Implementing a Pager with the Repeater Control in VB

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This tutorial will show how we can add a pager to a repeater control, and use a querystring value to move between the pages. This method is much more SEO-friendly than using postback, like the built-in GridView pager. VB version.

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The Repeater control is one of the most powerful controls in the ASP.NET toolbox. However, there is no built-in method of creating pages to display with it, like the GridView, for example. Building a pager for the Repeater control is possible in more than one ways, but if we use PostBack, then the result is not really SEO-friendly.

An alternative to using PostBack is to use a QueryString for the page numbers. This tutorial will show how we can do this, based upon data in the Repeater.
First, add the following assembly references:

Imports System
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Configuration
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Security
Imports System.Web.UI
Imports System.Web.UI.WebControls
Imports System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts
Imports System.Web.UI.HtmlControls
Imports System.Data.SqlClient

For this example, we use a sample database. Add the connection string in the Web.Config similar to the following:

</appSettings>

Next, we add the following to the ASPX page (a Repeater) and a Label:

</ItemTemplate>
<FooterTemplate></table></FooterTemplate>

</asp:Repeater>
</div>

</form>

The code-behind should look something like this:

Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

DisplayData()

End Sub

Public Sub DisplayData()

Dim myConnection As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("ConnectionString"))
Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM [Table1]", myConnection)
cmd.Connection.Open()

Dim myDA As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)
Dim ds As New DataSet()
myDA.Fill(ds, "Table1")
Dim pageds As New PagedDataSource()
pageds.DataSource = ds.Tables("Table1").DefaultView
pageds.AllowPaging = True
pageds.PageSize = 3

Dim curpage As Integer = 0

If Request.QueryString("page") IsNot Nothing Then

curpage = Convert.ToInt32(Request.QueryString("page"))

Else

curpage = 1

End If

pageds.CurrentPageIndex = curpage - 1

If curpage = 1 AndAlso pageds.DataSourceCount > pageds.PageSize Then

lblCurrpage.Text = "Pages: 1"

ElseIf pageds.DataSourceCount = 0 Then

lblCurrpage.Text = "No data to display."

ElseIf curpage > 1 AndAlso pageds.DataSourceCount > pageds.PageSize Then

lblCurrpage.Text = "Pages: <a href='Default.aspx?page=1'>1</a>"

End If
For i As Integer = 2 To pageds.PageCount

If i = curpage Then

lblCurrpage.Text = lblCurrpage.Text & ", " & i.ToString()