GridView CommandArgument, passing multiple values

A Button or a link button in a GridView can pass a value to the RowCommand event in the code behind file using the CommandArgument property.

<asp:GridView

ID="grdEmployee"

runat="server"

OnRowCommand=" grdEmployee_RowCommand">
<Columns>

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Employee Name">

<ItemTemplate>

<asp:LinkButton

ID="lnkname"

runat="server"

Text='<%#Eval("EMPLOYEE_NAME") %>'

CommandArgument='<%#Eval("EMPLOYEE_ID") %>' CommandName="linkButton">

asp:LinkButton>

ItemTemplate>

asp:TemplateField>

Columns>

asp:GridView>

Here the column is a link button column and will display the employee name, on clicking the link button the RowCommand event of the GridView is fired, and we are passing the EMPLOYEE_ID value to the row command property.

protected void grdEmployee_RowCommand(object s, GridViewCommandEventArgs e)

{

     int intEmpId = 0;

     if (e.CommandName == "linkButton")

     {

          intEmpId = Convert.ToInt32(e.CommandArgument);

     }

}

This is fine for passing a single value to the code behind event, what if we need to pass more than one value to the code behind event, here is the code to acchieve the same.

Here we are passing the Employee_ID and Manager_ID values to the code behind event.

<asp:GridView

ID="grdEmployee"

runat="server"

OnRowCommand=" grdEmployee_RowCommand">
<Columns>

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Employee Name">

<ItemTemplate>

<asp:LinkButton

ID="lnkname"

runat="server"

Text='<%#Eval("EMPLOYEE_NAME") %>' CommandArgument='<%#Eval("EMPLOYEE_ID") + ","+Eval("MANAGER_ID") %>'
CommandName="linkButton">

asp:LinkButton>

ItemTemplate>

asp:TemplateField>

Columns>

asp:GridView>

Here is the code behind logic to receive the multiple values passed through the CommandArgument

protected void grdEmployee_RowCommand(object s, GridViewCommandEventArgs e)

{

int intEmpId = 0;
int intMgrId = 0;

     if (e.CommandName == "linkButton")

     {

string[] commandArgs = e.CommandArgument.ToString().Split(new char[] { ',' });

            intEmpId = Convert.ToInt32(commandArgs[0]);

            intMgrId = Convert.ToInt32(commandArgs[1]);        
     }

}

That’s it we have now passed multiple values using the CommandArgument property and received the same in the RowCommand event of the code behind file.