Question

VB.Net Checking if Dropdown has a Value

Asked by: ITHelper80

Im am retrieveing values from a database and then changeing the DDL' selected value to what was retrieved from the DB.

How can I check that a value exists before making it my selected value?

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Asked On
2009-08-12 at 09:42:38ID24647093
Topics

Programming for ASP.NET

,

.NET

,

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: mohan_sekarPosted on 2009-08-12 at 09:59:16ID: 25080543

if dropdown1.Items.FindByValue("yourvalue") IS NOT Nothing then
    dropdown1.Items.FindByValue("yourvalue").selected = true
end if

 

by: ITHelper80Posted on 2009-08-12 at 10:32:07ID: 25080859

Here is what I have but I get an error on it.

If ddFaciltator.Items.FindByValue(reader("Facilitator").ToString()).Selected = False Then
                    ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
end if

 

by: ITHelper80Posted on 2009-08-12 at 12:09:53ID: 25081778

Bump =)

 

by: prairiedogPosted on 2009-08-12 at 13:33:15ID: 25082618

The reason of your code giving error is that if reader("Facilitator").ToString() does not exist, then ddFaciltator.Items.FindByValue(reader("Facilitator").ToString() will return Nothing. You cannot call "Selected" on a Nothing object, it will blow up if you do.

Try mohan_sekar's suggestion.

 

by: ITHelper80Posted on 2009-08-13 at 07:36:12ID: 25088718

Let me clarify my problem.

The "Facilitator" column in the DB will either have blanks or a name of an employee(current and previous). My DDL will have names of current employees only, my goal is that if a blank or previous employee is selected then the blank(index 0) is selected in the DDL otherwise the employee name is selected.

I dont see how mohan's suggestion will work.

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-08-13 at 07:44:10ID: 25088841

Try this code  example


If Not IsDbNull(reader("Facilitator")) and Not IsNothing(reader("Facilitator")) Then
   '
Else
   ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
End If

                                              
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by: ITHelper80Posted on 2009-08-13 at 07:47:47ID: 25088906

Thanks code code crusier but I dont think that is checking the DDL to see if it matches what the reader returned.

If the reader returns a blank or value not in the DDL then I need the selcted index to be 0

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-08-13 at 07:51:55ID: 25088966

Ok. The code only checks if the reader does not return a value. Here is the modified code




        If Not IsDBNull(reader("Facilitator")) And Not IsNothing(reader("Facilitator")) Then
            If ddFacilitator.FindStringEx(Reader("Facilitator")) > 0 Then
                ddFacilitator.SelectedIndex = ddFacilitator.FindStringEx(Reader("Facilitator")) > 0
            Else
                ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
            End If
        Else
            ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
        End If
                                              
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by: BusacPosted on 2009-08-13 at 08:25:59ID: 25089457

ITHelper80, do what mohar_sekan suggested:

If ddFaciltator.Items.FindByValue(reader("Facilitator").ToString()) IsNot Nothing Then
    ddFaciltator.Items.FindByValue(reader("Facilitator").ToString()).Selected = True
Else
    ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
End If

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-08-13 at 08:29:30ID: 25089492

What if the value in DB is DBNull?

 

by: ITHelper80Posted on 2009-08-13 at 09:13:20ID: 25090050

I had to moidfy it slightly but Mohar's code basically worked. Thanks!

If ddFaciltator.Items.FindByValue(reader("Facilitator").ToString()) IsNot Nothing Then
                    ddFaciltator.SelectedValue = reader("Facilitator").ToString()
                Else
                    ddFaciltator.SelectedIndex = 0
                End If

                                              
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