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Add a Default List Item to DropDownList When Binding from DataBase in Asp.Net
Submitted By Satheesh Babu B
On 3/24/2010 8:45:10 AM
Tags: ASP.Net,CodeDigest  

Add a Default List Item to DropDownList When Binding from DataBase in Asp.Net

 

We always set the first item of an ASP.Net DropDownList as "Select" to let the user know to select a value. From ASP.Net 2.0, all list controls (CheckBoxList, DropDownList, ListBox, and RadioButtonList) includes a new Boolean property called AppendDataBoundItems which can be used to achieve this task very easily.
 Add a default ListItem in ASPX and bind the DropDownList from database like below,

 

ASPX
    <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlDepartment" AppendDataBoundItems="true" runat="server">
    <asp:ListItem Text="Select" Value=""></asp:ListItem>
    </asp:DropDownList>

CodeBehind
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
  if (!IsPostBack)
        {
        DataTable dtDept = GetDept();
        ddlDepartment.DataSource = dtDept;
        ddlDepartment.DataTextField = "Department";
        ddlDepartment.DataValueField = "DeptID";
        ddlDepartment.DataBind();
       }
   }

public DataTable GetDept()
    {
        SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString);
        con.Open();
        SqlCommand com = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM [Department]", con);       
        SqlDataAdapter ada = new SqlDataAdapter(com);
        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
        ada.Fill(ds);
        return ds.Tables[0];
    }

 

When the above code is executed, the DropDownList will have "Select" as first item and the other items from database will be appended. Refer the below output,

 

OUTPUT
<select name="ddlDepartment" id="ddlDepartment">
 <option value="">Select</option>
 <option value="1">IT</option>
 <option value="2">CSE</option>
 <option value="3">SALES</option>
 <option value="4">HR</option>
 <option value="5">PROD</option>
</select>

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