I apologize in advance for such a long answer, but I wanted to be thorough.
This is apparently a "security" feature in .Net 4.0 (and higher). You can read more about it at:
All of the above links also recommend declaring a public class to override the behavior:
public class HtmlAttributeNoEncoding : System.Web.Util.HttpEncoder
{
protected override void HtmlAttributeEncode(string value, System.IO.TextWriter output)
{
output.Write(value);
}
}
and then adding this to the <system.web>
element in your web.config:
<httpRuntime encoderType="HtmlAttributeNoEncoding"/>
This definitely fixes the rendering problem, so that quotes and apostrophes render as "
and '
(as expected).
That said, I tested your problem with the following:
<script type="text/javascript">
var doConfirm = function (action, item) {
alert('Sikker p? du vil ' + action + ': ' + item);
return false;
};
</script>
<p>Some "arbitrary" text. <asp:Button ID="Button3" runat="server" Text="Button" OnClientClick="doConfirm('delete', 'myalbum');" /></p>
<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server">
<Columns>
<asp:TemplateField>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" OnClientClick='<%# Eval("albumName", "doConfirm("delete", "{0}");").ToString() %>' />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:BoundField HeaderText="Album Name" DataField="albumName" />
<asp:TemplateField>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Button ID="Button2" runat="server" Text="Button" OnClientClick='<%# CreateConfirmation("delete", (string)Eval("albumName")) %>' />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
and in the code-behind:
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
public string CreateConfirmation(String action, String item)
{
return String.Format(@"return doConfirm('{0}', '{1}');", action, item);
}
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
DataColumn dc = new DataColumn("albumName", typeof(string));
DataRow dr = null;
dt.Columns.Add(dc);
dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["albumName"] = "Zen Arcade";
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["albumName"] = "New Day Rising";
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["albumName"] = "Candy Apple Grey";
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
GridView1.DataSource = dt;
GridView1.DataBind();
}
}
I was able to duplicate your rendering problem:
<p>Some "arbitrary" text.
<input type="submit" onclick="doConfirm('delete', 'myalbum');" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$Button3" id="MainContent_Button3" />
</p>
<div>
<table cellspacing="0" rules="all" border="1" id="MainContent_GridView1"
style="border-collapse:collapse;">
<tr>
<th scope="col"> </th>
<th scope="col">Album Name</th>
<th scope="col"> </th>
<th scope="col">albumName</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="doConfirm("delete", "Zen Arcade");" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl02$Button1" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button1_0" />
</td>
<td>Zen Arcade</td>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="return doConfirm('delete', 'Zen Arcade');" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl02$Button2" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button2_0" />
</td>
<td>Zen Arcade</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="doConfirm("delete", "New Day Rising");" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl03$Button1" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button1_1" />
</td>
<td>New Day Rising</td>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="return doConfirm('delete', 'New Day Rising');" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl03$Button2" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button2_1" />
</td>
<td>New Day Rising</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="doConfirm("delete", "Candy Apple Grey");" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl04$Button1" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button1_2" />
</td>
<td>Candy Apple Grey</td>
<td>
<input type="submit" onclick="return doConfirm('delete', 'Candy Apple Grey');" value="Button" name="ctl00$MainContent$GridView1$ctl04$Button2" id="MainContent_GridView1_Button2_2" />
</td>
<td>Candy Apple Grey</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
When any of the buttons were clicked, the JavaScript function ignored the HTML encoding, alerting me to:
Sikker p? du vil delete: Zen Arcade
so while it looks funky in the source, having quotes and apostrophes render as "
and '
doesn't really appear to affect anything.