Strange problem with SelectedIndex property affecting multiple dropdownlists

[RSH]

Hi,

I am having this very bizarre occurance with 4 dropdown lists on my ASP .Net
page.

Each control has its own unique id. When the user selects a value from each
of the dropdownlists it is written correctly to the database.

HOWEVER...When setting the SelectedIndex property of each of the controls in
the codebehind (.net 1.1) I get an exception "A dropdownlist can not have
multiple selections." This is very odd because I am literally seeting each
control as follows:

ddlActionRequestedBy.Items(2).Selected = True

ddlActionAuthorizedBy.Items(7).Selected = True

ddlActionCompletedBy.Items(12).Selected = True

ddlActionAssignedTo.Items(80).Selected = True

So I stepped through the code to try and see what happens...and what happens
is that when I set the Selected property to true for one control all of the
controls assume the same SelectedIndex. So to verify my assumption I
commented out all but the first "ddlActionRequestedBy.Items(2).Selected =
True" so I would have expected that only that control have a value selected
on page load...BUT to my surprise each of the 4 dropdownlists had the SAME
selected value. I have triple checked all code and nowhere else on the page
am I setting selectedvalues...i dont get it.

What am I missing????

Thanks!

Ron

 

[Nathan Sokalski]

First of all, I think it would help if you posted all of your code. Second,
I believe that the intended way to programmatically change the selected
index in a codebehind was to do something like the following:

ddlActionRequestedBy.SelectedIndex = 2

Using your technique works, as long as all the Items are set to
Selected=False beforehand, otherwise you will be creating a point in which
multiple Items have Selected=True, causing the exception that you mentioned.
I do not have an explanation for all the dropdownlists having the same
selected value, but it would certainly help me and anyone else reading your
posts if you posted the code. Good Luck!

 

[Mark Rae]

What am I missing????

ddlActionRequestedBy.SelectedIndex = -1
ddlActionRequestedBy.Items(2).Selected = True

ddlActionAuthorizedBy.SelectedIndex = -1
ddlActionAuthorizedBy.Items(7).Selected = True


ddlActionCompletedBy.SelectedIndex = -1
ddlActionCompletedBy.Items(12).Selected = True

ddlActionAssignedTo.SelectedIndex = -1
ddlActionAssignedTo.Items(80).Selected = True

 

[RSH]

The problem was actually a little obscure and you are correct...if I had
posted the rest of the code somebody would have certainly pointed out the
problem...

I was doing this in the binding code:
While dtrReader.Read

If Not IsDBNull(dtrReader("ListDisplay")) Then

AddListitem(ddlActionRequestedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlActionAuthorizedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlActionAssignedTo, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlActionCompletedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlCreditAuthorizedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlCreditToBePerformedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlCreditRequestedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlCreditPerformedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlResolvedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"), dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlResolutionProposedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlResolutionAuthorizedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlResolutionAssignedTo, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlResolvedApprovedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlFollowUpAssignedTo, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlFollowupApprovedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlFollowupCompletedBy, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

AddListitem(ddlAccountantNotified, dtrReader("ListDisplay"),
dtrReader("FullName"))

End If

End While



The problem was that .Net treated those list items as references and not
values. Once I changed that then presto...everything worked fine.



Thanks!

Ron