That is actually the correct way to do it . . .

But in reality its not that much work at all depending on how you implemented the datalist.

For example:  using an item template in a datalist you could create a LINK that builds the url by calling a simple function.

<a class="userLink" href="<%# getURL( DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "userid") ) %>">View User</a>

This link builds the actual target url by calling the function getURL with the value of userid on a row by row basis.

public String getURL(object thisUserId)
        {
            int intUserId= (int)thisUserId;
           return '/Admin/UserAccounts/tabid/264/ctl/Edit/mid/1330/UserId/' & intUserId.ToString() & '/Default.aspx';
         }

Westa