Autocomplete Bind to DataTable

[Simon]

I have a stored procedure that get a list of categories from my database

Select Category from Categories

I then have some code that execute the stored procedure and returns the data to a datatable

Public Shared Function GetDescription() As DataTable
            Dim comm As DbCommand = GenericDataAccess.CreateCommand()
            comm.CommandText = "GetDescriptions"

            Return GenericDataAccess.ExecuteSelectCommand(comm)
        End Function

I then call this method to bind to the auto complete box

Protected Sub txtSearch_DataBinding(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles txtSearch.DataBinding

       txtSearch.DataSource = GetMethods.GetDescription()

   End Sub

then call the databind on page load

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
       If Not IsPostBack Then
           txtSearch.DataBind()
       End If
   End Sub

This is my front end code for the autocomplete

<telerik:RadAutoCompleteBox ID="txtSearch" DataTextField="Category" DataValueField="Category" runat="server" EmptyMessage="Please enter search term"></telerik:RadAutoCompleteBox>

when I run the page and start typing i get the attached error message.  Have I missed something really simple here?

[Bozhidar]

Hi Simon,

RadAutoCompleteBox is designed in such a way that it doesn't store a collection of items on the server, inflating the ViewState. Instead it uses lazy loading. When it's loaded initially, it doesn't request anything from it's datasource. When you start typing, a callback is triggered and only then the datasource is hit, collecting the results. So the datasource has to be available on each postback. 

The following help article demonstrates the proper way to bind the AutoCompleteBox to a DataTable:
http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/autocompletebox-databinding-datatable-set-view.html

 
Regards,
Bozhidar
Telerik