DetailsView resetting visibility on bind?

Question

I am using entity framework 4.0 to bind a database object to a DetailsView on an ascx control. Within the DetailsView, I have a number of asp:panels that I'd like to show/hide depending on what's happening in that person's visit.

So, the first time through the page I'm setting panelA.Visible=false in the FormView_OnLoad event, and all is well - that panel is not output in the HTML. It listens to what I'm asking here.

Once I click submit and postback, I am again checking what's going on and setting panelA.Visibe=false in both FormView_OnLoad and EntityData_OnUpdating. But this time, when the page comes up panelA is showing.

I find that I can only hide that panel after postback by setting visible=false in DetailsView_PreRender, or by binding visibility to a public variable.

I'm thinking perhaps in the life cycle the DetailsView is binding again way toward the end, and throws away my visibility settings, even though they're not bound. So to show/hide panels within the DetailsView on postback, will I always have to set visibility on DetailsView_PreRender or after?

Am I on the right track here, or is something else resetting me at the last second?

Why can I set visibility the first time through the page but not postback?

Answer 1

You should always make final modification of your page structure after postback processing - that is the reason why PreRender event exists. Other possible event in your scenario can be handling DataBound event but better and more clear way is PreRender.