Retrieving the Rendered HTML of an ASP.NET Web Control

FAQ ID	Question	Total Views
181	How can I format numbers and date/times using ASP.NET? For example, I want to format a number as a currency.	869,752
161	How can I convert a Recordset into an array? Also, how can I convert an array into a Recordset?	214,011
115	I am using Access and getting a 80004005 error (or a [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] The Microsoft Jet database engine cannot open the file '(unknown)' error) when trying to open a connection! How can I fix this problem?	213,675
83	How can I quickly sort a VBScript array?	206,829
106	How can I find out if a record already exists in a database? If it doesn't, I want to add it.	163,703
190	How do I display data on a web page using arrays instead of Do...While...MoveNext...???...	162,749
118	When I get a list of all files in a directory via the FileSystemObject, they aren't ordered in any reasonable way. How can I sort the files by name? Or by size? Or by date created? Or...	147,414
30	For session variables to work, must the Web visitor have cookies enabled?	114,715
14	Can I send emails without using CDONTS?	111,775
153	How can I take the result of a SELECT...MULTIPLE or a group of same-named checkboxes and turn it into a query? That is, if the user selects 3 answers, how can I construct a query that looks for all 3?	110,406

Below you will see the rendered HTML for the DataGrid Web control

<table cellspacing="0" align="Center" rules="all" border="1" id="dgPopularFAQs" style="font-family:Verdana;width:85%;border-collapse:collapse;">
	<tr align="center" style="color:White;background-color:Navy;font-size:13pt;font-weight:bold;">
		<td>FAQ ID</td><td>Question</td><td>Total Views</td>
	</tr><tr style="font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">181</td><td>How can I format numbers and date/times using ASP.NET?  For example, I want to format a number as a currency.</td><td align="right">869,752</td>
	</tr><tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD;font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">161</td><td>How can I convert a Recordset into an array?  Also, how can I convert an array into a Recordset?</td><td align="right">214,011</td>
	</tr><tr style="font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">115</td><td>I am using Access and getting a 80004005 error (or a <code>[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] The Microsoft Jet database engine cannot open the file '(unknown)'</code> error) when trying to open a connection!  How can I fix this problem?</td><td align="right">213,675</td>
	</tr><tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD;font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">83</td><td>How can I quickly sort a VBScript array? </td><td align="right">206,829</td>
	</tr><tr style="font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">106</td><td>How can I find out if a record already exists in a database? If it doesn't, I want to add it.</td><td align="right">163,703</td>
	</tr><tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD;font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">190</td><td>How do I display data on a web page using arrays instead of Do...While...MoveNext...???...</td><td align="right">162,749</td>
	</tr><tr style="font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">118</td><td>When I get a list of all files in a directory via the <code>FileSystemObject</code>, they aren't ordered in any reasonable way.  <b>How can I sort the files by name?</b> Or by size?  Or by date created?  Or...
</td><td align="right">147,414</td>
	</tr><tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD;font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">30</td><td>For session variables to work, must the Web visitor have cookies enabled?</td><td align="right">114,715</td>
	</tr><tr style="font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">14</td><td>Can I send emails <i>without</i> using CDONTS?</td><td align="right">111,775</td>
	</tr><tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD;font-size:9pt;">
		<td align="center">153</td><td>How can I take the result of a <B>SELECT...MULTIPLE</B> or a group of same-named checkboxes and turn it into a query?  That is, if the user selects 3 answers, how can I construct a query that looks for all 3?</td><td align="right">110,406</td>
	</tr>
</table>
  

Source Code

<% @Import Namespace="System.IO" %> <% @Import Namespace="System.Data" %> <% @Import Namespace="System.Data.SqlClient" %> <script language="vb" runat="server"> Sub Page_Load(sender as Object, e as EventArgs) '1. Create a connection Dim myConnection as New SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("connectionString")) '2. Create the command object, passing in the SQL string Const strSQL as String = "sp_Popularity" Dim myCommand as New SqlCommand(strSQL, myConnection) 'Set the datagrid's datasource to the datareader and databind myConnection.Open() dgPopularFAQs.DataSource = myCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection) dgPopularFAQs.DataBind() 'Get the rendered HTML Dim SB as New StringBuilder() Dim SW as New StringWriter(SB) Dim htmlTW as New HtmlTextWriter(SW) dgPopularFAQs.RenderControl(htmlTW) Dim dataGridHTML as String = SB.ToString() ltlHTMLOutput.Text = Server.HtmlEncode(dataGridHTML) End Sub </script> <asp:datagrid id="dgPopularFAQs" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" Font-Name="Verdana" Width="85%" HorizontalAlign="Center" ItemStyle-Font-Size="9pt" AlternatingItemStyle-BackColor="#dddddd"> <HeaderStyle BackColor="Navy" ForeColor="White" Font-Bold="True" Font-Size="13pt" HorizontalAlign="Center" /> <Columns> <asp:BoundColumn HeaderText="FAQ ID" DataField="FAQID" ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="Center" /> <asp:BoundColumn HeaderText="Question" DataField="Description" /> <asp:BoundColumn HeaderText="Total Views" DataField="ViewCount" DataFormatString="{0:#,###}" ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="right" /> </Columns> </asp:DataGrid> <p>Below you will see the rendered HTML for the DataGrid Web control</p> <pre> <asp:literal id="ltlHTMLOutput" runat="server" /> </pre>