Q:

GridView did not have any properties or attributes from with to generate columns

This is the oddest error I've ever encountered as it makes no sense to.  I'm getting an IList from my controller.  I can even write a foreach loop and append TicketId to a stringbuilder and display my results.
I can put in break points and see that I have the expected results returned....as EXPECTED!  All values in place (no-misspellings as I've even copy & pasted)
But if I try to bind it to a GridView or repeater I get the error: The data source for GridView with id 'gv' did not have any properties or attributes from which to generate columns
example - in this code If I comment out the DataBinding to the gridview gv - I get the results as of the TicketId's as epxected:
LeadController controller = new LeadController();
        var leads = controller.SearchProducts(DateTime.Now.AddDays(-50),
                                                       DateTime.Now, string.Empty, string.Empty);

        var sb = new StringBuilder();

        foreach (LeadDto lead in (leads))
        {
            sb.Append(string.Format("{0} -----", lead.TicketId));
        }
        lblTop.Text = sb.ToString();

        gv.DataSource = leads;
        gv.DataBind();

But if the DataBinding isn't commented - the whole page errors with the above error.
Here's my ascx
<asp:TextBox ID="lblTop" runat="server" /><asp:GridView ID="gv" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="true" ></asp:GridView>

If I change my gridview as so:
<asp:GridView ID="gv" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false" >
<Columns>
    <asp:TemplateField >
        <ItemTemplate>
            <%# Eval("TicketId") %>
        </ItemTemplate>
    </asp:TemplateField>
</Columns>

I get an error that says:  DataBinding: 'DataTransferObjects.LeadDto' does not contain a property with the name 'TicketId'. 
But I can see it DOES after setting DataSource and prior to DataBinding...
I've tried shutting down VS2008 & even restarted my PC just in case it was a magic fairy bug.... 
Please, any suggestions?

A:

You said the LeadDto object has a property named TicketId, but are you sure it's a property and not a field? That is, in your LeadDto class how is TicketId defined? If it's defined as a member variable then it is not a property:
public class LeadDto
{
     public int TicketId;

     ...
}

The databinding only can bind against properties:
public class LeadDto
{
     public int TicketId { get; set; };

     ...
}

