.NET - it's like driving 10 MPH with sport car on the highway.
One good practice can be to use the Repeater Control - it's still simple and it's much more elegant.
The .aspx will now look like this:
<asp:Repeater ID="rptPlants" runat="server">
<HeaderTemplate><ol></HeaderTemplate>
<FooterTemplate></ol></FooterTemplate>
<ItemTemplate>
<li>
<span class="folder">
<%# Container.DataItem %>
</span>
</li>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
And to bind the data have such code in the Page_Load function in your code behind:
string[] arrPlants = new string[] { "Sacred Datura", "Kambroo", "Wallflower", "Beech 'Retroflexa'", "Zephyr Flower" };
rptPlants.DataSource = arrPlants;
rptPlants.DataBind();
In your case just replace arrPlants with your real array, Plants.
Feel free to ask for further details or explanations. :)

ASP.net putting a dataitem in a repeater

I've got a:
Data repeater
Control in the repeater
And I'd like to put some values into the controls. At the moment I have a control in it as:
<asp:Repeater runat="server" ID="ArchiveEntryRepeater">
snip
<asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink1" ToolTip="Comment on Some Entry Title Here" runat="server" NavigateUrl="~/Blog/7/How-to-know-when-this/Comments">
<strong><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Comments")%></strong> Comments
</asp:HyperLink>
snip
</asp:Repeater>
Which works fine, but I want to put
<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Title")%>
Into the NavigateURL property of the Hyperlink. Just putting it in doesn't seem to work!

Try enclosing your NavigateURL in apostrophes instead of double quotes to not confuse the ASP.NET parser:
<asp:HyperLink runat="server" NavigateUrl='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Title")%>' [...]>[...]</asp:HyperLink>
This might be your issue.

You can always bind on the back end using the event itemdatabound. It has some advantages especially where the data is not a neat view or needs some type of major manipulation.

Another option would be to loose the control and replace it with an html anchor control like this:
<asp:Repeater>
<ItemTemplate>
<a id="HyperLink1" title="Comment on Some Entry Title Here" href='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Title")%>'
style="font-weight: bold">'<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "Comments")%>'</a>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
Once the server renders a hyperlink to the client there is generally no reason to have it "runat='server'" . The purpose is to navigate to another page so the overhead of using an asp:HyperLink vs. an nchor is wasted.

Display value of Resource without Label or Literal control

How do I display the value of a resource without a ASP.NET control, i.e. I want to avoid this:
<asp:Label text="<%$ Resources: Messages, ThankYouLabel %>" id="label1" runat="server" />
Instead I would prefer to do just this in my .aspx pages:
<%$ Resources: Messages, ThankYouLabel %>
... but I can’t, a parser error is thrown:
Literal expressions like '<%$ Resources: Messages, ThankYouLabel %>' are not allowed.
Use <asp:Literal runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources: Messages, ThankYouLabel %>" /> instead.

Use HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject instead:
<asp:Label text='<%= GetGlobalResourceObject("Messages", "ThankYouLabel") %>'
id="label1"
runat="server" />

It's not possible. you have to use atleast Literal, Another option is to use GetGlobalResurceObject, so that you can use directly in a page.
<%= GetGlobalResourceObject("Messages", "ThankYouLabel")%>

In code behind You can Use
`GetLocalResourceObject("YourKeyInLocalResource")`
and also
`GetGlobalResourceObject("GlobalResourceFileName", "YourResourceKey")`
and then use a simple aspnet variable in your Asp.net Markup like <%= Resourcevalue %>
The you can assign your resource value to your Aspnet Variable like
Resourcevalue = GetGlobalResourceObject("GlobalResourceFileName", "YourResourceKey").ToString();

Another method is :-
<asp:Label text='<%= Resources.Messages.ThankYouLabel %>'
id="label1"
runat="server" />

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

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 the property in code behind, but I really want to set this property in the aspx file.
I have tried a couple of things, but what I expected to work was this:
<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text=<%# GetMyText("LabelText") %> />
I get no errors when doing this, but my method is never called and the Text property is left empty.
Is it not possible to set property values to server side controls directly in the aspx without using resources or use hard coded values?
Update: My first try was:
<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text=<%= GetMyText("LabelText") %> />
But that results in the following error:
Server tags cannot contain <% ... %> constructs.

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.

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>

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);
}