Kept trying to view this in asp.net design view but i am not allowed. Viewed it in a webform and got this error:
Parser Error Message: Server tags cannot contain <% ... %> constructs.

<ItemTemplate>
<asp:ImageButton runat="server" ID="imgItem" ImageUrl =<% "../imgRetrieve.aspx?id=" +  
			DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"staffid")%> CssClass="removeBorder" onmouseover="this.className='applyBorder'" 
 onmouseout="this.className='removeBorder'" Width="100" Height="100" OnClick="imgItem_Click" />
			<br>
		</ItemTemplate>

VS is a shabby editor.
What ever between <% %> should be in single quotes ', not double quotes ".

<% '../imgRetrieve.aspx?id=' + x + ' ' %>

Yeah, its quite irritating.

oh yeah, thanks.