C#-WEB: textbox or label control?

[daJunkCollector]

I am trying to display a column from a database table in the column of a datagrid. I am using a template column to display it.

There are two things that are important to me:
1. If DataItem.TtlInfo is too many characters to be completely seen I want "..." to be added as the last three visible characters in the control. Then, the user can view the entire varchar by mousing over (hence the tooltip).

2. I would prefer to use a label because the TextBox display looks ugly. Unfortunately, I use a TextBox now because the label won't allow me to limit the characters displayed.

So, does anyone know of a nice way to display a limited amount of character in a label control? And if the 'text' property is larger than the set amount of characters, then "..." will be concatenated at the end of the visible area (for display purposes only). Then the tooltip could be used to view the entire string.

<asp:TemplateColumn ItemStyle-Width="250px">
   <ItemTemplate>                
      <asp:TextBox ID="txtTtlInfo" runat="server" CssClass="contentblack" ToolTip='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' Text='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' TextMode="SingleLine" ReadOnly="True" width="225px" Height="20px"></asp:TextBox>
   </ItemTemplate>
<asp:TemplateColumn>

[Frinavale]

I am trying to display a column from a database table in the column of a datagrid. I am using a template column to display it.

There are two things that are important to me:
1. If DataItem.TtlInfo is too many characters to be completely seen I want "..." to be added as the last three visible characters in the control. Then, the user can view the entire varchar by mousing over (hence the tooltip).

2. I would prefer to use a label because the TextBox display looks ugly. Unfortunately, I use a TextBox now because the label won't allow me to limit the characters displayed.

So, does anyone know of a nice way to display a limited amount of character in a label control? And if the 'text' property is larger than the set amount of characters, then "..." will be concatenated at the end of the visible area (for display purposes only). Then the tooltip could be used to view the entire string.

<asp:TemplateColumn ItemStyle-Width="250px">
   <ItemTemplate>                
      <asp:TextBox ID="txtTtlInfo" runat="server" CssClass="contentblack" ToolTip='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' Text='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' TextMode="SingleLine" ReadOnly="True" width="225px" Height="20px"></asp:TextBox>
   </ItemTemplate>
<asp:TemplateColumn>

In the method that handles your Gridview's RowDataBound event, check the the length of the string in the cells that you want to truncate...if they're longer than the length, truncate them and add "..." instead.

I'm not sure how you would go about adding the value to the tool tip though...
Unless you set the tool tip when you are creating the datasource for the GridView...

-Frinny

[daJunkCollector]

In the method that handles your Gridview's RowDataBound event, check the the length of the string in the cells that you want to truncate...if they're longer than the length, truncate them and add "..." instead.

I'm not sure how you would go about adding the value to the tool tip though...
Unless you set the tool tip when you are creating the datasource for the GridView...

-Frinny

Frinny, I got it. Thanks a lot for the help.

<asp:Label ID="lblTtlInfo" runat="server" CssClass="contentblack" Text='<%# (DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo").ToString().Length > 40) ? String.Concat(DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo").ToString().Substring(0,40), "...") : DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' Tooltip='<%# DataBinder.Eval(Container,"DataItem.TtlInfo") %>' >