Question

In ASP.NET 4, I have a GridView, which contains a DropDownList in the asp:TemplateEdit section. The DropDownList is populating with all of the options I need from a second data source. However, I would like to have each DropDownList in each row have a different SelectedIndex set on default based on data already in the GridView.

For example, here is sample data

|  id  |     Status    |  hidden  |  First Name  |
--------------------------------------------------
|  12  |   <dropdown>  |     3    |  john  doe   |
|  13  |   <dropdown>  |     7    |  jane  ble   |

so you will note the 3rd column is hidden, meaning I have it set to:

<asp:BoundField DataField="StatusName" HeaderText="Status" Visible="false" />

However, the edited row in this column contains the value (asp:BoundField) that I need the DropDownList to display by default.

In other words I need

<option select="selected">something</option>

to have the proper index selected based on the number in the "hidden" field.

Answer 1

You can subscribe to RowDataBound event in order to select the right value in the drop-down list:

protected void myGrid_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    DropDownList lst = null;
    string hiddenStatus = string.Empty;

    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        hiddenStatus = e.Row.Cells[2].Text;
        lst = (DropDownList)e.Row.FindControl("dropDownIdentifier");

        lst.SelectedValue = hiddenStatus;
    }
}