I have a class BaseTemplate

public abstract class BaseTemplate : ITemplate

This adds the controls, and provides abstract methods to implement in the inheriting class. The inheriting class then adds its html according to its data source and manages the data binding.

this all works fine - I get the control appearing with properly parsed html.

the problem is that the base class adds controls into the template that have their own CommandName arguments ... the idea is that the class that implements the custom templated dataList will provide the logic of setting the Selected and Edit Indexes. This class also manages the data binding etc. It sets all of the templates ont he datalist in the Init method (which was another cause of this exception).

the exception gets throw when i hit one of these buttons .. but after the ItemCommand event is being processed. The stack trace does not include any references to my methods or objects which is why i am so stuck.

The Exception Details

Exception Details: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values.

Parameter name: index

The Stack Trace:

    [ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values.
Parameter name: index]
   System.Web.UI.ControlCollection.get_Item(Int32 index) +8665582
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataList.GetItem(ListItemType itemType, Int32 repeatIndex) +8667655
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataList.System.Web.UI.WebControls.IRepeatInfoUser.GetItemStyle(ListItemType itemType, Int32 repeatIndex) +11
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.RepeatInfo.RenderVerticalRepeater(HtmlTextWriter writer, IRepeatInfoUser user, Style controlStyle, WebControl baseControl) +8640873
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.RepeatInfo.RenderRepeater(HtmlTextWriter writer, IRepeatInfoUser user, Style controlStyle, WebControl baseControl) +27
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataList.RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter writer) +208
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataList.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +30
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +99
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +134
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +19
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +163
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlContainerControl.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +32
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.Render(HtmlTextWriter output) +51
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +99
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +40
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +134
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +19
   System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +29
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +99
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1266

This is driving me absolutley stark raving bonkers ... im talking cthulu style.