<P><FONT size=1>All the list controls have an event by name "OnItemDataBound".
We have to make use of this to create a serial number column or autogenerate
numbers. <BR><BR>The basic steps which we need to keep in mind are as follows:
<BR><BR><STRONG>Step1:</STRONG> Create a template column in the datagrid
control. <BR></FONT></P>
<PRE><FONT size=1>     &lt;Asp:TemplateColumn HeaderText="S.No" ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="right"&gt;

        &lt;ItemTemplate&gt;       

        &lt;/ItemTemplate&gt;

     &lt;/Asp:TemplateColumn&gt;</FONT></PRE><FONT
size=1><STRONG>Step2:</STRONG> For OnItemDataBound assign an event name. That
event would fire when an Item is databound to our datagrid. </FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=1><EM>For ex:</EM> OnItemDataBound =
"populateSerialNumber"</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=1><STRONG>Step3:</STRONG>
Write the code which would create the serial number with in the procedure
"populateSerialNumber". </FONT>
<PRE><FONT size=1>    Sub populateSerialNumber(sender as object, objargs as DataGridItemEventArgs)

       If objArgs.Item.ItemType &lt;&gt; ListItemType.Header Then

         objArgs.Item.Cells(0).text = objArgs.Item.datasetindex + 1

       End If 

    End sub

</FONT></PRE><FONT size=1><STRONG>The complete
code listing follows:</STRONG></FONT>
<P><FONT size=1>Pay particular attention to the
<STRONG>populateSerialNumber</STRONG> procedure as discussed in step3. Note that
I have specified datasetindex + 1 in the procedure below. This is because
datasetindex value starts from 0. The "If" statement exists to ensure that our
labels (row serial numbers) make more sense and to avoid any text from being
displayed on the header. </FONT></P>
<PRE><FONT size=1>&lt;%@ Page Language="VB" Debug="True" %&gt;

&lt;%@ Import namespace="System.Data" %&gt;

&lt;%@ Import namespace="System.Data.Oledb" %&gt;

&lt;script language="VB" runat="server"&gt;

    Sub Page_Load (sender as object, e as eventargs)

       BindAccess()

    End sub 

    Sub BindAccess()

       Dim strconn as string

       Dim dtr as new oledbdataAdapter

       dim ds as new dataset

       strconn="PROVIDER=MICROSOFT.JET.OLEdb.4.0;DATA SOURCE="path of your database"

       Dim cns as new oledbconnection(strconn)

       cns.open()

       strconn = "select title, qdate, email from tablename"

       dtr = new oledbdataAdapter(strconn,cns)

       dtr.fill(ds)

       dtgrid.datasource = ds

       dtgrid.databind()

    End Sub

    Sub populateSerialNumber(sender as object, objargs as DataGridItemEventArgs)

       If objArgs.Item.ItemType &lt;&gt; ListItemType.Header Then

         <STRONG>objArgs.Item.Cells(0).text = objArgs.Item.datasetindex + 1</STRONG>

       End If 

    End sub

&lt;/script&gt;

&lt;form name="ListOpenQuestion" id="ListOpenQuestion" Runat="server"&gt;

    &lt;Asp:DataGrid Runat="server" id="dtgrid"

            <STRONG>OnItemDataBound = "populateSerialNumber"</STRONG>

            AutoGenerateColumns=false

            Width="75%"

            Align="center"&gt;

    &lt;Columns&gt;

      <STRONG>&lt;Asp:TemplateColumn HeaderText="S.No" ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="right"&gt;

         &lt;ItemTemplate&gt;       

         &lt;/ItemTemplate&gt;

       &lt;/Asp:TemplateColumn&gt;</STRONG>

       &lt;Asp:HyperLinkColumn DataTextField="qtitle"

               DataNavigateUrlFormatstring="reply.aspx?id={0}"

               DataNavigateUrlField="qid" HeaderText="Question Title"/&gt;

       &lt;Asp:BoundColumn DataField="qDate"

               HeaderText="Date Posted"

               ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="right" /&gt;

       &lt;Asp:HyperLinkColumn DataTextField="email"

               DataNavigateUrlFormatString="mailto:{0}"

               DataNavigateUrlField="email"

               HeaderText="Posted By"/&gt;

    &lt;/Columns&gt;

    &lt;/Asp:DataGrid&gt;

&lt;/form&gt;

</FONT></PRE>
<P><FONT size=1>* To test the above code with SQL Server (this code incidentally
uses Ms Access as the datasource), replace all occurances of "oledb" with "sql"
(Replace "System.Data.Oledb" with "System.Data.SQLClient"). You will need to
make suitable changes to the connection string (strconn) as well.</FONT></P>

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