Binding the XmlDataSource to XML Nodes Inner HTML CDATA Values

Quick post today about something I should've found obvious. Posting here so I never forget.

When binding in ASP.NET with the XmlDataSource, you can easily use Eval("") to bind to the node properties. However, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to bind the actual node inner value.

For example if I have an xml file like this:

<images>
    <image src="imagea.jpg" alt="Alt Text A">
        <![CDATA[<p>Caption A</p>]]>
    </image>
    <image src="imageb.jpg" alt="Alt Text B">
        <![CDATA\[<p>Caption B</p>]]>
    </image>
</images>

I could easily bind the src and alt properties with Eval(""):

<asp:Repeater ID="ImgRepeater" runat="server" DataSourceID>="RotatorSource">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <img src="<%# Eval("src") %>" alt="<%# Eval("alt") %>" />
        <p><!-- Caption ? --></p>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
<asp:XmlDataSource ID>="RotatorSource" runat="server" DataFile="~/Images/rotator/Rotator.xml" XPath="images/image" />

I tried several different things like Eval("image") and even tried using the Container.DataItem value with no luck.

I also tried different values for XPath, like XPath("image"). This did work, but it would only show the first value for all of the images. XPath("../images") and other variations were of no help.

I wasn't even sure how to search for this. I hardly use XML so I wasn't sure what terminology to even search for...

Fortunately, before I gave up and went to the bar, I found this thread: XmlDataSource and embeded HTML within your XML data, which pointed me to this helpful solution:

<%# XPath(".") %>

Now it all works! And to anyone else who might have been in the same boat and landed here for a solution: Doesn't XML suck?