dropdown list control basic question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aussie Rules
  • Start date Start date
A

Aussie Rules

Hi,

I have a drop down that I have populated. I am use to using winforms with
the items.add function to add objects to the drop downs, but on web forms it
seems you can only add text string.

How do i then force the drop down to be a specific item in the drop down
(such as setting a default value)


If its possible to add more than just a text string, is it possible to have
an index. For example I want to have a list of countriues in the drop down.
When the user selected a country, say 'France', I am able to access the
index of that item, which may be the 'FR'

Thanks all
 
Hi,

I have a drop down that I have populated. I am use to using winforms with
the items.add function to add objects to the drop downs, but on web forms it
seems you can only add text string.

How do i then force the drop down to be a specific item in the drop down
(such as setting a default value)

If its possible to add more than just a text string, is it possible to have
an index. For example I want to have a list of countriues in the drop down.
When the user selected a country, say 'France', I am able to access the
index of that item, which may be the 'FR'

Thanks all
Click to expand...

Hello!

You can add ListItems to a drop down on webforms
these objects can be created with a display string, and a key string

so if you wanted to add countries, it could be something like:

ddlCountries.Items.Add( new ListItem("Frances", "FR") );

and when wanting to know the value of which item is selected in your
drop down you can just access the SelectedValue property of the
control

string selected = ddlCountries.SelectedValue;

also, in case you wanted to select a specific item via code behind,
you can with the SelectedIndex property

ddlCountries.SelectedIndex =
ddlCountries.Items.IndexOf( ddlCountries.Items.FindByValue( "FR" ) );


hope this is what you were looking for
good luck
 
With web forms you can have a text and a value associated with a list item
in the DropDownList

<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList1" runat="server">
<asp:ListItem Text="France" Value="FR" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Finland" Value="FI" Selected="True" />
</asp:DropDownList>

Adding in code could be:

DropDownList1.Items.Add(New ListItem("France", "FR"))
DropDownList1.Items.Add(New ListItem("Finland", "FI"))

'Setting Finland to be a default selection
DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue("FI").Selected = True

'Or optionally to ensure only one item is always selected
DropDownList1.SelectedIndex =
DropDownList1.Items.IndexOf(DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue("FI"))

Then accessing what's selected can be done via SelectedIndex, SelectedItem
or SelectedValueproperties or via Items collection
 
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