Executing a Concatenated String

[dh]

I'm tring to control the CssClass and BgColor of a TableCell
WebControl with an ID of "Whatever".

What's the difference?:

//Coded Literally
Whatever.CssClass="bodyWhiteHeader"; //this works fine

//Coded via a value passed from a DropDownList
(ddlSortData.SelectedItem.Value+".CssClass=\"bodyWhiteHeader\";").ToString();
//this doesn't work. But no errors arise and it traces as a string
with the correct syntax.

thanks.