How do I add multiple items inside a dropdownlist using objectdatasource

[cmrhema]

Hi,

I have used a object datasource and have populated the a field named Titles in dropdownlist.

Now I want Titles as well as AuthorName to be shown in the dropdown list. as

Hound of baskervilles/Sherlock holmes.



How do i do that in objectdatasource. Pls help

Regards

cmrhema

[r035198x]

Wouldn't it be possible to bind the Dropdown to a List<string> instead and then add the strings in the collection in the format that you want?

[Frinavale]

Your ObjectDataSource will have a property that the DropDownList will be bound to.

All you have to do is edit this property and make sure that it returns what you want to display.

[cmrhema]

@r035198x
Yes I did the same and it worked.
Thnx

[Frinavale]

Hmmm somehow I answered your question (thinking it was you) when I was explaining things to someone else with a similar problem.

If you're still curious about using an ObjectDataSource instead of a List Of Strings check out this post :)

[cmrhema]

@Frinavale
Yes, Actually I wanted a initially to display only titles, so I first went for ObjectDataSource(ODS), but then I wanted concatenation of title/author, so went for generic list, which I was partially aware of and did this way

And I concatenated as

ddlKeys.DataTextField = "KeyValue ";

Infact I call a method where I populate the generic list as below

  private void TGenerateKeys<T>(SqlDataReader returnData, ref List<Keys> KeysList)
        {
            while (returnData.Read())
            {
                Keys oKeys = new Keys();
                oKeys.KeyValue = Convert.ToString(returnData["TITLE"]) + "/" + Convert.ToString(returnData["AUTHOR"]);
 
                KeysList.Add(oKeys);
            }
        }

But although I have not implemented, I think, while retrieving query from sql server, I can put something as
select title+author as "Both" from tablename
and directly bind this value to ODS.

Of course I can bind the "KeyValue", field too, but I had one more work, I had to include a value called as "All", so if the user chooses "All", I should be able to display all the results.
If I add it through properties (I mean press F4 on dropdownlist), then although I select other titles, the dropdownlist always showed "All".(because I gave selected =true in dropdownlist)

I thought it would be easier if I dynamically populate the dropdownlist and after binding to the above list. I followed this code

 List<Keys> olistkeys=Keys.GetKeysByEmailId(txtEmail.Text);
             ddlKeys.DataSource = olistkeys;
             ddlKeys.DataTextField = "keyvalue";
             ddlKeys.DataBind();

and later added the "All" as

ddlKeys.Items.Add(new ListItem("All", "0"));

And resolved my issues.

Sorry for dragging this to such a length, and pls excuse my English.

Regards
cmrhema