CustomValidation checking that no one DropDownList is the same in a Update GridView

[ngquangtam]

Hopefully this is a relative quick question for the experts out there!I have a Update GridView function that has 5 drop down lists. These 5 lists bind to the same DataTable but the end user (client) cannot specify the same SelectedValue more than once. Group01 is covered by a RequiredFieldValidator so they must specify at least one group.The issue I have is that what I've made the for CustomValidation is a bool that compares the selectedValue's to make sure they are not the same. However, I can't directly go to say 'ddGroup01' or 'ddGroup02' as it doesnt exists in the current context.So my question, what do I need to do to get the DropDown Lists to exist for the server validation?aspx page.\[code\] <asp:GridView ID="gvEditUser" runat="server" AllowPaging="True" AutoGenerateColumns="False" OnRowDataBound="gvEditUser_RowDataBound" OnRowCancelingEdit="gvEditUser_RowCancelingEdit" OnRowEditing="gvEditUser_RowEditing" OnRowUpdating="gvEditUser_RowUpdating" OnRowDeleting="gvEditUser_RowDeleting" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None"> <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" /> <Columns> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="User ID"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbUserID" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("userid") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Full Name"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbFullName" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("fullname") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <asp:TextBox ID="tbFullName" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("fullname") %>' ></asp:TextBox> <asp:RegularExpressionValidator ID="val_reg_FullName" runat="server" ErrorMessage="Not a valid Full Name." ControlToValidate="tbFullName" ValidationExpression="^[A-Z][a-zA-Z']+[ ]+[A-Z][a-zA-Z'\- ]*$" CssClass="password_red_fail" Display="None"></asp:RegularExpressionValidator> <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="valFullName" runat="server" ErrorMessage="Full Name is required." CssClass="password_red_fail" ControlToValidate="tbFullName" Display="None"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Email"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbEmail" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("email") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Group 01"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbGroup01" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("group01") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <aspropDownList ID="ddGroup01" runat="server"></aspropDownList> <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="valddGroup01" runat="server" ErrorMessage="Group 01 is required." CssClass="password_red_fail" ControlToValidate="ddGroup01" Display="None"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Group 02"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbGroup02" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("group02") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <aspropDownList ID="ddGroup02" runat="server"></aspropDownList> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Group 03"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbGroup03" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("group03") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <aspropDownList ID="ddGroup03" runat="server"></aspropDownList> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Group 04"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbGroup04" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("group04") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <aspropDownList ID="ddGroup04" runat="server"></aspropDownList> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Group 05"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbGrou05" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("group05") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <aspropDownList ID="ddGroup05" runat="server"></aspropDownList> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Admin"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:CheckBox ID="cbAdmin" runat="server" Checked='<%# Convert.ToBoolean(Eval("admin")) %>' Enabled="false" /> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <asp:CheckBox ID="cbAdmin" runat="server" /> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Created by"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbCreatedBy" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("createdby") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Last Login"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:Label ID="lbLastLogin" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("lastlogin") %>' ></asp:Label> </ItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Edit" ShowHeader="false"> <ItemTemplate> <asp:LinkButton ID="btnEdit" runat="server" CommandName="Edit" Text="Edit"></asp:LinkButton> <asp:LinkButton ID="btnDelete" runat="server" CommandName="Delete" Text="Delete"></asp:LinkButton> </ItemTemplate> <EditItemTemplate> <asp:LinkButton ID="btnUpdate" runat="server" CommandName="Update" Text="Update"></asp:LinkButton> <asp:LinkButton ID="btnCancel" runat="server" CommandName="Cancel" Text="Cancel"></asp:LinkButton> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> </Columns> <EditRowStyle BackColor="#2461BF" /> <FooterStyle BackColor="#507CD1" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="Black" /> <HeaderStyle BackColor="#507CD1" ForeColor="White" CssClass="size14_text" /> <PagerStyle BackColor="#2461BF" ForeColor="Black" HorizontalAlign="Center" /> <RowStyle BackColor="#EFF3FB" /> <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#FFFFFF" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" /> <SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#F5F7FB" /> <SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6D95E1" /> <SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9EBEF" /> <SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#4870BE" /> </asp:GridView> <asp:ValidationSummary ID="valSummary" runat="server" CssClass="password_red_fail" />\[/code\]A snippet of the code behind. Assuming this is the parts one would need.\[code\]protected void gvEditUser_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e){ if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow) { if (e.Row.RowState != null) { if ((e.Row.RowState & DataControlRowState.Edit) > 0) { DropDownList ddGroup01 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddGroup01"); ddGroup01.DataTextField = "association"; ddGroup01.DataValueField = "association"; ddGroup01.DataSource = load_group(); ddGroup01.DataBind(); ddGroup01.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem()); DropDownList ddGroup02 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddGroup02"); ddGroup02.DataTextField = "association"; ddGroup02.DataValueField = "association"; ddGroup02.DataSource = load_group(); ddGroup02.DataBind(); ddGroup02.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem()); DropDownList ddGroup03 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddGroup03"); ddGroup03.DataTextField = "association"; ddGroup03.DataValueField = "association"; ddGroup03.DataSource = load_group(); ddGroup03.DataBind(); ddGroup03.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem()); DropDownList ddGroup04 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddGroup04"); ddGroup04.DataTextField = "association"; ddGroup04.DataValueField = "association"; ddGroup04.DataSource = load_group(); ddGroup04.DataBind(); ddGroup04.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem()); DropDownList ddGroup05 = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("ddGroup05"); ddGroup05.DataTextField = "association"; ddGroup05.DataValueField = "association"; ddGroup05.DataSource = load_group(); ddGroup05.DataBind(); ddGroup05.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem()); ddGroup01.SelectedValue = http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14439522/DataBinder.Eval(e.Row.DataItem,"group01").ToString(); ddGroup02.SelectedValue = http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14439522/DataBinder.Eval(e.Row.DataItem,"group02").ToString(); ddGroup03.SelectedValue = http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14439522/DataBinder.Eval(e.Row.DataItem,"group03").ToString(); ddGroup04.SelectedValue = http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14439522/DataBinder.Eval(e.Row.DataItem,"group04").ToString(); ddGroup05.SelectedValue = http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14439522/DataBinder.Eval(e.Row.DataItem,"group05").ToString(); CheckBox cbAdmin = (CheckBox)e.Row.FindControl("cbAdmin"); DataRowView dr = e.Row.DataItem as DataRowView; if (Convert.ToBoolean(dr["admin"] = true)) { cbAdmin.Checked = true; } else { cbAdmin.Checked = false; } } } }}protected void val_sameDropDown_ServerValidate(object source, ServerValidateEventArgs args){ args.IsValid = !haveSameValue(ddGroup01.SelectedValue, ddGroup02.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup01.SelectedValue, ddGroup03.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup01.SelectedValue, ddGroup04.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup01.SelectedValue, ddGroup05.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup02.SelectedValue, ddGroup03.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup02.SelectedValue, ddGroup04.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup02.SelectedValue, ddGroup05.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup03.SelectedValue, ddGroup04.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup03.SelectedValue, ddGroup05.SelectedValue) && !haveSameValue(ddGroup04.SelectedValue, ddGroup05.SelectedValue);}protected bool haveSameValue(string first, string second){ if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(first) & !string.IsNullOrEmpty(second) && first.Equals(second)) { return first.Equals(second); } return first == null && second == null;}\[/code\]Thanks guys and gals. Look forward to the responses (love learning this stuff)Cheers,Trent