Vista - datalist -- Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I have a page with a datalist that on load works fine but on an edit
postback I get the error "Object reference not set to an instance of
an object."

The aspx starts this way...

<avg:ScrollingGrid runat="server" ID="ScrollingGrid1"
Width="100%" Height="600px" >
<div style="overflow:scroll;width:100%;height:480px">

<asp:datalist ID="DataList1" DataSourceid="SqlDataSource1"
runat="server"
.stuff...../>

the .code behind is.....

Sub DataList_EditCommand(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
DataListCommandEventArgs)
DataList1.ShowFooter = "false"
DataList1.EditItemIndex = e.Item.ItemIndex
BindList()
End Sub

When it hits Datalist1.ShowFooter I get the error

Thanks for any help.