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Hiding first row in DropDownList

Hi,

I am using mark ups to create a DropDownList on an Asp.Net form.

Every thing is working fine except for one nagging problem. The first row shows up in the text field of the DropDownList.

When using regular VB code I usually insert these two lines of code to make the first row blank:

DropDownList.Items.Insert(0, New ListItem(String.Empty, String.Empty))
DropDownList.SelectedIndex = 0

But in the mark ups on the aspx page I don't know how to do some thing similar.

Below is the code for the DropDownList and its SqlDataSource:

Thanks

<asp:DropDownList ID="UsersList"  AutoPostBack="True" 
        DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1" DataTextField="UserName" DataValueField="NoteID" runat="server" 
        style="z-index: 1; left: 800px; top: 194px; position: absolute; width: 123px;" > </asp:DropDownList>

      <asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource1" runat="server" 
      ProviderName="System.Data.SqlClient"
        ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:HelpDeskConnectionString %>" 
        SelectCommand="Select Users.UserName,Notes.NoteID from Users join Notes on Users.userID= Notes.userID where Notes.dDate=@dDate">
        <SelectParameters>
            <asp:ControlParameter ControlID="txtDate" DbType="Date" Name="dDate" 
                PropertyName="Text" />
        </SelectParameters>
    </asp:SqlDataSource>

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Paul Jackson

Add a blank listitem and set the AppendDataBoundItems attribute to true

<asp:DropDownList ID="UsersList"  AutoPostBack="True"  
        DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1" DataTextField="UserName" DataValueField="NoteID" runat="server"  
        style="z-index: 1; left: 800px; top: 194px; position: absolute; width: 123px;" AppendDataBoundItems="true">
<asp:ListItem Text="" Value =0/>
 </asp:DropDownList>

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cb1393

There may be other ways, but I set the AppendDataBoundItems attribute to True for the dropdown, then add a blank option like so:

<asp:DropDownList AppendDataBoundItems="true">
<asp:ListItem Text="Select an option" Value=""></asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>

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Nasir Razzaq

Try adding a

SelectedIndex = -1

in the markup of the list.

Rick

How about setting the text property to "" on page_load

UsersList.Text = ""

Rick

Oops... you want to do this on the markup file?!?

How about using JavaScript to set the innerHTML to blank?

UsersList.innerHTML = '';

adamtrask

ASKER

Sorry guys, the above hasn't worked!

rick_gwu: Should I place your JavaScript code inside script tags?

Paul Jackson

Add the Selected attribute to the default listitem :

<asp:DropDownList ID="UsersList"  AutoPostBack="True"   
        DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1" DataTextField="UserName" DataValueField="NoteID" runat="server"   
        style="z-index: 1; left: 800px; top: 194px; position: absolute; width: 123px;" AppendDataBoundItems="true"> 
<asp:ListItem Text="Select an item" Value ="0" Selected="true"/> 
 </asp:DropDownList>

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adamtrask

ASKER

Sorry guys... non of the above appears to work.

Paul Jackson

Is the default listitem being added?
Are the database values being populated in the dropdownlist?

adamtrask

ASKER

jacko72:

I am not sure what you mean by the "default listitem", but the answer to the second question is yes.
The dropDownList is being populated by the values in the database. There is no problem in this area.
It all works well.
The only thing missing is to have the first row as blank as I said in the beginning. Thanks.

Paul Jackson

By the default listitem i mean the one setup in the markup.
So it would seem this is still being overriden by the values being loaded from the database.
Are you sure you have added the AppendDataBoundItems = "true" to the dropdownlistbox markup.
Are you possibly binding the dropdownlist box in the code-behind anywhere that might be overwriting it?
It would be useful if you posted your code as you have it now so we can try to see what is wrong.

adamtrask

ASKER

If you mean this part: Selected="true" then yes I did....

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Paul Jackson

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adamtrask

ASKER

Wow...... thank!
I almost given up...

adamtrask

ASKER

Thanks a lot