trying to bind 'select' as value in dropdown

Question

i am trying to bind value as select in dropdown.but getting error i have one dropdown

 Type<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlSurf" runat="server" Style="border: 0px;" ></asp:DropDownList>

which has value bind on page load.

 void GetSurf()
    {       
        dt = conn.GetData("select product from group a where formname in('a','b','c','d','e')");
        ddlSurf.DataSource = dt;
        ddlSurf.DataTextField = "product";
        ddlSurf.DataValueField = "product";


        ddlSurf.DataBind();
        ddlSurf.Items.Insert(0, "Select");
    }

if do not select any value while submitting then value 'select' will be saved in database

SURF = ddlSurf.Text;

but while retrieving value from database i am simply doing

ddlSurf.SelectedValue = ReadData["surf"].ToString(); 

but this will create one error while binding from database "'ddlSurf' has a SelectedValue which is invalid because it does not exist in the list of items.

How to resolve this issue any idea would be appreciated.

Answer 1

try this one, for sure

        int index = DropDownList1.Items.IndexOf(ReadData["surf"].ToString());
        if (index != -1)
        {
            DropDownList1.SelectedIndex = index;
        }