ListItems attributes in a DropDownList are lost on postback?
A coworker showed me this:
He has a DropDownList and a button on a web page. Here's the code behind:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
ListItem item = new ListItem("1");
item.Attributes.Add("title", "A");
ListItem item2 = new ListItem("2");
item2.Attributes.Add("title", "B");
DropDownList1.Items.AddRange(new[] {item, item2});
string s = DropDownList1.Items[0].Attributes["title"];
}
}
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DropDownList1.Visible = !DropDownList1.Visible;
}
On the page load, the items' tooltips are showing, but on the first postback, the attributes are lost. Why is this the case, and are there any workarounds?
I had the same problem and wanted to contribute this resource where the author created an inherited ListItem Consumer to persist attributes to ViewState. Hopefully it will save someone the time I wasted until I stumbled on it.
protected override object SaveViewState()
{
// create object array for Item count + 1
object[] allStates = new object[this.Items.Count + 1];
// the +1 is to hold the base info
object baseState = base.SaveViewState();
allStates[0] = baseState;
Int32 i = 1;
// now loop through and save each Style attribute for the List
foreach (ListItem li in this.Items)
{
Int32 j = 0;
string[][] attributes = new string[li.Attributes.Count][];
foreach (string attribute in li.Attributes.Keys)
{
attributes[j++] = new string[] {attribute, li.Attributes[attribute]};
}
allStates[i++] = attributes;
}
return allStates;
}
protected override void LoadViewState(object savedState)
{
if (savedState != null)
{
object[] myState = (object[])savedState;
// restore base first
if (myState[0] != null)
base.LoadViewState(myState[0]);
Int32 i = 1;
foreach (ListItem li in this.Items)
{
// loop through and restore each style attribute
foreach (string[] attribute in (string[][])myState[i++])
{
li.Attributes[attribute[0]] = attribute[1];
}
}
}
}
Thanks, Laramie. Just what I was looking for. It keeps the attributes perfectly.
To expand, below is a class file I created using Laramie's code to create a dropdownlist in VS2008. Create the class in the App_Code folder. After you create the class, use this line on the aspx page to register it:
<%@ Register TagPrefix="aspNewControls" Namespace="NewControls"%>
You can then put the control on your webform with this
<aspNewControls:NewDropDownList ID="ddlWhatever" runat="server">
</aspNewControls:NewDropDownList>
Ok, here's the class...
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
namespace NewControls
{
[DefaultProperty("Text")]
[ToolboxData("<{0}:ServerControl1 runat=server></{0}:ServerControl1>")]
public class NewDropDownList : DropDownList
{
[Bindable(true)]
[Category("Appearance")]
[DefaultValue("")]
[Localizable(true)]
protected override object SaveViewState()
{
// create object array for Item count + 1
object[] allStates = new object[this.Items.Count + 1];
// the +1 is to hold the base info
object baseState = base.SaveViewState();
allStates[0] = baseState;
Int32 i = 1;
// now loop through and save each Style attribute for the List
foreach (ListItem li in this.Items)
{
Int32 j = 0;
string[][] attributes = new string[li.Attributes.Count][];
foreach (string attribute in li.Attributes.Keys)
{
attributes[j++] = new string[] { attribute, li.Attributes[attribute] };
}
allStates[i++] = attributes;
}
return allStates;
}
protected override void LoadViewState(object savedState)
{
if (savedState != null)
{
object[] myState = (object[])savedState;
// restore base first
if (myState[0] != null)
base.LoadViewState(myState[0]);
Int32 i = 1;
foreach (ListItem li in this.Items)
{
// loop through and restore each style attribute
foreach (string[] attribute in (string[][])myState[i++])
{
li.Attributes[attribute[0]] = attribute[1];
}
}
}
}
}
}