i'm trying to populate a drop down box with information from a database. the box populates but if i put in any code to try and capture the value i get a data not found error
here is the code:

<select name="race">
        <%
                  Statement statement = con.createStatement();
                   ResultSet rs = statement.executeQuery("SELECT race_number from race_info");
               while (rs.next())

            out.print("\t<option value = " + rs.getInt("race_number") + " >" + rs.getInt("race_number") + "</option>\n");
            out.print("</option>\n");

         %>
          </select>

i also tried to assign a temp value to race_number but that does not work either. Please HELP!!!

I dont think you can read data directly from form elements, you need to sibmit the form to a second page that reads the parameters with getParameter, it is possible to submit JSP pages to themeselves, but then you have to handle two conditions, the initial condition with no data submitted and a second condition where parameters are read.