Set Current Date to TemplateField of a DetailView

Question

I'm using a DetailView to insert data into a GridView via an sqlDataSource. I'm attempting to set one of the fields of the DetailView to the current date/time on Page Load so the user does not have to enter the date/time. I get no errors - however, the "Update Date" field of the DetailView fails to display the current date/time.

This is my hypertext:

<asp:DetailsView
        id="dtlShipModes"
        DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1"
        AutoGenerateRows="False"
        DefaultMode="Insert"
        Runat="server" BackColor="White" BorderColor="White" BorderStyle="Ridge" 
        BorderWidth="2px" CellPadding="3" CellSpacing="1" GridLines="None">
        <EditRowStyle BackColor="#9471DE" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
        <Fields>
        <asp:BoundField
            DataField="ShipMode"
            HeaderText="Ship Mode:" />
              <asp:CheckBoxField
            DataField="Active"
            HeaderText="Active:" />
            <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Update Date:">
                <EditItemTemplate>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtUpdateDate" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("UpdateDate") %>'></asp:TextBox>
                </EditItemTemplate>
                <InsertItemTemplate>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtUpdateDate" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("UpdateDate") %>'></asp:TextBox>
                </InsertItemTemplate>
                <ItemTemplate>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text='<%# Bind("UpdateDate") %>'></asp:Label>
                </ItemTemplate>
            </asp:TemplateField>
             <asp:BoundField
            DataField="UpdateBY"
            HeaderText="Update BY:" />

            <asp:CommandField ShowInsertButton="true" InsertText="Add" />

        </Fields>
        <FooterStyle BackColor="#C6C3C6" ForeColor="Black" />
        <HeaderStyle BackColor="#4A3C8C" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#E7E7FF" />
        <PagerStyle BackColor="#C6C3C6" ForeColor="Black" HorizontalAlign="Right" />
        <RowStyle BackColor="#DEDFDE" ForeColor="Black" />
    </asp:DetailsView> 

This is the code behind:

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        Dim txtupdatedby As String = DirectCast(dtlShipModes.FindControl("txtUpdateDate"), TextBox).Text
        txtupdatedby = DateTime.Now.ToString
    End Sub

Could I get some help please as to what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

To expand a little on Mych's answer, you would want to handle the ItemCreated event of the DetailsView:

<asp:DetailsView
    id="dtlShipModes"
    DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1"
    AutoGenerateRows="False"
    DefaultMode="Insert"
    ItemCreated="dtlShipModes_ItemCreated"
    Runat="server" BackColor="White" BorderColor="White" BorderStyle="Ridge" 
    BorderWidth="2px" CellPadding="3" CellSpacing="1" GridLines="None">

And then write the event handler like this:

protected void dtlShipModes_ItemCreated(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Dim txtupdatedby As TextBox = DirectCast(dtlShipModes.FindControl("txtUpdateDate"), TextBox)
    txtupdatedby.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString
}

Notice that I changed your implementation a little, to use a reference to the TextBox, rather than the string.

This is all necessary because the DetailsView is not loaded with data yet in the Page's Load event.

Answer 2

You need to set your date when the Items in the DataView are being bound to the datasource. You need to use the ItemCreated event....

See... http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.detailsview.itemcreated(v=vs.110).aspx