I have gridview with several columns one of which is percent column.  This is bound to a column with a SQL float data type.  I format the number to be a percent string:

So the column in the database has the value of 50.0 and the gridview displays this as "50%".
e.Row.Cells[0].Text returns the formatted string "50%"

When handling the RowDataBound event how can I access the original data value of cell, 50.0, rather than the formatted string, "50%"?

 I found the answer to my own question ( found it here http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479353.aspx).  I can use the DataItem property like so:

string temp = ((DataRowView)e.Row.DataItem)["<column_name>"].ToString();