dougv.net « Doug Vanderweide's ASP.NET demos

This page demonstrates the basics of how to insert a non-selectable ListItem into an ASP.NET control (in this case, a DropDownList; but the technique will work for any ASP.NET control that uses ListItem controls for its data items).

Page Code

            <asp:DropDownList runat="server" ID="ddlVacation" AutoPostBack="true" OnSelectedIndexChanged="ddlVacation_postBack">
	            <asp:ListItem Text="-- Sunny Island -- " Value="" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Aruba" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Hawaii" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Bermuda" />
	            <asp:ListItem Text="-- Snowy Getaway --" Value="" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Vail, CO" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Nome, AK" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Greenland" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="The North Pole" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Antartica" />
	            <asp:ListItem Text="-- Big Adventure --" Value="" />   
	            <asp:ListItem Value="Mt. Everest" />
	            <asp:ListItem Value="The Amazon River" />
            </asp:DropDownList>
            <asp:Label runat="server" ID="lblMessage" Text="Select a vacation" />
        

Code Behind

            Sub ddlVacation_postBack(ByVal Sender As Object, ByVal E As EventArgs)
                If ddlVacation.SelectedValue = String.Empty Then
                    lblMessage.Text = "Sorry, that's not an option. Please choose again."
                    lblMessage.Font.Bold = True
                    lblMessage.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Red
                Else
                    lblMessage.Text = "I would love to go to <strong>" & ddlVacation.SelectedValue & "</strong>!"
                    lblMessage.Font.Bold = False
                    lblMessage.ForeColor = Drawing.Color.Black
                End If
            End Sub