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ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 9:00 AM
You may receive the error "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList." when trying to set a value selected in an ASP.NET Dropdownlist.

This error specifically occurs if you are trying to execute a similar code as follows:-


DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue("3").Selected = true;

(or)

DropDownList1.Items.FindByText("Sports").Selected = true;

This error doesnt occur if you try to use

DropDownList1.SelectedIndex = 3;
or
DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Value = "3"; (Wrong way of implementation. But people use this)

The resolution is that, you just have to mention DropDownList1.ClearSelection(); before using DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue("3").Selected = true;

The correct step is as below:-

DropDownList1.ClearSelection();
DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue("3").Selected = true;

or

DropDownList1.ClearSelection();
DropDownList1.Items.FindByText("Sports").Selected = true;

In my next article I will discuss on the common misconception in making a particular Dropdownlist value selected.

Cheers and Happy Programming !!!

Feedback

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

this info was very useful to me

thanks for ur information 2/27/2007 11:05 AM | john michel

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

cheers been bugging me that one! 3/1/2007 3:58 PM | Lee Stevens

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

That solved a baffling error for me. Thanks! 3/9/2007 9:09 PM | Bill Kuhn

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks!!! You saved a food few hours!!!! 11/28/2007 8:09 AM | Ramy

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks,
We searched for that problem on Google and found at top. Nice Solution.
Good work,
Keep it up :) 12/12/2007 1:41 AM | Shail

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

This article was very useful to me and it is easily understandable 12/17/2007 5:20 PM | Praveena

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Nice one. Saved my time. Cheers mate. 2/13/2008 9:58 PM | Hitz

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks. It helped me a lot.

Regards,
Shaik. 2/18/2008 6:12 PM | Shaik

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks..... i got an idea ....but what about it comes in master page not using FindByValue or text 2/25/2008 4:22 PM | Sankar

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Ekdam Rapchik ha! 2/28/2008 4:24 PM | Eknath

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Straight forward solution thnx 3/10/2008 3:04 AM | Sfinx

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks For The Help!! God Bless! 4/2/2008 4:48 PM | rishian

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks very much for the solution! 5/5/2008 4:19 AM | carlos

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

thanks for the help 5/8/2008 10:56 PM | abhishek

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

i had spend almost 3-4 hours to this error. After that the solution you had given, solved my problem
Thank you very much 5/9/2008 5:07 PM | Ravi Gupta

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

tnks you saved some debugging ours for me!! 5/22/2008 7:57 PM | Ashberger

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thank you so much..this is really useful..... 6/20/2008 12:43 AM | Kalaravi

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thanks 6/23/2008 4:03 AM | Bala

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

thanks a lot nice solution 6/30/2008 9:56 PM | sivaani

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

this saved a lot of time for me !!! nice post 7/7/2008 5:41 AM | Subhash

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

got my problem solved in seconds. 7/15/2008 8:26 PM | Ashish

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

thank for good article 7/29/2008 7:43 PM | chan myie

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thank you,got my problem solved in seconds. 8/10/2008 4:38 PM | Sunitha

# re: ASP.NET Dropdownlist - "Cannot have multiple items selected in a DropDownList."

Thank you very much 8/27/2008 12:33 AM | Shailesh
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