“Substring” a GridView BoundField object

Question

Can anyone tell me how to substring a GridView BoundField object please?

I tried this so far and it hasn't worked. Thank you.

<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text='<%# ChopString((string)Eval("description")) %>'></asp:Label>
</ItemTemplate>

Answer 1

Eval("description").ToString().Substring(0, 60);

Answer 2

You need to use substring.

   Eval("description").ToString().Substring(0,60)

I believe thats all you need.

Answer 3

It says The name 'ChopString' does not exist in the current context

Make sure your ChopString method is either protected or public in the page's codebehind.

Maybe as previous user, said, these may not be ASP.NET functions?

ChopString is not a built-in function. Make your own:

ASPX Codebehind

Example:

protected string ChopString(string val)
{
    //Check that val is a valid candidate for Substring, i.e. check for nulls, appropriate length, etc
    //...
    //...
    string returnVal = val.Substring(0,60); //Return first 60 chars
    return returnVal;
}