ASP.NET 2 Column Table

[Robizzle01]

I'm currently displaying a table of items using a repeater and each table row has only a single column or td. I would like to make it a two column table like how the Photos application on Facebook displays albums.

Basically what I have right now is
<table>
<tr><th>Items</th></tr>
<tr><td>Item 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Item 2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Item 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Item 4</td></tr>
etc...
</table>

And what I want to have is
<table>
<tr><th>Items</th></tr>
<tr><td>Item 1</td><td>Item 2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Item 3</td><td>Item 4</td></tr>
etc....
</table>

However, using repeaters I am only able to specify a Header, ItemTemplate, AlternatingItemTemplate and Footer. The closest I could do is

<asp:Repeater ID="rItems" runat="server">
<HeaderTemplate><table><tr><th>Items</th></tr></HeaderTemplate>
<ItemTemplate><tr><td>[Odd Numbered Item Data Here]</td></ItemTemplate>
<AlternatingItemTemplate><td>[Even Numered Item Data Here]</td></tr></AlternatingItemTemplate>
<FooterTemplate></table></FooterTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

However, the above hack will only work if there are an even number of items. If there are an odd number of items, then the final AlternatingItemTemplate will not be called which will leave a <tr> open without a closing </tr>.

The only other way I could think to accomplish what I want is to build a string of html the way I want in the codebehind; however, this is clearly undesirable. Especially since I want to have enough flexibility that a designer could change the aspx page without having to touch anything in the code behind.

 

[calebb]

Check out this article - it's a few years old, but I remember it came in handy when I was newer to .NET repeaters -
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/01/cutting/

Good stuff here too:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.repeater.aspx

 

[Robizzle01]

I have read through both of those articles several times now (a little difficult with all the new terminology) and wasn't able to think of a way to apply them to my problem. Any suggestions on what I need to look into specifically would help greatly.

 

[PTNL]

Use the "DataList" ASP.Net control, then set the "RepeatColumns" and "RepeatDirection" properties as needed (my guess for you would be "2" and "vertical" respectively).

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.datalist_properties.aspx

HTH