Question

i have a dropdownlist that populates from the sql server database. populating the list is not a problem, but does anyone know how to populate the value part of the listitem.

<asp:dropdownlist id="colors">
<listitem value="1">black</listitem>
<listitem value="2">blue</listitem>
<listitem value="3">orange</listitem>
<listitem value="4">red</listitem>
<listitem value="5">violet</listitem>

how do you populate the value=1,2,3,4,5 when you’re populating from table in database?

Answer 1

First you have to build your select statement

Select [ID], [Value] From [Table]

You would store your query into a variable (I use “r” for return)
Then you need to attach it to the dropdown

DropDownList1.DataTextField = r.Value
DropDownList1.DataValueField = r.ID
DropDownList1.Databind()

If you really REALLY need to loop, then try something along these lines (not code is not checked, just a general idea.)

For Each o as object in r
  DropDownList1.Items.Insert(o.ID,new ListItem(o.Value,o.ID))
Next

Or with the DataReader (again, untested, but prolly close)

While DataReader.Read()
  DropDownList1.Items.Insert(datareader("value"),new ListItem(datareader("name"),datareader("value"))
End While