How To Bind DropDownList Using List Collection and DataSet in Asp.Net

We can bind DropDownList in Different ways by using List, Dictionary and DataSet.

To bind DropDownList we need to set some properties
DataSource
DataValueField
DataTextField
Let see how to use these properties to bind DropDownList

Binding DropDownList with List

In This Case the DropDownList both 'Value' and 'Text' field are same.

DropDownList ddl = new DropDownList();

List<string> countries = new List<string>();

countries.Add("USA");

countries.Add("India");

ddl.DataSource = countries;

ddl.DataBind();

Binding DropDownList with Dictionary

Dictionary<string, string> States = new Dictionary<string, string>();

States.Add("-1","-Select State-");

States.Add("AP", "Andhra Predesh");

States.Add("KA", "Karnataka");

States.Add("TN", "Tamilnadu");

States.Add("KL", "Kerala");

ddl.DataSource = States;

ddl.DataValueField = "Key";

ddl.DataTextField = "Value";

ddl.DataBind();

Binding DropDownList with DataSet

My DataSet Contains a Class table(class_id,class_name,description)

ddl.DataSource = dataset.Tables[0].DefaultView;

ddl.DataValueField = "class_id";

ddl.DataTextField = "class_name";

ddl.DataBind();

ListItem item = new ListItem("-Select Class-", "-1");

ddl.Items.Insert(0, item);

Happy Coding