ASP.NET - Adding a blank value to a data-bound dropdownlist
For some reason I can’t seem to remember this when I need it.
If you have a dropdownlist in ASP.NET:
<asp:dropdownlist id="states" runat="server">
If this dropdownlist is databound:
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.ReadXml(Server.MapPath("states.xml"));
states.DataSource = ds;
states.DataBind();
…and you want to add a blank value to ensure the user has selected a value, do the following:
states.Items.Insert(0,"");
You can substitute any value for the blank string, such as “–select–”.