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:

• http://avinashsing.sunkur.com/2010/10/29/asp-net-html-encoding-attributes-in-server-controls/


• http://forums.asp.net/p/1554455/3818604.aspx


• Stop the tag builder escaping single quotes ASP.NET MVC 2

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 på 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(&#39;delete&#39;, &#39;myalbum&#39;); 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>&nbsp;</th>

            <th scope=col>Album Name</th>

            <th scope=col>&nbsp;</th>

            <th scope=col>albumName</th>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td>

                <input type=submit onclick=doConfirm(&quot;delete&quot;, &quot;Zen Arcade&quot;); 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(&#39;delete&#39;, &#39;Zen Arcade&#39;); 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(&quot;delete&quot;, &quot;New Day Rising&quot;); 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(&#39;delete&#39;, &#39;New Day Rising&#39;); 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(&quot;delete&quot;, &quot;Candy Apple Grey&quot;); 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(&#39;delete&#39;, &#39;Candy Apple Grey&#39;); 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 på 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.