I have a server control that wraps an underlying class which manages a number of indexes to track where it is in a dataset (ie: RenderedRecordCount, ErroredRecordCount, NewRecordCount, etc.). I've got the server control rendering great, but OnDataBinding I'm having an issue as to seems to happen after CreateChildControls and before Render (both of which properly manage the iteration of the underlying indexes).
While I'm somewhat familiar with the ASP.NET page lifecycle, this one seems to be beyond me at the moment. So... How do I hook into the iterative process OnDataBinding uses so I can manage the underlying indexes? Will I have to iterate over the ITemplates myself, managing the indexes as I go or is there an easier solution? [edit: Agh... writing the problem out is very cathartic... I'm thinking this is exactly what I will need to do...]
Also... I implemented the iteration of the underlying indexes during CreateChildControls originally in the belief that was the proper place to hook in for events like OnDataBinding (thinking it was done as the controls were being .Add'd). Now it seems that this may actually be unnecessary. So I guess the secondary question is: What happens during CreateChildControls? Are the unadulterated (read: with various <%-tags in place) controls added to the .Controls collection without any other processing?