New to Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX? Download free 30-day trial

Advanced via NeedDataSource

The key to the advanced data binding of a RadDataForm control is handling the NeedDataSource event.RadDataForm fires the NeedDataSource event each time it needs to be bound to a data source. If, at the timeof the event, the DataSource property is not set to a valid data source object, the control will not behave correctly.

This event fires in the following cases:

  • Right after OnLoad, Telerik RadDataForm checks the viewstate for stored control-related information.If such information is missing (when the page loads for the first time), the NeedDataSource event is fired. This alsomeans that if the EnableViewState property of the controlhas been set to false, the controlwill bind each time the page loads (not only the first time).

  • Right after Edit/Update/Delete/Insert commands finish execution. You can cancel these operations handling the ItemCommand event and assigning false value to the Canceled property of the e event argument.

  • In some other custom cases - for instance, when the Rebind() method is called explicitly.

The event arguments for the NeedDataSource event include the RebindReason property, which indicatesthe reason why the event is occurring. It's also worth mentioning that RadDataForm does not fire the NeedDataSource event unless the control is visible(Visible = True).

You must not use the DataBind() method along with NeedDataSource event handler. Instead, you mayuse the Rebind() method to refresh the control's records, but never for initial binding or changing the DataSource of the RadDataForm . In addition, the Rebind() method should not be called during the NeedDataSource event.

protected void RadDataForm1_NeedDataSource(object sender, RadDataFormNeedDataSourceEventArgs e)
{
    String ConnString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["NorthwindConnectionString"].ConnectionString;
    SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConnString);
    SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter();
    adapter.SelectCommand = new SqlCommand("SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, ContactTitle, Address FROM Customers", conn);

    DataTable myDataTable = new DataTable();

    conn.Open();
    try
    {
        adapter.Fill(myDataTable);
    }
    finally
    {
        conn.Close();
    }

    RadDataForm1.DataSource = myDataTable;
}
Protected Sub RadDataForm1_NeedDataSource(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As Telerik.Web.UI.RadDataFormNeedDataSourceEventArgs) Handles RadDataForm1.NeedDataSource
    Dim ConnString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("NorthwindConnectionString").ConnectionString
    Dim conn As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(ConnString)
    Dim adapter As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter
    adapter.SelectCommand = New SqlCommand("SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, ContactTitle, Address FROM Customers", conn)
    Dim myDataTable As New DataTable
    conn.Open()
    Try
        adapter.Fill(myDataTable)
    Finally
        conn.Close()
    End Try
    RadDataForm1.DataSource = myDataTable
End Sub 

The NeedDataSource event was introduced for binding convenience and its advantage is that you have the flexibility of generating your data source dynamically in the code-behind, but you are freed from handling the logic of when and how data binding should take place.

Alternatively, you can use various data source controls such as SqlDataSource, ObjectDataSource, XmlDataSource, etc. to populate Telerik RadDataForm with data using its DataSourceID property. You may check the links below for further details.

See Also

In this article