I need to display a short dropdownlist of choices to my users. 

Specifically, I need to allow them to choose one of the coming four weeks. 

For example:

- Sep. 16 to Sep. 22

- Sep. 23 to Sep. 29

- Sep. 30 to Oct. 06

- Oct. 07 to Oct. 13



Of course, I can easily build up the list in a string using a <select> tag 

and plain HTML.



However, it seems to make more sense to use an asp:dropdownlist control 

and bind it to a memory-based list. I'm just not sure whether a DataSet 

would be overkill for this, and whether an ArrayList or some simpler 

collection would make sense.



I will want to set both MyDDL.DataValueField and MyDDL.DataTextField. 

DataValueField will contain a single data (first day of the week), while 

DataTextField will contain strings like the four listed above.



To use a DataSet, I suppose I would either manually build up the schema in 

advance (one table with two columns), and then add my four rows. Or I 

could build up the schema and data in XML and then populate the DataSet 

from the the XML string.



Can anyone provide suggestions and/or sample code on this?



Thanks,

Ric

I would say if your list is going to change then bind the list to data

source and use a datareader. Remember that a dataset is a disconnected

structure that makes it excellent to pass around to different objects that

need it say for instance in your DAL - so for only four values it is

definitely overkill. Here some simple code that should help. If you are

going to use this control on a number of pages you can build your own

control via a .ascx page and include the connection string below in the

codebehind.



- Pete Ehli -



			if(!Page.IsPostBack)

			{

				string connString = this.connectionString;

				if(connString == null)

				{

					connString = "server=localhost;uid=sa;pwd=;database=Northwind";

				}



				string sqlSelectStatement = this.sqlSelect;

				if(sqlSelectStatement == null)

				{

					sqlSelectStatement = "SELECT * FROM Shippers";

				}

				SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString);

				SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sqlSelectStatement,conn);

				SqlDataReader reader;



				try

				{

					conn.Open();

					reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();



					ddlShipMethod.DataTextField = "CompanyName";



					ddlShipMethod.DataSource = reader;

					ddlShipMethod.DataBind();

				}

				catch(Exception ex)

				{

					ex.ToString();

				}

				finally

				{

					if(conn.State == ConnectionState.Open)

					{

						conn.Close();

					}

				}

			}

-----Original Message-----

From: Ric Bernat [mailto:ricb@h...]

Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 5:04 PM

To: ASP+

Subject: [aspx] Bind DropDownList to ad-hoc list





I need to display a short dropdownlist of choices to my users.

Specifically, I need to allow them to choose one of the coming four weeks.

For example:

- Sep. 16 to Sep. 22

- Sep. 23 to Sep. 29

- Sep. 30 to Oct. 06

- Oct. 07 to Oct. 13



Of course, I can easily build up the list in a string using a <select> tag

and plain HTML.



However, it seems to make more sense to use an asp:dropdownlist control

and bind it to a memory-based list. I'm just not sure whether a DataSet

would be overkill for this, and whether an ArrayList or some simpler

collection would make sense.



I will want to set both MyDDL.DataValueField and MyDDL.DataTextField.

DataValueField will contain a single data (first day of the week), while

DataTextField will contain strings like the four listed above.



To use a DataSet, I suppose I would either manually build up the schema in

advance (one table with two columns), and then add my four rows. Or I

could build up the schema and data in XML and then populate the DataSet

from the the XML string.



Can anyone provide suggestions and/or sample code on this?



Thanks,

Ric

Thanks for the input, Pete. The thing is, the data I'm working with isn't 

in a database; it's just calculated based on the current date. I've seen 

lots of examples of populating a DataSet from a database; I was hoping to 

get some code samples of creating the schema for a DataSet manually and 

then populating it.



In any case, you bring up another point which I'm wondering about. Can I 

pass a DataSet from one object to another, as if it were a simple 

variable? Would I just return it as the return value of a function? Would 

it be better to instantiate the DataSet in the calling object first, then 

pass it in to the called object by reference?

 Ric I would Just create a class that calculates the needed dates then

populates an ArrayList and makes the ArrayList available to whatever client

object needs it. This I think would be a lot easier, and makes much more

sense than using a DataSet.



- Pete Ehli -



-----Original Message-----

From: Ric Bernat [mailto:ricb@h...]

Sent: Friday, September 28, 2001 2:31 AM

To: ASP+

Subject: [aspx] RE: Bind DropDownList to ad-hoc list





Thanks for the input, Pete. The thing is, the data I'm working with isn't

in a database; it's just calculated based on the current date. I've seen

lots of examples of populating a DataSet from a database; I was hoping to

get some code samples of creating the schema for a DataSet manually and

then populating it.



In any case, you bring up another point which I'm wondering about. Can I

pass a DataSet from one object to another, as if it were a simple

variable? Would I just return it as the return value of a function? Would

it be better to instantiate the DataSet in the calling object first, then

pass it in to the called object by reference?