I am finding the simplest things to do in vanilla HTML/ASP now take only 

hours and days to do with ASP .Net.



In the VS .Net IDE, I am populating a dropdownlist with data from a 

table. I want to add to that list a "" with a value of 9999, that is, I 

don't want any item from the database pre-selected when the .aspx page 

loads.



I have tried adding



<asp:ListItem Value="9999" Text=" " Selected="True"> </asp:ListItem>

as well as

<asp:ListItem Value="9999" Text="" Selected="True"></asp:ListItem>



between the <asp:DropDownList> tags in the HTML page. That does nothing. 

No blank item is added.



I also tried adding an item (" ") to the dropdownlist's Item collection 

ter the DataBind() method is executed in the odeehind page. This put a 

blank line in the box, but it puts if AFTER the table data; it is not the 

selected item.



Can anyone point me in the right direction? This takes 12 seconds to do 

the "old" way.



Thanks!



jk

I discovered the answer to my own above question. Thanks anyway.



I added:



      myDropdownlist.Selecteditem.Text = ""

      myDropdownlist.Selecteditem.Value = "9999"



to the codebehind page.

You need to use the Insert method.  Check out these articles for more on

this and other tricks with drop down lists:

http://aspalliance.com/search/default.asp?keyword=drop+down+list



Steve





Steven Smith, MCSE+Internet, Microsoft MVP: ASP.NET

ssmith@a...

President, ASPAlliance.com

http://aspalliance.com    The #1 ASP.NET Community

http://aspsmith.com        ASP.NET Training for ASP Developers



Learning ASP.NET?  Get My Book: ASP.NET By Example

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789725622/stevenatorasp/



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

From: <jude@j...>

To: "aspx_beginners" <aspx_beginners@p...>

Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 12:53 AM

Subject: [aspx_beginners] Dropdownlist Blank First Item





> I am finding the simplest things to do in vanilla HTML/ASP now take only

> hours and days to do with ASP .Net.

>

> In the VS .Net IDE, I am populating a dropdownlist with data from a

> table. I want to add to that list a "" with a value of 9999, that is, I

> don't want any item from the database pre-selected when the .aspx page

> loads.

>

> I have tried adding

>

> <asp:ListItem Value="9999" Text=" " Selected="True"> </asp:ListItem>

> as well as

> <asp:ListItem Value="9999" Text="" Selected="True"></asp:ListItem>

>

> between the <asp:DropDownList> tags in the HTML page. That does nothing.

> No blank item is added.

>

> I also tried adding an item (" ") to the dropdownlist's Item collection

> ter the DataBind() method is executed in the odeehind page. This put a

> blank line in the box, but it puts if AFTER the table data; it is not the

> selected item.

>

> Can anyone point me in the right direction? This takes 12 seconds to do

> the "old" way.

>

> Thanks!

>

> jk

>




$subst('Email.Unsub').

>

Steve,



What I thought was a solution didn't work. Your direction to the 

ASPAlliance web site did give me what I was looking for.



Thank you!!!



I owe you a beer; I may even buy your book!

Thanks a ton!



jk