Bind an ArrayList with Hyperlinks to a GridView

A very frequently asked question in the forums is that of binding an ArrayList with Hyperlinks to an ASP.NET GridView control. Here's how to do so:

Declare a GridView in the following manner:

    <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">

    <Columns>

    <asp:HyperLinkField DataNavigateUrlFields="Text" DataTextField="Value" />

    </Columns>

    </asp:GridView>

Notice that we have declared a <asp:Hyperlink> field and set the DataNavigateUrlFields to "Text" and the DataTextFields set to "Value". The AutoGenerateColumns property of the GridView is set to False.

Now add the following code that binds the ArrayList with Hyperlinks to the GridView

C#

        ArrayList aList = new ArrayList();

        aList.Add(new ListItem("http://www.asp.net"));

        aList.Add(new ListItem("http://www.microsoft.com"));       

        aList.Add(new ListItem("http://www.dotnetcurry.com"));

        aList.Add(new ListItem("http://www.devcurry.com"));

        GridView1.DataSource = aList;

        GridView1.DataBind();

VB.NET

        Dim aList As New ArrayList()

        aList.Add(New ListItem("http://www.asp.net"))

        aList.Add(New ListItem("http://www.microsoft.com"))

        aList.Add(New ListItem("http://www.dotnetcurry.com"))

        aList.Add(New ListItem("http://www.devcurry.com"))

        GridView1.DataSource = aList

        GridView1.DataBind()