a more elegant solution, without tempering with the datasource, is creating a custom control that extends GridView and overriding CreateChildControls like so:
protected override int CreateChildControls(System.Collections.IEnumerable dataSource, bool dataBinding)
{
int numRows = base.CreateChildControls(dataSource, dataBinding);
//no data rows created, create empty table if enabled
if (numRows == 0 && ShowWhenEmpty)
{
//create table
Table table = new Table();
table.ID = this.ID;
//convert the exisiting columns into an array and initialize
DataControlField[] fields = new DataControlField[this.Columns.Count];
this.Columns.CopyTo(fields, 0);
if(this.ShowHeader)
{
//create a new header row
GridViewRow headerRow = base.CreateRow(-1, -1, DataControlRowType.Header, DataControlRowState.Normal);
this.InitializeRow(headerRow, fields);
table.Rows.Add(headerRow);
}
//create the empty row
GridViewRow emptyRow = new GridViewRow(-1, -1, DataControlRowType.EmptyDataRow, DataControlRowState.Normal);
TableCell cell = new TableCell();
cell.ColumnSpan = this.Columns.Count;
cell.Width = Unit.Percentage(100);
if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(EmptyDataText))
cell.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(EmptyDataText));
if(this.EmptyDataTemplate != null)
EmptyDataTemplate.InstantiateIn(cell);
emptyRow.Cells.Add(cell);
table.Rows.Add(emptyRow);
if(this.ShowFooter)
{
//create footer row
GridViewRow footerRow = base.CreateRow(-1, -1, DataControlRowType.Footer, DataControlRowState.Normal);
this.InitializeRow(footerRow, fields);
table.Rows.Add(footerRow);
}
this.Controls.Clear();
this.Controls.Add(table);
}
return numRows;
}ShowWhenEmpty is a simple property that you set true to display headers and footers when empty:
[Category("Behaviour")]
[Themeable(true)]
[Bindable(BindableSupport.No)]
public bool ShowWhenEmpty
{
get
{
if (ViewState["ShowWhenEmpty"] == null)
ViewState["ShowWhenEmpty"] = false;
return (bool)ViewState["ShowWhenEmpty"];
}
set
{
ViewState["ShowWhenEmpty"] = value;
}
} With this approach you will have the same formatting for the rows as if the database is not empty. Also, this will display EmptyDataText and EmptyDataTemplate.