Find DataEditFormItem when using complex edit templates

[Kenneth]

Requirements
RadControls version	2009.1.527.35
.NET version	2
Visual Studio version	2008
programming language	C#
browser support	all browsers supported by RadControls

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
When creating complex edit templates for RadGrid I found myself creating a lot of references like sender.Parent.Parent.Parent....etc. when trying to navigate from a control event back to the GridEditFormItem. I thought there had to be a better way. So, I created a simple templated class to navigate from a control through the control heirarchy to find the appropriate parent, based on the parent class. It works nicely for finding the GridEditFormItem in a templated edit form, but can be used for any other similar problems when navigating control hierarchies.

As an example, if a button were included in a RadGrid edit template, you might get the reference to its GridEditFormItem like this...

 

 

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ....
    GridEditFormItem gridEditFormItem = (GridEditFormItem) ((Control)sender).Parent.Parent.Parent;
    ....
}

But using the FindIt class, you would use this notation... 

 

 

 

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GridEditFormItem gridEditFormItem = Find<GridEditFormItem>.Parent((Control)sender);
}

If you use the Parent.Parent.Parent... notation and you subsequently modified the edit template, for example, perhaps you put the button inside an asp:Panel, you would have to fix the reference as well, but with the Find<> notation it would work without modification.

Its been a really useful addition to my toolkit, and helps separate code dependencies from edit template layout. I thought I'd share with others who might have similar issues.

Regards,
Ken

[Yavor]

Hi Kenneth,

Thank you for sharing your approach with the community!
I have updated your Telerik points for your involvement!

Sincerely yours,
Yavor
the Telerik team

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