Strongly typed data binding and generics?

Question

Suppose I want to bind a generic type (here: Dictionary<string, string>) to a Repeater using the new ASP.NET 4.5 strongly typed data binding.

Then I would have to put down KeyValuePair<string, string> as the ItemType Property of the Repeater.

<asp:Repeater id="rpCategories" runat="server" ItemType="System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string, string>">

There is an obvious problem here: I can not use < or > within the ItemType text!

How would one go about this? Is the use of generics possible somehow with the new data binding model?

I haven't tried if that would work when running the page, but VS marks it as an error and Intellisense doesn't work either. — magnattic, Sep 03 '12 at 15:45
Nope, does not run either. Error message is obviously that VS is unable to recognize the type. — magnattic, Sep 03 '12 at 15:47
I don't see a datasource declared here, so I'm assuming that you're setting it in the code behind. Can you not set the type there as well? — Sinaesthetic, Sep 04 '12 at 21:34

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 08 '12 at 20:44

This works for me:

Code behind

   protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
           rpCategories.DataSource = new Dictionary<string, string>()
            {
                {"1", "item"},{"2", "item"},{"3", "item"},
            };
        rpCategories.DataBind();
        }

Markup

<asp:Repeater ID="rpCategories" runat="server" ItemType="System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair`2[System.String,System.String]">
        <ItemTemplate>
            <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text='<%# Item.Key %>'></asp:Label>
        </ItemTemplate>
    </asp:Repeater>

This resolved a problem I had for a long time, thanks. – Dart Feld Nov 29 '16 at 15:49 — Dart Feld, Nov 29 '16 at 15:49

Strongly typed data binding and generics?

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