Only the last Cell gets added to the Row

Question

I'm trying to manually add three headers to a table. The table fills out fine with data from the SqlDataReader, but I'm having trouble getting the first row to stick. ``` TableRow iRow = new TableRow(); TableCell iCell = new TableCell(); iCell.Text = "SUBMITTED BY"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell); iCell.Text = "ON"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell); iCell.Text = "ISSUE DESCRIPTION"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell); table.Rows.Add(iRow); ``` causes only the last entry, in this case, ISSUE DESCRIPTION, to show up on the table. I've found a workaround in ``` TableRow iRow = new TableRow(); TableCell iCell = new TableCell(); TableCell iCell2 = new TableCell(); TableCell iCell3 = new TableCell(); iCell.Text = "SUBMITTED BY"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell); iCell2.Text = "ON"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell2); iCell3.Text = "ISSUE DESCRIPTION"; iRow.Cells.Add(iCell3); table.Rows.Add(iRow); ``` but it's bothering me how much messier that is. Is something wrong with my logic, or is there something I'm missing in C#? I've got a pretty good h…

Accepted Answer

is there something I'm missing in C#

Sounds like it, yes.

This:

```
TableCell iCell = new TableCell();
```

creates a `TableCell` object, and assigns a reference to it to the `iCell` variable. The value of `iCell` is just a reference to the object. It's not the object itself. This:

```
iRow.Cells.Add(iCell);
```

passes that reference to the `Add` method. It doesn't pass an object to `Add` - you can never do that in C#. So your row ends up with lots of references to the same cell, and all the changes you've made in lines like this:

```
iCell.Text = "ON";
```

just overwrite each other, as they're making changes to the same object.

You may find these articles useful:

- References and values

- Parameter passing in C#

Personally I would change your code to use collection initializers and object initializers:

```
TableRow row = new TableRow {
    Cells = {
        new TableCell { Text = "SUBMITTED BY" },
        new TableCell { Text = "ON" },
        new TableCell { Text = "ISSUE DESCRIPTION" },
    }
};
```

Only the last Cell gets added to the Row

Solution

Problem