Question

I have a dropdown list that will add new titles to my database, however I would like to add a textbox that will allow the user to type in a new title if there is nothing in the dropdown that makes any sense for what they are trying to add.

I have the dropdown dynamically getting titles from the database. Unfortunately, this means that the first value in the dropdown list is not a default that says “Select an option.” I don’t know how to get the dropdown to have the first option listed as “Select” when the values are being pulled from the database. I can’t add Select an option to the database so how would this even work?

What can I add to my codebehind that will allow the textbox to insert into the database if the dropdown list is not inserting anything? Right now I don’t have any codebehind for the textbox but I do have the dropdown list inserting the correct information.

<li class="alternatingItem">
<asp:LinkButton ID="DescButton" runat="server">Description</asp:LinkButton>
  <asp:Panel ID="DescPanel" runat="server" CssClass="modalPopup" Style="display:none">
  <div class="PopupHeader">Add a Description</div>
  Title:<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlDescription" runat="server" DataSourceID="dsNewDescription" DataTextField="Title" DataValueField="Title">
  </asp:DropDownList><br />
  New Title:<asp:TextBox ID="NewDescTitle" runat="server"></asp:TextBox><br />
  Description:<asp:TextBox ID="Description" runat="server" TextMode="MultiLine">
  </asp:TextBox><br />
  <asp:Button ID="submitDescription" runat="server" Text="Submit" />
  <asp:Button ID="CancelSubmitDesc" runat="server" Text="Cancel" />
  </asp:Panel>
    <asp:ModalPopupExtender ID="DescModal" runat="server" DropShadow="True" 
    DynamicServicePath="" Enabled="True" PopupControlID="DescPanel"
    TargetControlID="DescButton">
    </asp:ModalPopupExtender>
    </li>




Protected Sub submitDescription_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles submitDescription.Click
    DescModal.Hide()

    'SQL INSERT: Marketing Table
    Dim strSQL As String = "INSERT INTO Picklist (Title, Data) 
    VALUES (@Title, @Data);
    INSERT INTO Marketing
    (ProductID, MarketingTypeID, MarketingTitle, MarketingData) 
    VALUES (@ProductID ,2, 'Description', scope_identity())"
    Using cn As New SqlConnection
    (System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings
    ("LocalSqlServer").ConnectionString)
        Using cmd As New SqlCommand(strSQL, cn)
            cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Title", 
            ddlDescription.SelectedValue))
            cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Data", 
            Description.Text))
            cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@ProductID",
            ProductID.Value))

            cn.Open()

            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
        End Using
    End Using
    Response.Redirect(Request.RawUrl)
End Sub

WORKING CODE

Title:<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlDescription" runat="server"
DataSourceID="dsNewDescription" DataTextField="Title" DataValueField="Title" 
enableViewstate="False" AutoPostBack="True" AppendDataBoundItems="True">
<asp:ListItem Text="Select below or enter new" Selected="True"></asp:ListItem>

 If ddlDescription.SelectedValue <> "Select below or enter new" Then
    cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Title", ddlDescription.SelectedValue))
 Else
    cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@Title", NewDescTitle.Text))
 End If

Answer 1

You can try something like this:

<asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList1" runat="server" AppendDataBoundItems="true" onblur="validateSelection(this)" ...>
    <asp:ListItem Text="" Value="" />
</asp:DropDownList>
<asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" style="display:none;"  ... />

Your JavaScript function (not positive, but it should be close):

validateSelection = function(selectList){
    var input = document.getElementById("<%=TextBox1.ClientID%>");
    if (input){
        input.style.display = selectList.selectedIndex > -1 ? "block" : "none";
        if (selectList.selectedIndex > -1){
            input.focus();
        }            
    }
}

And in your code-behind:

string description = TextBox1.Text;
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(DropDownList1.SelectedValue))
    description = DropDownList1.SelectedValue;