In this article I will explain a tutorial with an example, how to use the ASP.Net Repeater control for displaying data (records) from database in C# and VB.Net.
The Repeater control as the name suggests will repeat its content and hence it can be used to display data using any HTML element.
In this article, the Repeater control will be populated from database and the data will be displayed as HTML table on the page.
 
 
Database
Here I am making use of Microsoft’s Northwind Database. The download and install instructions are provided in the following article.
Download and install Northwind Database
 
 
Repeater control and Templates
The Repeater control makes use of the following templates.
HeaderTemplate – The content of this template will not be repeated and will be placed in the top most position i.e. head section of the Repeater control.
ItemTemplate – The content of this template will be repeated for each record present in its DataSource.
AlternatingItemTemplate – AlternatingItemTemplate is used for adding alternate items. It is used along with ItemTemplate, generally for displaying a different design for alternating items.
SeparatorTemplate - This template is used to add a separator between two items of the Repeater control.
FooterTemplate – The content of this template will not be repeated and will be placed in the bottom most position i.e. footer section of the Repeater control.
 
 
HTML Markup
The following HTML Markup consists of an ASP.Net Repeater control.
In order to render the Repeater control in HTML Table layout, you will need to design an HTML Table and then place the Table start tag and the Header Row inside the Repeater’s HeaderTemplate section, the Data Rows i.e. the Rows that will hold the data inside the ItemTemplate section and finally the Table end tag inside the FooterTemplate section.
The HeaderTemplate and the FooterTemplate sections are not repeated. The ItemTemplate section will repeat itself based on the data fetched from the database.
<asp:Repeater ID="rptCustomers" runat="server">
    <HeaderTemplate>
        <table cellspacing="0" rules="all" border="1">
            <tr>
                <th scope="col" style="width: 80px">
                    Customer Id
                </th>
                <th scope="col" style="width: 120px">
                    Customer Name
                </th>
                <th scope="col" style="width: 100px">
                    Country
                </th>
            </tr>
    </HeaderTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <tr>
            <td>
                <asp:Label ID="lblCustomerId" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("CustomerId") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
                <asp:Label ID="lblContactName" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("ContactName") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
                <asp:Label ID="lblCountry" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Country") %>' />
            </td>
        </tr>
    </ItemTemplate>
    <FooterTemplate>
        </table>
    </FooterTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
 
 
Namespaces
You will need to import the following namespaces.
C#
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Configuration;
 
VB.Net
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Configuration
 
 
Populating Repeater control from database in ASP.Net
Inside the Page load event handler, the Repeater is populated with the records from the Customers table of the Northwind database.
C#
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!this.IsPostBack)
    {
        this.BindRepeater();
    }
}
 
private void BindRepeater()
{
    string constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;
    using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constr))
    {
        using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Customers", con))
        {
            using (SqlDataAdapter sda = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd))
            {
                DataTable dt = new DataTable();
                sda.Fill(dt);
                rptCustomers.DataSource = dt;
                rptCustomers.DataBind();
            }
        }
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not Me.IsPostBack Then
        Me.BindRepeater()
    End If
End Sub
 
Private Sub BindRepeater()
    Dim constr As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString
    Using con As New SqlConnection(constr)
        Using cmd As New SqlCommand("SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Customers", con)
            Using sda As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)
                Dim dt As New DataTable()
                sda.Fill(dt)
                rptCustomers.DataSource = dt
                rptCustomers.DataBind()
            End Using
        End Using
    End Using
End Sub
 
 
Screenshots
Repeater control Tutorial with example in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net
 
 
Demo
View Demo
 
 
Downloads

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